Mission of Multinational Corporations (Harvard Business School Classics)

Author: C.K. Prahalad
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-03-01
Features: The content of The Mission of the Multinational Corporation is based on a six-year special study. Authors C.K. Prahalad and Yves Doz collected extensive internal materials from multinational enterprises and interviewed senior executives from over 500 large multinational companies—such as General Motors, GTE, IBM, Philips, Nippon, Brown-Boveri Ciba-Geigy, Corning Glass Works, Massey Ferguson, and others. The book is well-researched, well-structured, and engaging. The authors creatively adopt the "integration-localization" balance as an analytical framework, step by step demonstrating how to form and implement strategic decisions and explain how to win in global market competition. The authors begin by researching fundamental questions, pointing out that in a global competitive environment, every business area faces pressures such as headquarters coordination, cross-border integration, and localization. They then discuss how senior executives of multinational corporations should analyze and weigh the influence of various key factors, including government intervention from host and home countries, the role of labor organizations, customer demands, technical requirements, access to raw materials and energy, and distribution channels. The authors examine and compare the different strategic choices between globally integrated Chinese companies and locally oriented multinational corporations. The book cites numerous vivid and interesting corporate case studies, such as Komatsu's implementation of the "surrounding Caterpillar" strategy to challenge the earthmoving equipment giant Caterpillar, as well as the decline of U.S. RCA's ignoring market challenges from Japanese television manufacturers, which provide enlightening and convincing insights. Beyond rigorous theoretical analysis, authors C.K. Prahalad and Yves Doz also propose many practical strategies to win competition, such as adopting the "hostage exchange" tactic in the fierce international battle for market share. In summary, The Mission of the Multinational Corporation focuses on how to rapidly restructure internal organizational systems and management practices in the new era of global competition, maximizing corporate core competitiveness, enabling multinational corporations to navigate the global market with ease and confidence.