When Anil Gupta’s book The Quest for Global Dominance was published in 2001, globalization was a growing—and bewildering—phenomenon. Five years later, it’s an accepted part of corporate life. Today, more companies than ever have expanded across borders; there’s almost no more point in describing a company as multi-national, because the assumption is that every company must consider itself part of the global playing field. Gupta’s book is now one of the most highly regarded books on global strategy and has been used in MBA courses at many leading schools such as the Wharton School, the University of Minnesota and, of course, the Smith School.

Gupta, the Ralph J. Tyser Professor of Strategy and Organization and chair of the management and organization department, and co-author Vijay Govindarajan, the Earl C. Daum 1924 Professor of International Business at Dartmouth College, describe the ways that logic and strategy should be applied to a company’s globalization efforts. Written for managers as well as MBA students, the book uses a variety of real-world examples to help illustrate its key principles.

The authors examine Wal-Mart’s globalization moves as an example of the global mindset that leaders must cultivate. Gupta related an anecdote to demonstrate: in the early 1990s, the CEO of Wal-Mart said that he looked upon the world as a massive opportunity for growth. In the same year the CEO of Sears said that the retailing model doesn’t carry across countries. The relative successes of Wal-Mart and Sears in the ensuing years demonstrate which mindset leads to success in the modern global economy. “It comes down to how deeply knowledgeable a company’s managers are about the rest of the world, and how skilled they are at overcoming the barriers of distance, whether they’re geographical or cultural,” concludes Gupta. “Some people see insurmountable barriers, while other see opportunities.”

And it is those who see the opportunities, according to Gupta, who will be able to capitalize on the benefits of globalization and avoid its pitfalls. “Globalization is a double-edged sword,” he says. “Pursued mindlessly, it can even kill your company, because it increases the fixed costs and exposes the company to a lot more complexity, diversity, and uncertainty. So one has to come at globalization in a very logical, very strategic fashion.”

Leading managers through these strategic issues, the book explores the questions surrounding three key issues—global expansion strategies, global competitive strategies, and the development of a global mindset—and discusses how managers can discover the answers.

  SMITH BUSINESS

Copyright 2006 Robert H. Smith School of Business