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Winning in Emerging Markets
Already cited by the Financial Times, Forbes.com, The Economic Times, WSJ/Mint and several other prominent global business publications, Winning in Emerging Markets is quickly becoming the go-to book for mapping a strategy for entering new markets—and then quickly gaining a competitive edge in those high growth regions.
Advancing the discussion about emerging markets themselves and how organizations can best leverage the potential of these regions, Tarun Khanna and Krishna Palepu – both well respected thinkers on the subject – argue there is more to sizing up these markets than just evaluating data points related to size, population, and growth potential. In fact, they say the possibility to expand a company’s progress in developing economies is to first asses the area’s lack of institutional infrastructure—and then to formulate strategies around what the authors call “institutional voids” to the firm’s advantage. Khanna and Palepu say the primary exploitable characteristic of an emerging market are such voids, and though they create challenges, they also provide major opportunity both for multinationals and local contenders.
Winning in Emerging Markets serves as a playbook for measuring a market’s potential and for crafting a strategy to succeed there.
Advancing the discussion about emerging markets themselves and how organizations can best leverage the potential of these regions, Tarun Khanna and Krishna Palepu – both well respected thinkers on the subject – argue there is more to sizing up these markets than just evaluating data points related to size, population, and growth potential. In fact, they say the possibility to expand a company’s progress in developing economies is to first asses the area’s lack of institutional infrastructure—and then to formulate strategies around what the authors call “institutional voids” to the firm’s advantage. Khanna and Palepu say the primary exploitable characteristic of an emerging market are such voids, and though they create challenges, they also provide major opportunity both for multinationals and local contenders.
Winning in Emerging Markets serves as a playbook for measuring a market’s potential and for crafting a strategy to succeed there.
247 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
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359 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 6, 2018
Great toolkits but a little boring at times
Some really valuable toolkits for navigating emerging markets. My only criticism is it gets quite boring at times, often reading like a textbook
Some really valuable toolkits for navigating emerging markets. My only criticism is it gets quite boring at times, often reading like a textbook
June 29, 2021
This book provides practical toolkits with specific questions for executives and strategic planners to enter an emerging market. The book covers several related topics including:
- The concept of institutional voids and those in Emerging markets
- How to spot institutional voids
- How multinational companies compete in emerging markets
- How emerging giants (multinational companies that developed from emerging markets) compete in their home market
- How emerging giants compete in other markets
Since this book is a practical set of toolkits, re-reading is preferred when needed rather than reading through and remember everything in it.
- The concept of institutional voids and those in Emerging markets
- How to spot institutional voids
- How multinational companies compete in emerging markets
- How emerging giants (multinational companies that developed from emerging markets) compete in their home market
- How emerging giants compete in other markets
Since this book is a practical set of toolkits, re-reading is preferred when needed rather than reading through and remember everything in it.
July 23, 2019
Winning in Emerging Markets offers valuable insights into private sector development in emerging markets. Professors Krishna G. Palepu and Tarun Khanna did a fantastic job articulating the institutional voids in such markets and how businesses can overcome them to be successful. People working at IFC, World Bank, UNDP, ADB and USAID should read this book.
December 24, 2023
I liked this. It'very accessible and does not just apply to emerging markets in terms of geography - a lot of the concepts discussed apply to markets that are emerging say due to cultural and technological changes, even though the author's focus is on developing countries.
November 10, 2011
This is a book about how firms competing in emerging markets succeed. It is written by two Harvard Business School stars, so you know right away that it will have a unifying framework of some sort, which is then applied to a variety of firms and circumstances. Envisage it as an outline for a semester or quarter class at HBS, which you could supplement by purchasing additional articles or case studies about the specific firms discussed.
As these books go, this is a good one and fairly enjoyable. It is particularly noteworthy for two reasons -- the framework employed and the particular variety of firms discussed. The framework focuses on "institutional voids". What are those? Those are the different ways in which emerging markets are different from developed (or "emerged", I guess) markets. Developed markets are what we have in the US and Europe and Japan, more or less. The economic assumption is that to do well, firms need to be in competitive enough markets, but that if the market is structurally troubled, then business cannot be conducted and firms cannot make any money. If the market has a completely bad structure, then it does not make sense to be there (Somalia, for example). However, if the market is only missing some of the factors that make Western markets workable, then the firm can take steps to adjust. The "institutional voids" are what different emerging markets are missing. The book proceeds by providing examples of how specific companies (Microsoft) to steps to adjust for shortcomings of specific markets (China) and by successfully adjusting became profitable. The other strength of the book is that it does not just focus on western firms, but also includes firms that are developing out of emerging markets to compete globally -- Tata Industries, for example, or Ayala -- a firm from the Phillipines. The book also covers a wide range of markets, including not just India and China, but also Brazil and Turkey.
The shortcoming of a book like this is that once you get the idea of the framework, you can see where the country examples are going without too much trouble -- so if you already know something about the markets, the insight-per-page value is used up fairly quickly. There are insights to get, however, and this book is far superior to typical trade approaches to winning in world markets, competing in India, or China, or Russia, or Brazil. The book is easy to read by adds value over straight description or a travel log. Those who wish to adventure further can but cases directly from the hbs publishing website and download them for additional info.
As these books go, this is a good one and fairly enjoyable. It is particularly noteworthy for two reasons -- the framework employed and the particular variety of firms discussed. The framework focuses on "institutional voids". What are those? Those are the different ways in which emerging markets are different from developed (or "emerged", I guess) markets. Developed markets are what we have in the US and Europe and Japan, more or less. The economic assumption is that to do well, firms need to be in competitive enough markets, but that if the market is structurally troubled, then business cannot be conducted and firms cannot make any money. If the market has a completely bad structure, then it does not make sense to be there (Somalia, for example). However, if the market is only missing some of the factors that make Western markets workable, then the firm can take steps to adjust. The "institutional voids" are what different emerging markets are missing. The book proceeds by providing examples of how specific companies (Microsoft) to steps to adjust for shortcomings of specific markets (China) and by successfully adjusting became profitable. The other strength of the book is that it does not just focus on western firms, but also includes firms that are developing out of emerging markets to compete globally -- Tata Industries, for example, or Ayala -- a firm from the Phillipines. The book also covers a wide range of markets, including not just India and China, but also Brazil and Turkey.
The shortcoming of a book like this is that once you get the idea of the framework, you can see where the country examples are going without too much trouble -- so if you already know something about the markets, the insight-per-page value is used up fairly quickly. There are insights to get, however, and this book is far superior to typical trade approaches to winning in world markets, competing in India, or China, or Russia, or Brazil. The book is easy to read by adds value over straight description or a travel log. Those who wish to adventure further can but cases directly from the hbs publishing website and download them for additional info.
June 13, 2011
"A fundamental premise of our work is that emerging markets reflect those transactional arenas where buyers and sellers are not easily or efficiently able to come together. Ideally, every economy would provide a range of institutions to facilitate the functioning of markets, but developing countries fall short in a number of ways. These institutional voids mak a market 'emerging' and are a prime source of higher transaction costs and operating challenges in these markets." (6)
Taxonomy of market intermediaries: credibility enhancers, information analyzers and advisers, aggregators and distributors, transaction facilitators, adjudicators, regulators and other public institutions. (57-8)
"'Mainly for washing clothes, sweet potatoes and peanuts.'" (Haier washing machine label in Sichuan, 150)
Taxonomy of market intermediaries: credibility enhancers, information analyzers and advisers, aggregators and distributors, transaction facilitators, adjudicators, regulators and other public institutions. (57-8)
"'Mainly for washing clothes, sweet potatoes and peanuts.'" (Haier washing machine label in Sichuan, 150)
May 11, 2011
I had to read this for a board meeting. Krishna is a brilliant guy and the concepts are "a-ha" kinds of thinking. Very interesting if you are thinking about global expansion of any business.
April 18, 2014
A fantastic piece of work for anyone interested in trade and value networks.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews