Execution as Strategy

Dozens of multinational companies from emerging markets are roaring out of obscurity to compete head-to-head with the world's great corporations--without paying much attention to the kind of strategy making that is typically taught in business schools. Unencumbered by complicated or calcified rules about which markets to focus on and how to grow, these firms are achieving success by executing first and analyzing later, pursuing headlong expansion, and embracing turbulent markets. Mauro F. Guillen of the Wharton School and Esteban Garcia-Canal of the University of Oviedo in Spain say that these companies' tendency to make strategy on the fly may be the reason they don't garner the kind of respect in the developed world that is showered on the likes of GE, IBM, and P&G. In this article, the authors take a close look at three firms--Mexico's Bimbo, the number one bread baker in the world; India's Ocimum Biosolutions, a contract R&D and research firm; and Egypt's Orascom, a conglomerate operating in many of the world's most chaotic regions--to understand how their mind-set feeds their success. In today's world, all companies need to be able to function in unpredictable business environments. Emerging multinationals already know how to do that--it's what they're used to. Lessons from their success are applicable to global firms wherever they're from and wherever they do business.

• Strategy management
• Multinational corporations
• International business
• Strategy execution