In July 2012, a senior manager in the corporate strategy team of General Electric (GE) was wondering what changes he should recommend for its strategic plans in the MENAT region (the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey and Pakistan). First, the senior corporate strategist wanted to get a better understanding of how regional management had succeeded in growing its business despite the barriers it had faced, such as political instability, difficulties in dealing with family-owned firms with affiliate relationships, and institutional corruption. Second, given predictions of sluggish growth in developed markets, it was clear that GE MENAT would be an increasingly large part of GE’s revenue base. The key challenge was how to continue to sustain GE MENAT’s growth rate while maintaining the high corporate standards for which GE was known.

In July 2012, a senior manager in the corporate strategy team of General Electric (GE) was wondering what changes he should recommend for its strategic plans in the MENAT region (the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey and Pakistan). First, the senior corporate strategist wanted to get a better understanding of how regional management had succeeded in growing its business despite the barriers it had faced, such as political instability, difficulties in dealing with family-owned firms with affiliate relationships, and institutional corruption. Second, given predictions of sluggish growth in developed markets, it was clear that GE MENAT would be an increasingly large part of GE's revenue base. The key challenge was how to continue to sustain GE MENAT's growth rate while maintaining the high corporate standards for which GE was known.