Global competitive strategies must address the two sides of the global challenge: a company must be able to cope with the sheer size of the global market place while addressing the great diversity of local markets. To resolve this dilemma, the global business must turn to its advantage both the vast dimensions and local variations of global markets. This chapter and chapter 5 present five key global competitive strategies, which comprise the “G5 strategies” for achieving global competitive advantage.

Of course, all such advantage is necessarily temporary. Highly variable consumer tastes, production methods, information technologies, and public policies affect global trade. The global strategies presented here offer ways for a company to anticipate and adapt in a rapidly changing world. These strategies may be used in combination – they are not mutually exclusive. Also, the list of strategies does not exhaust the possibilities, but instead highlight the many opportunities that exist for global firms.

Global platform strategy: scale and variety

Carlos Ghosn was the “hottest car guy on earth,” according to the Wall Street Journal. He became the head of the Japanese auto maker Nissan Motor Co. in 1999, when it formed an alliance with the French auto maker Renault. Then, in 2005, six years after the Renault–Nissan Alliance was formed, Ghosn also was made the CEO of Renault. Uniting the Alliance partners under the same management, Ghosn had a 10,000-mile commute between Paris and Tokyo.