Key Concepts in International Business by Jonathan Sutherland & Diane Canwell

Author:Jonathan Sutherland & Diane Canwell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Palgrave Macmillan
Published: 2004-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

Levitt, Theodore

In 1983 Theodore Levitt of the Harvard Business School wrote an article which suggested the gradual emergence of globalization. Bearing in mind that he was writing some 20 years ago, when there were only feint glimpses of what new technology, and in particular, communications, could do to international trade, he prophesied many of the global trends which have since taken place.

Levitt suggested that the global media and the reduced cost of communication would lead to a convergence of consumer tastes across the world, which would, in effect, create a global market for standardized products. It should be remembered that in 1983 around 30 per cent of the world’s population lived in Communist countries, but by the 1990s Levitt’s predictions of global brands dominating the world economy seemed to have begun, notably with McDonald’s, Coca-Cola and Walt Disney dominating the world marketplace.

Levitt did not predict that technology would actually change production itself, which in turn would allow international businesses to offer consumers a broad choice; in effect they would be able to offer specialized rather than standardized products. Increasingly, large multinationals, having achieved global dominance, have begun to adapt their standardized products for local tastes.

Levitt, Theodore, ‘The Globalization of Markets’, Harvard Business Review, 61(3) (May–June 1983), pp. 92–102.

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