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“Vinod embarks on an excellent treatise on the convergence between the physical and digital
worlds. Alongside, he at once recognizes that fundamental economic principles are no longer sac-
rosanct; be they the concepts of scarcity and choice, or the dictates of diminishing returns to scale.
What we know from textbooks are no longer textbook! Global Meets Digital challenges business
leaders to think differently about strategic implications of the global-digital world.”
Dr. Janamitra Devan,
Head of Executive Office/Chief Strategy Officer,
NEOM, Saudi Arabia; former Vice President, The World Bank Group;
former Director, Global Strategy Practice, McKinsey & Co.
“This ‘must-read’ book for students and executives is a deeply reasoned and authoritative review of
how digitalization speeds the international expansion of service providers like Netflix or Spotify,
but it also covers examples of companies that provide physical products to global markets, such as
Nestlé, Bosch, Starbucks, and Peloton. For the latter category of firms selling tangible products,
digitalization has not only speeded up innovation, but for several it has entailed a fundamental
organizational restructuring of their global operations and strategy decisions such as the choice
between internal development and production versus strategic alliances versus acquiring foreign
companies.”
“The book is a ‘deep dive’ into one of the fundamental changes occurring in business today—
as evidenced by as many as 264 useful references on the subject. Yet, at the same time, it is written
in language accessible to students and executives, with lessons for strategy clearly delineated. This
book should be essential reading.”
Dr. Farok J. Contractor,
Distinguished Professor in Management & Global Business,
Rutgers Business School, New Brunswick & Newark, New Jersey
“It is rare to find a book on business strategy that combines the scope and depth of Vinod’s
understanding of strategy with the rigor of academic research that is as accessible in clear prose to
the multinational executive who needs to formulate a strategy that is executable. He provides a
terrific framework at the intersection of economics, strategy, and technology for understanding
the dynamic dialectical process of the global (thesis) meeting digital (antithesis) that enables one
to see opportunities and exigencies in the resulting synthesis in ways far superior to vain efforts to
predict the future.”
R. Lemuel Lasher,
Chairman, Leading Edge Only, Ltd., Managing Director,
Boehme Eckhart LLC; former Vice President-Strategic Projects and Chief Innovation Officer,
Computer Sciences Corporation
“In this excellent book, Jain provides a roadmap for how global firms should leverage digitaliza-
tion to enhance their global competitiveness. Whether your firm is big or small, young or old, a
B2C or a B2B company, Jain shows you how to craft a digital strategy and stay ahead of competi-
tors. Peppered with hundreds of examples from diverse industries and countries, Jain’s book is a
treasure trove of practical insights for managers, academics, and students alike.”
Dr. Ravi Ramamurti,
University Distinguished Professor of International Business & Strategy, and Director,
Center for Emerging Markets, Northeastern University
“The book is far more than a study of the intersection of two megatrends—globalization and
technology. It recognizes that while the axes are nominally orthogonal, they interact powerfully
as the two phenomena evolve in the business world—along with the consequential impacts on our
personal and professional lives. In fact, the author makes clear that this deepening intersection
creates a new need for business capabilities demanding new models and new strategies to succeed
in the global-digital world. The text is clear, well organized and meticulously punctuated with
relevant case studies, and the scholarly works of those attempting to understand the why’s and
broader implications of these phenomena. Finally, it offers a framework for leaders to examine
their corporate strategies and evaluate them for future relevance in a methodical way.”
Dr. Alpheus Bingham,
author of The Open Innovation Marketplace and
One Smart Crowd, and founder of InnoCentive
“Professor Vinod Jain’s latest book Global Meets Digital: Global Strategy for Digital Businesses-
Digital Strategy for Global Businesses is very timely. It used to be no firms had digital strategy; then
some firms had a digital strategy; and today all firms should have a digital strategy, but many do
not. This book will help you learn how to develop a successful one. Professor Jain has written a
very accessible book that clearly explains complex issues about digital strategy and includes many
interesting case studies which help readers to better understand the issues discussed and learn
about international best practice in the area. Global Meets Digital is unique in that it covers strat-
egies for physical, digital, and smart products like the Internet of Things. The book also covers
many important current themes like digital disruption, the paradox of globalization, exponen-
tial technologies, industry 4.0, disruptive business models, competition in digital markets, and
winner-take-all market dynamics. This book is a must-read for any student or executive concerned
about digital strategy.”
Dr. Carl Fey,
Professor of Strategy, BI Norwegian Business School,
Oslo, Norway; former Dean, Nottingham University Business School China
“At last, a book that addresses the inescapable reality of the fusion between the physical and
digital worlds. What impacted me most about this world-class book is the practical and pertinent
applications of its content. Vinod Jain managed to combine his research, knowledge, and industry
experience with relevant case studies delivering a superb book. I’m glad Vinod Jain has so well and
so fully shed light on these two vital and here-to-stay forces.”
Humberto “HAP” Patorniti,
Partner at Tenacity Inc. and Adjunct Professor,
Rutgers State University; former CEO and President, SODEXO, Mexico, North America
“Globalization has been going on since humans started to consume something that was built some-
where else. It started with the Silk Road and then to ships to railways to trucks to airways and
finally the Internet. All of these modes of knowledge and service transport have helped increase the
speed at which the services can move across the globe, and it is just continuing to pick up speed.
“Global Meets Digital” gives you the whole perspective on what is happening and what is yet to
come, and how one by one each industry is getting transformed. If you are in any position in a busi-
ness and are thinking about what Digital means for your business, then this is the book for you!”
Lokesh Kumar,
Chief Technology Officer, sheeva.ai and Co-founder
and Chief Architect, urgent.ly
“I highly recommend Dr. Vinod Jain’s new book, ‘Global Meets Digital’, for several reasons. It is
a book for our time in business that will enable us to also prepare for the future environment of
the melting of ‘older business axioms’ into new, adaptable business strategies to take any business
enterprise into the near and far-reaching future. Jain critically examines not only how we got here,
but more importantly, how we should think about next steps in navigating the ever dynamic and
changing world of business where ‘giants have fallen’ and new entries can generate a meteoric
rise in shareholder value. Essentially, the rules have changed and ALL business must recognize
and plan for the future. I enjoyed the mixture of real-world business case studies with the lessons
learned to prepare one’s own business. In my opinion, this is a ‘must read’ for any organization or
person contemplating how to grow in a digital business environment.”
H.E. The Hon., Dr. Thomas A. Cellucci,
former First Chief Commercialization Officer of the United States of America,
Author of 30 books, and Serial Entrepreneur
“Vinod writes an extremely timely book for today’s executives. It captures two pressing, inter-
connected issues of our time—globalization and digitalization, and offers numerous insights about
how we can address them—in an integrated manner. I highly recommend the book, particularly
to executives aiming to expand their global footprint through a digital strategy.”
Dr. Tony Tong,
Senior Associate Dean for Faculty & Research and Professor of Strategy & Entrepreneurship,
Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado Boulder
“Dr. Jain has long shared his expertise regarding the relationship between global and digital busi-
ness. His latest book, Global Meets Digital, provides a look at the historical evolution of this
relationship. Further, given the unprecedented rate of change today, driven by the twin forces
of globalization and technology, he points to the business revolution that is unfolding real time.
Dr. Jain provides an insightful strategic context to the growing interconnectedness between the
two and offers numerous case examples that allows the reader to peer into the future. Global Meets
Digital explores the opportunities and challenges and is a must read for business leaders who are
struggling to reimagine today’s new normal.”
Keith Darcy,
President, Darcy Partners Inc.; former Independent Senior Advisor,
Deloitte & Touche LLP, and former Chairman, Better Business Bureau Foundation
“Vinod has a unique style of explaining even complex concepts in a simple manner, which makes
this book enjoyable to read. He addresses the challenges of global expansion for new-age digi-
tal businesses and the need for digital transformation of traditional global enterprises in a lucid
fashion with authentic case studies across the spectrum. I recommend this book as compulsory
reading for business leaders looking for practical guidance on several topics not covered in other
management books.”
Sridharan Rangarajan,
Vice President, Platforms, Viessmann, Germany;
former Director, Hybrid Cloud Strategy, Bosch, Germany; and former Program Director,
Bluemix Practice, IBM Software Group
“Dr. Jain captures the importance of growth strategies for Global and Digital businesses through
his impressive research, extensive case studies, academic excellence, and many years of engage-
ment with the world’s leading corporations. This is a brilliant book for executives facing a highly
charged market dynamic in the global-digital world. While most books on strategy tend to focus
on B2C businesses, what I, with over 30 years of senior-level experience in B2B businesses world-
wide, really appreciated is that Global Meets Digital has a whole chapter devoted to competing in
B2B businesses.”
Steven R Zirkel,
President & CEO of Blue Everest LLC;
former Managing Director, Owens Corning Asia Pacific
“As an active practitioner in international business for over 30 years I really appreciated reading
Global Meets Digital by Vinod Jain. I strongly recommend reading this book as it is timely and
it discusses the real issues companies are facing right now. The important concepts are clearly
explained and supported by practical cases so that the reader is able to relate to real situations.
The ideal content to bring ourselves up to date on critical issues that impact global strategy, Vinod
Jain’s new book is, in my view, a must read.”
Jean-Paul DAVID,
CEO of Mercadex Europe & Director of Institut MX, Paris, France
“The title of this book—Global Meets Digital—captures starkly the new reality. In the new era,
global enterprises will thrive only if they embrace the new opportunities and sidestep the chal-
lenges created by the exploding digitization of the global economy. Digitization affects every
aspect of your global strategy—what markets to target, how to win in these markets, and how to
design and manage the global value chain. This book covers these and related topics.”
Dr. Anil K. Gupta,
Michael Dingman Chair in Strategy and Globalization, The University of Maryland,
College Park; Author, The Quest for Global Dominance and Getting China and India Right
“In modern times, it’s not enough to have strategy, you need to have a flexible and resilient execu-
tion feedback loops to maximize outcomes. Vinod combines an approach that does both and
explains in his book how businesses can benefit from taking advantage of the natural contradic-
tions that exist between the physical and digital, the local and the global, and between theory and
practice.”
PV Boccasam,
Chairman of Jôrn Capital
Global Meets Digital
The world today is at the intersection of two megatrends—Globalization and Digitalization—a
business revolution unfolding in real time. Global Meets Digital captures the many nuances of
this revolution succinctly, including its impact on our lives and business. An immediate implica-
tion of this revolution is that the economic principles that underpinned business and strategy for
hundreds of years, such as diminishing returns to scale and resource scarcity, are no longer valid
for a large and growing number of products and services. The book will challenge you to think
differently not just about digital products, but also about physical products.
In the global-digital world, products are of three kinds—physical, digital, and smart machines
(products that are both physical and digital, and connected to the internet)—a distinction missed
by most books on strategy and global business. The economics of each kind of products is distinct
from that of the others, which has strategic implications for all kinds of businesses—implications
such as how to compete and how to create and capture value.
With several mini case studies and over 300 company examples, the book covers themes and
cutting-edge issues like the paradox of globalization, digital disruption, disruptive business mod-
els, exponential technologies, Internet of Things, competition in digital markets, winner-take-all
market dynamics, Industry 4.0, how to innovate, strategizing for the New Normal, and value cre-
ation and value capture in both B2C and B2B contexts. The book derives its underpinnings from
the practice of global and digital business, while theory remains in the background.
Intended specifically for an executive/professional audience, Global Meets Digital should also
be of value to business students and professors learning to dip their toes into a digital world.
Vinod K. Jain is an expert in global and digital strategy, award-winning professor, Fulbright
Scholar, and author of an MBA textbook, Global Strategy. He taught at the Rutgers Business
School, Newark and New Brunswick, and the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University
of Maryland, College Park. At Maryland, he was also the Founding Director of the federally
funded Center for International Business Education and Research and Academic Director of
Smith School’s Executive MBA program in China. Since leaving Maryland, he has taught in
China, Denmark, Finland, Poland, and India as a visiting or term professor. His opinion pieces
have appeared in The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, Mensa Bulletin, and Economic Times and
Mint (India’s #1 and #2 business dailies), among other media. In the past, he worked as a middle-
and senior-level executive with American and British multinationals. Vinod has a PhD in Strategy
and International Business from the University of Maryland, College Park, MS in Management
from UCLA, and MS and BS (Hons) in Statistics from the Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta.
Global Meets Digital
Global Strategy for Digital Businesses -
Digital Strategy for Global Businesses
and by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
The right of Vinod K. Jain to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections
77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
DOI: 10.4324/9781003037446
Preface ..................................................................................................................................xi
Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................. xiii
Author ................................................................................................................................. xv
vii
viii ◾ Contents
Section 2 StRAteGY
4 Entering Foreign Markets ..........................................................................................57
Netflix Goes Abroad
Foreign Market Selection ..................................................................................................59
The PRISM Framework ....................................................................................................59
P: Political Economy ....................................................................................................61
Political Systems ......................................................................................................61
Economic Systems .................................................................................................. 62
R: Resources................................................................................................................ 63
I: Institutions and Infrastructure ................................................................................. 63
S: Society and Culture................................................................................................. 64
M: Market Potential .....................................................................................................65
Industry Structure ........................................................................................................67
A Systematic Approach ................................................................................................ 68
Learning about Foreign Markets...................................................................................... 69
Entering Foreign Markets ................................................................................................ 69
Exporting/Importing .................................................................................................. 69
Licensing ..................................................................................................................... 70
Franchising.................................................................................................................. 70
Foreign Direct Investment........................................................................................... 72
Strategic Alliances ....................................................................................................... 73
Notes ............................................................................................................................... 73
5 Global Strategy for Digital Businesses .......................................................................75
Digitization-Digitalization-Digital Transformation
Spotify ............................................................................................................................. 77
How Spotify Creates Value ......................................................................................... 78
How Spotify Captures Value ....................................................................................... 80
Spotify’s Global Strategy ..............................................................................................81
Peloton ............................................................................................................................. 82
How Peloton Creates Value ..........................................................................................85
How Peloton Captures Value....................................................................................... 86
Peloton’s Global Strategy ............................................................................................. 86
The Globalization–Localization Dilemma ....................................................................... 87
Global Strategy for Digital Businesses ............................................................................. 88
Network Effects .......................................................................................................... 88
Contents ◾ ix
Index..................................................................................................................................181
Preface
The confluence of the physical and digital worlds is well underway. It has meant, among other
things, that digital players are moving into physical spaces, and physical incumbent businesses are
fast pursuing digitalization—blurring boundaries between global and digital. That is the context
of Global Meets Digital, with value creation and value capture as the central theme that pervades
throughout the book.
Intended specifically for an executive/professional audience, Global Meets Digital derives its
underpinnings from the practice of global and digital business, while theory remains in the back-
ground. It is imperative for multinational enterprises (MNEs) to learn from the experiences of
other MNEs about how they do business and how they succeeded (or failed) in international and
digital markets.
Well, MNEs have existed for a very long time. So, why now? The context of business in the
last decade, especially in the last 5–6 years, has undergone major changes: (1) growing intercon-
nectedness between the physical and digital worlds; (2) accelerating growth of technologies, such
as artificial intelligence and cloud computing, used not only by IT firms but also increasingly by
firms in practically all industries; (3) growing role of cross-border data flows as international trade
in physical goods is not growing as in the past; (4) health, social, and economic crises brought
forth by COVID-19; (5) a changed political, economic, and social environment in many parts of
the world, including the US, Europe, Asia, and Latin America—with strategic implications for
business.
All these factors pose great challenges (and great opportunities!) for businesses to create and
capture value. That’s because the economics and strategy of physical products are different from
the economics and strategy of digital products, which, in turn, are different from the economics
and strategy of smart machines (products that are both physical and digital and connected to the
internet).
With several minicase studies and over 100 company examples, the book covers themes and
cutting-edge issues like the paradox of globalization, digital disruption, disruptive business mod-
els, exponential technologies, Internet of Things, competition in digital markets, winner-take-all
market dynamics, Industry 4.0, how to innovate, strategizing for the New Normal, and value
creation and value capture in both B2C and B2B contexts.
During my academic career spanning some 30 years, I have taught strategy, global business,
and global strategy at business schools in the US, Europe, China, and India. Prior to that, I
worked with American and British multinationals for many years. As a result, I have been an
observer and a participant in the changing context of business—from legacy to digital. As the
cliché goes, digital changes everything!
xi
Acknowledgments
Over the years, I have learned a great deal during my digital learning journey from many people,
many authors, and many companies, too numerous to mention individually; I am deeply grateful
to all of them. Some, who read and commented on parts of the manuscript, deserve very special
thanks. They are Dr. Alph Bingham, President, Cascade Consulting LLC and former President and
CEO of InnoCentive; Lokesh Kumar, CTO of Sheeva.ai and co-founder of urgent.ly; Humberto
“HAP” Patorniti, faculty member at Rutgers Business School and former President and CEO of
SODEXO Mexico City; and Sridharan Rangarajan, Vice President, Platforms at The Viessmann
Group, Germany.
I am grateful to Kristine Mednansky, senior editor, Taylor & Francis Group, for her patience
and advice during the manuscript’s slow progress over almost 3 years. Also to Rebecca Lyles of the
TextCPR editorial service for continuing help with editing. I would be remiss if I did not express
thanks to my friends at TiE-DC, the Washington DC chapter of TiE.org, a global association of
entrepreneurs and CEOs, most of whom run technology businesses, for helpful conversations with
them, as well as to participants in my seminars and webinars for their questions and thoughtful
comments.
Last, but not least, very special thanks to my wife, Kamlesh (Kamal), a good human being and
a profound thinker, and to our daughters, Sumita and Anupama, for their unflagging support,
love, and pleasant company during our life journeys.
xiii
Author
xv
THE CONTEXT 1
Chapter 1
It’s all so simple, Anjin-san. Just change your concept of the world.
James Clavell, Shögun, 1975
The world has practically always had global business.
Arab traders had been traveling to spice-producing lands since 4,000–5,000 years ago, along
what have come to be known as the Spice Routes, bringing spices and herbs with them to the
Middle East. During the earliest evolution of trade, spices such as cardamom, ginger, pepper,
and turmeric were important items of trade, some even as valuable as gold today. The Arabs kept
the source of spices (the East Indies) secret for a long time to avoid competition. Over time, the
Romans and other Europeans took control of the spice trade. The Silk Road, a network of trade
and cultural land routes connecting China, India, Persia, the Arabian Peninsula, East Africa,
and Southern Europe, existed around the same time and intermittently brought together traders,
merchants, monks, pilgrims, thieves, and soldiers from different countries. The Silk Road is said
to have begun around 3,200 BCE and lasted several millennia. In addition to silk and other goods
and cultural influences, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, and even disease and technologies of the
time traveled along the road. The Spice Routes and the Silk Road met and extended each other at
some places—furthering global business.
Digital business, however, is of recent origin. It involves business models that use digital tech-
nologies for products ranging from physical products (such as plant and machinery) to purely
digital (software) to smart machines1 (products that are both physical and digital and connected
to the internet, such as the electric vehicle and drone). Lately, more and more traditional (physical)
businesses in the automotive, consumer goods, and other industrial sectors have been moving into
the digital world—creating a new class of products (smart machines).
The confluence of global business and digital business, a shift long in the making, is now well
underway. Of the important factors that account for this confluence, two, in particular, stand out.
Continuing advances in technology and innovation, now growing at an exponential pace, and the
growing interconnectedness between the physical and digital worlds mean that the boundaries
between global business and digital business are getting increasingly blurred—creating a global–
digital world (Figure 1.1).
The confluence of the physical and digital worlds means, among other things, that digital play-
ers are moving into physical spaces (e.g., Amazon’s move into physical retailing with the acquisition
DOI: 10.4324/9781003037446-2 3
4 ◾ Global and Digital Strategy
of Whole Foods in 2017 and into healthcare with the acquisition of primary care provider One
Medical in 2022), and physical incumbent businesses are fast pursuing digitalization and digital
business models. For example, John Deere, the agricultural, forestry, and construction machinery
company, which used to manufacture separate engines for a wide range of users, each requiring
a different level of horsepower, can now modify the horsepower of a standard engine using just
software. John Deere is meeting global customer needs for varying designs through software,
rather than hardware. Though it is not just software, other elements of digital technology, such as
artificial intelligence (AI), 3D printing, Internet of Things (IoT), and robotics, are helping to blur
the distinctions between physical business and digital business.
In addition to blurring the distinctions between physical business and digital business, global
meets digital is happening across multiple geographies in multiple contexts. One such context is
the blurring of boundaries between the old economy and the new economy to create what we might
call a connected economy. Another somewhat related context involves repurposing of the old, aban-
doned industrial sites into new uses—old becomes new again.
launched the era of mass production and continuing rise of prosperity in America. This trans-
formational change in manufacturing technologies and processes indeed changed how people
lived and worked in the decades that followed—all hallmarks of the arrival of a new economy in
America.
The term new economy acquired almost a new meaning in the dot-com era of the late 1990s
and early 2000s when the digital economy was the new economy. This new economy, like the earlier
ones, was born out of technological innovations (e.g., the internet), had its own players (the dot-
coms), playing fields (the World Wide Web), rules of the game (information rules), and business
models (e.g., clicks-and-bricks).
Today the world has both the old economy and the digital economy, as well as a new economy
that has emerged in the last decade or so. This new economy has been called by various names,
such as the second Machine Age2, the third industrial revolution3, and the age of smart machines4.
For sake of simplicity, we will refer to today’s economy as the global-digital economy. This term
comprises the old economy, the digital economy, and the age of the smart machines.5
The global–digital economy consists of consumers, firms, markets, nations, governments, and
other actors that are more connected to each other than at any time in previous eras. As in the past,
such connections are facilitated by the twin forces of globalization and technology, the latter now
at an unprecedented and increasing speed of change.
Some key features of the global–digital economy are:
one of the two state-certified technology parks in South Bend, the other being Innovation Park
at the University of Notre Dame just north of downtown South Bend. Ignition Park’s focus is
on high-potential technologies and ventures such as nanotechnology and turbomachines; Notre
Dame’s Turbomachinery Laboratory is located within the Ignition Park. South Bend has perhaps
the densest concentration of fiber optic cables in the country, ideal for data centers and telecom
and cloud services companies.7 It even has a commuter rail offering direct access to downtown
Chicago. The University of Notre Dame provides the intellectual capital for the Ignition Park and
the city’s other businesses.
As President of the (then) Toledo Area International Trade Association and a member of the
faculty of the business school at Bowling Green State University some 20 years ago, I had the
opportunity to explore northwest Ohio, a part of the Rust Belt region, in some depth. Around that
time, I also obtained a Business and International Education (BIE) federal grant with the theme
“Northwest Ohio: From Rust Belt to Prosperity in a Global Economy,” which gave me further
insights into this industrial decay and its potential. The 2-year BIE grant was intended to help
strengthen the international competitiveness of regional businesses through education, research,
and outreach. Over time, I have become quite interested in how some of the old, shuttered manu-
facturing estates and cities resurrected themselves into something new, dynamic, and exciting.
Manchester, NH, reputed to be a global textile capital before World War I, is now home
to knowledge businesses, research institutes, and fancy restaurants. The old, once-crumbling
Riverside Mill District has been reincarnated into a complex of 30 technology firms, includ-
ing Texas Instruments and Autodesk. Dyn, an internet performance company with more than
400 workers during its heyday, was headquartered in one of the repurposed industrial buildings.
Its office space looked like that of a high-tech company in Silicon Valley, complete with indoor
putting greens and playground slides (Oracle acquired Dyn in 2017 but permanently closed it
in January 2020). Some of the nineteenth-century industrial buildings that previously served as
tenement housing for textile mill workers are now stylish, eclectic residential condominiums, and
retail stores.
The University of New Hampshire, which maintains an urban campus in Manchester, has
been strengthening its STEM offerings and has a new biotechnology major. Many members of
its large student body find for-credit internships in the immediate business community, often in
STEM-oriented fields at high-tech companies. The Department of Defense is setting up an $80
million research institute, the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute, for the biofabrica-
tion of human tissue and organs.
The Crown Cork and Seal Company started operations in Baltimore in 1897 and was once
the largest bottle cap factory in the world. After relocating its headquarters to Philadelphia in
1958, the company sold 30 of its industrial buildings to the City of Baltimore for $1.5 million, but
manufacturing continued at its Highlandtown plant for another 30 years. (It closed its Baltimore
operation in 1987.) The repurposed Crown Cork and Seal building now houses artists’ studios and
light manufacturing enterprises. One of the company’s buildings, the Copycat Building (named
after Copy Cat Printing, which operated in the building decades ago), is now the centerpiece of
Baltimore’s Station North Arts and Entertainment District. It offers studio and living space for
more than 100 artists, musicians, and performers. Another building now houses the Emerging
Technology Center, a nonprofit tech incubator that has worked with more than 100 tech startups
at different stages of their evolution.
In the mid-2010s, James and Deb Fallows went on a 3-year journey across the US in their
single-engine Cirrus SR22 airplane, exploring small- and medium-sized cities that had previ-
ously suffered economic, political, environmental, or some other hardship, but came out of the
Global Meets Digital ◾ 7
hardship successfully. They traveled to about four dozen cities, spending up to 10 days in some
of them. The March 2016 issue of The Atlantic magazine has their detailed story, titled “How
America Is Putting Itself Back Together.”8 Everywhere they went, they saw signs of reinvention
and renewal. They found that despite the major talent destinations of the East and West Coasts,
talent and ambition are widely distributed throughout the US. Duluth, MN, for example, is now
a key aerospace center in the nation and also has new firms in medical equipment, environmental
technology, and other high-tech fields. The space occupied by the former Bethlehem Steel plant
in Bethlehem, PA, now has a performing arts center, a casino resort, and outdoor music venues.
Pittsburgh has metamorphosed from a dying steel city into a major technology hub, aided by its
key universities and local philanthropists (the Mellon, Heinz, Carnegie, and Frick families) com-
mitted to the city’s development.
Such phenomenal changes are not limited to the US. Dozens of European cities have expe-
rienced similar evolution. Like Pittsburgh in the US, entire cities—not just old manufactur-
ing plants—have been transformed into creative and high-tech spaces. For example, the city of
Sheffield9 in the UK was the birthplace of stainless steel manufacturing and a major player in
the first Industrial Revolution. After four devastating rounds of deep recession and other natural
disasters during the 1970s and 1980s, Sheffield’s resurgence during the 1990s and especially during
the early 2000s can be attributed to high levels of public investment, its strong university anchors,
advanced engineering and technical skills, manufacturing heritage, preexisting infrastructure,
and some 13,000 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that account for more than 80% of
all private sector jobs in the city. Its new economy companies are involved in hydrogen and other
renewables, digital innovation, environmental technologies, and advanced manufacturing.
One of the reasons for the comeback of downtrodden communities and cities has been the
availability of cheap land in once-abandoned manufacturing estates. But none of the industrial
renaissances would have been possible without the backing of universities with preexisting spe-
cialized research and educational facilities, their manufacturing and industrial heritage, infra-
structure, local philanthropies and economic development agencies, and public investment. These
factors have led to the establishment of incubators and other resources that attract entrepreneurs,
startups, artists, and others looking for affordable places to establish themselves.
In their 2016 book, The Smartest Places on Earth: Why Rustbelts Are the Emerging Hotspots of
Global Innovation, Antoine van Agtmael and Fred Bakker explored why the rust belts of the rich
world are developing into what they call brainbelts. With dozens of examples of rust belt and
nonrust belt cities from the US and Europe, they told stories of how people from different cultures
and backgrounds came together to find global solutions for global problems. They highlighted sev-
eral factors that helped create the brainbelts, such as visionary thinkers, local universities, public
initiatives, startups, and even big corporations. These emerging islands of creativity and innova-
tion have transformed local economies through collaboration between business, academia, and
regional governments working together with ingenuity, new technologies, and new materials.
The January 21, 2001 issue of the Newsweek magazine published a list of ten dying cities of
America, based on the largest population declines in America’s metro cities, that included South
Bend, IN, and Pittsburg, PA.10 Despite declining population, these and many other cities now
present growth trends that span high-tech and creative industries, even growing population in
some—hallmarks of economic resurgence. They offer lessons for erstwhile industrial cities to ben-
efit from their preexisting industrial and infrastructural assets, universities, corporations, local
philanthropists and visionary thinkers, and governments to work together for a new future.
Business in the 2020s is global and digital, almost by definition. Every company today is
global—whether it does business abroad or competes with companies from abroad. With 7.98
8 ◾ Global and Digital Strategy
The BRIC nations now account for 165 of the FG500 companies (145 are in China), compared
to just 14, 19 years ago. Clearly, the world’s economic center of gravity is moving from the devel-
oped toward the developing world and generally from West to East.
Size of middle class. Research by Homi Kharas of the Brookings Institution shows that by
2030, about 65% of the world’s total middle class will likely be living in Asia Pacific (Table 1.3).16
When the middle-class populations in Central and South America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and
Middle East and North Africa are added to this total, it comes to about 80% of the total world-
wide middle-class population. In fact, by the end of 2018, over half the world’s population was
middle class or rich.17
The consumption by the middle-class population in Asia Pacific (including Japan) will likely
be 57% of the total world consumption by 2030 (Table 1.4).
Further, as Table 1.5 shows, India and China are going to be the big spenders in the coming
decades, their share in worldwide consumption eclipsing that of individual countries in the rest
of the world by orders of magnitude. In 2015, the US had the largest middle-class market in the
world ($4.7 trillion), but was overtaken by China in 2020 and will likely be overtaken by India
Global Meets Digital ◾ 11
UK 39 33 29 18
Germany 34 34 36 28
France 43 40 40 25
Japan 107 81 71 47
Canada 12 14 11 12
Italy 10 10 11 5
BRICs Brazil 2 4 8 7
Russia 2 3 6 4
India 1 5 8 9
China 9 18 47 145
Source: Homi Kharas, “The Unprecedented Expansion of the Global Middle Class, An Update”,
February 2017 (Brookings Institution).
in 2030. According to estimates by Homi Kharas of the Brookings Institution, the middle-class
market in advanced economies, having reached maturity, is growing at only 0.5–1% per year. The
middle-class market in emerging economies, by contrast, will likely grow at 6% per year.
There is of course a lot more to globalization than discussed here, which we will explore in
greater detail in Chapter 2.
12 ◾ Global and Digital Strategy
Source: Homi Kharas, “The Unprecedented Expansion of the Global Middle Class, An Update”,
February 2017 (Brookings Institution).
Source: Homi Kharas, “The Unprecedented Expansion of the Global Middle Class, An Update”,
February 2017 (Brookings Institution).
Global Meets Digital ◾ 13
Technology—On Steroids
Technology is the second big reality in today’s world, and, in fact, it provides the glue for the
global–digital economy. Technology and globalization have gone hand in hand for centuries,
each impacting and being impacted by the other. As noted earlier, technology has been behind
the evolution of new economies ever since the first Industrial Revolution. Over the last several
decades, technology has been advancing at an increasing rate of change in multiple fields, includ-
ing information technology (IT), manufacturing and automation, life sciences, genetic engineer-
ing, renewable energy, materials, automotive, services, processes, and more—so much so it is now
ubiquitous in our everyday lives.
Information technology has seen the greatest advances
There are known knowns.
during the last two decades. There are many more
There are things we know that
advances yet to come, most of which cannot even be visu-
we know. There are known
alized at this time. (This book focuses largely on digital
unknowns. That is to say, there are
technologies.)
things that we now know we don’t
As Donald Rumsfeld, the former US Secretary
know. But there are also unknown
of State for Defense, might say, there are “unknown
unknowns. There are things we do
unknowns.” This is partly because information technolo-
not know we don’t know.
gies are general-purpose technologies18 that can be used
Donald Rumsfeld, US Secretary
in multiple industries in multiple ways. According to Erik
of State for Defense, 2002
Brynjolfsson’s and Andrew McAfee, today’s IT is quanti-
tatively and qualitatively different from its earlier heyday
in that it is digital, exponential, and recombinant.19 Digital technologies are behind most of the
innovations we see today in practically all fields of human endeavor, and their progress has been
exponential as suggested by Moore’s law and Metcalfe’s law of network effects. Moore’s law states
that, for a given price, computing power doubles every 18–24 months, and according to Metcalfe’s
law, the value of a network equals the square of the number of its users; hence, the exponential
characteristic of the digital revolution. Finally, borrowing the term recombinant from genetics
research, Brynjolfsson and McAfee observe that digital innovation is recombinant in the sense
that each innovation “becomes a building block of future innovations.”20 Innovations from mul-
tiple sources get connected and enhanced through networks and open innovation to create entirely
new products and services which may or may not bear any semblance to the products/services
from which they evolved.
Computers and IT form the backbone of new products and services that simply did not exist
even 10 years ago. In manufacturing, the 3D printing technology has taken the world by storm.
One can now literally print not only complex pieces of jewelry at home, but also a handgun using
a 3D printer and design software downloaded from the internet. Several companies now construct
(print) houses, even large buildings, using 3D printing technology. For instance, in 2019, Apis Cor
of the US was hired by Dubai Municipality to print a two-story administrative building, the larg-
est 3D printed building in the world at the time. The 6,998-square-foot building was completed
in just 2 weeks.21 Figure 1.2 shows a 3D printed house in Wallenhausen, Germany.
3D printing is, of course, only one of several disruptive technologies today. It was only a few
years ago that social, mobile, analytics, and cloud (SMAC) were all the rage in technology innova-
tion. Today, some of the maturing, disruptive technologies (in no particular order) are Artificial
intelligence (AI), fifth-generation mobile cellular communications (5G), cloud computing, data
analytics, Internet of Things (IoT), advanced robotics, virtual and augmented reality (VR and
AR), 3D printing, and blockchain.
14 ◾ Global and Digital Strategy
Not just manufacturing and construction, these and other digital technologies are upend-
ing most other industries. Take, for instance, MoneyLion, a fintech company launched in 2013.
It offers its members free checking accounts, debit cards usable at over 55,000 ATMs without a
fee, managed investing in ETF portfolios, and, for a fee, cash advances and help with building
credit. It targets people with less than $2,000 in savings on average and already has over 4 million
members and $477.5 million in venture capital funding as of summer 2022. Or, in healthcare,
consider TytoCare, a mobile-health platform that allows anyone to perform guided medical self-
exam with a remote healthcare provider anytime, anywhere. With the Tyto exam kit handheld by
a patient, the medical provider can remotely examine the patient’s heart, throat, abdomen, skin,
ears, and body temperature. The provider can then offer diagnosis, treatment plan, and even order
a prescription, if needed. Founded in 2012, Tyto offers three telehealth products: TytoHome™ for
consumers, TytoPro™ for professionals, and TytoClinic™ for remote point-of-care locations—all
designed to replicate a face-to-face clinic visit.
Digitization involves the conversion of an analog source into a digital source, that is, convert-
ing it into a series of zeros and ones so it can be read by computers—a bridge between the analog
and the digital worlds. The analog source can be a paper book converted into an e-book. It can
be a musical score (a printed manuscript) or a phone conversation (physical sound) converted into
a digital file. So, digitization simply involves converting an analog source into a digital source,
without making any changes to the underlying process itself. That’s the function of digitalization.
Digitalization is the process of moving to digital business; it cannot occur unless the different
elements involved in a process have first been digitized. Digitalization thus involves transforming a
business process using digital technologies. It makes processes easier to perform and more efficient.
It is ubiquitous in our daily lives, so much so it is hard to visualize a world without digitalization.
Digitization and digitalization are what used to be known as computerization in an earlier era.
All this growth and innovation are, however, not without challenges. A key challenge aris-
ing from the adoption and growth of digital technology revolves around digital disruption.
Technologies like AI, data analytics, robotics, and others mentioned earlier (and new entrants into
their industries) are fueling disruption for millions of companies, especially those in legacy indus-
tries wedded to older technologies and unwilling or unable to digitalize their processes, systems,
and business models. A 2019 survey of decision makers conducted by market research firm Vanson
Bourne, and sponsored by Teradata, found that 94% of the businesses surveyed experienced some
form of disruption and were rethinking their business approaches. The survey also found that
61% of the respondents were unprepared to strategically address market-disruptive competitors.
The top sources of disruption included keeping up with customer demands and market dynam-
ics (87% of the respondents), workforce pressures such as skills shortages and employee retention
(85%), and adapting to new business models (74%). Respondents in the survey, called “Adapt or
Perish: The New Reality in a Hyper-digitized World,” were from companies in the US, the UK,
France, Germany, China, and Japan with 1,000 employees or more and annual revenue of at least
$250 million—in financial services, IT, technology, and telecom industries.22
Refer to Chapter 3 for more on technology, its genesis, and its impact on the business world.
for customers, markets, and resources globally. In markets worldwide, it often meets the same global
players and also has the opportunity to dovetail its competitive stance against specific competitors
differently in different markets. At the same time, it must meet the assault on its home market by
companies from throughout the world, and increasingly by companies from emerging markets.
With new technologies (e.g., AI and 3D printing), new players (digital startups), new products
(IoT devices), new playing fields (digital and emerging markets), new challenges (digital disruption),
new rules of the game (network effects), and new market dynamics (winner-take-all or winner-take-
most), competition is now an entirely new ballgame.
New technologies. Competition in high-technology industries is generally very different from
competition in old-economy industries. Platform-based business models, multisided markets, and
network effects are especially important in considering the impacts of technology on compe-
tition. While new technologies can provide competitive advantage to a firm, for example, by
creating entry barriers for competitors, technology markets also present some unique challenges
for firms. Such challenges include digital disruption caused by newer technologies, startups, and
other entrants into their industries (think Uber/Lyft in the taxi market) as well as by services such
as price comparison websites (e.g., confused.com in the insurance and financial services industries
in the UK). Besides, companies such as Uber/Lyft and Airbnb have not only disrupted the taxi
and hospitality industries, respectively, they have also increased the market size of those industries
and have often bred new startups.
New players. These are companies that have joined the ranks of global competitors from
emerging markets, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) new to international competition
from both developed and emerging markets, as well as new digital players from everywhere. All of
these have negative implications for incumbents in their industries.
New products. Digital technologies and innovation are giving rise to new products and
services—both purely digital and IoT—whose economics and market behavior are very different
from those of physical goods and services.
New playing fields. The fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989 opened up huge new
markets—markets that had been behind the Iron Curtain for over 50 years—for companies from
all over the world. The growth of developing economies since the 1990s and 2000s has created a
much larger market for companies with international operations or aspirations. These new mar-
kets comprise some 4 billion consumers and millions of businesses—more than the world experi-
enced at any other time in the past. Add online markets to these playing fields.
New challenges. Digital disruption is just one of the challenges brought on by digital.
Businesses today face many other technology-related challenges such as fast-evolving technolo-
gies, budgetary constraints, and security concerns.
New rules of the game. In the global–digital economy, firms have many more competitive
tools available to them than in any of the previous economies. This is partly because it consists of
the old economy, the digital economy, and the age of smart machines—each with its own com-
petitive tools. For old-economy firms, Michael Porter’s generic strategies framework should work
well, i.e., companies can compete through cost leadership, differentiation, and/or scope.
New market dynamics. Digital markets exhibit zero or near zero marginal cost and sig-
nificant economies of scale. Such characteristics, along with network effects, whereby a product
becomes more valuable the more users it has, can generate winner-take-all or winner-take-most
market dynamics.26
Digital economy firms, for which economies of scale and scope tend to be very significant, are
subject to Carl Shapiro’s and Hal Varian’s information rules.27 Digital or information goods are
goods that can be digitized, that is, converted into bits (the smallest possible piece of information,
Global Meets Digital ◾ 17
represented by a 1 or a 0) and bytes (groups of 8 bits each). As was observed earlier, the marginal
cost of producing a digital good is zero or nearly zero. With zero or near zero marginal cost, and
with significant economies of scale, “[T]he returns in such markets typically follow a distinct
pattern—a power law, or Pareto curve, in which a small number of players reap a disproportionate
share of the rewards. Network effects, whereby a product becomes more valuable the more users it
has, can also generate these kinds of winner-take-all or winner-take-most markets.”28 Examples of
such digital products (with one, two, or three winners in the market, the rest being niche players)
are not hard to find. The Microsoft application software is but one.
Smart products (connected things), on the other hand, are both physical and digital and con-
nected to other smart products through the internet. Because they are physical, they do not have
zero marginal cost. Because they have software and sensors embedded into them, the cost of
producing them is generally greater than for their purely physical equivalents. However, they are
able to command premium prices. The rules of the game for the age of the smart machines are
still evolving and would likely include technology leadership, increasing returns to scale, and first
mover advantages, among others.
Truly, competition in the 2020s is an entirely new ball game! In this new global–digital world,
everyone, including individuals and businesses, will need a new gameplan. That’s where this book
comes in.
notes
1 This term was first used by The Economist, “The age of smart machines,” on May 25, 2013, and popu-
larized by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee in their January 2014 book, The Second Machine
Age (W.W. Norton & Company). Michael E. Porter and James E. Heppelmann referred to such prod-
ucts as “smart, connected products” in their Harvard Business Review articles in November 2014 and
October 2015.
2 Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a
Time of Brilliant Technologies (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2014).
3 The Economist, “Manufacturing: The Third Industrial Revolution,” The Economist, April 21, 2012.
4 The Economist, “The Age of Smart Machines,” The Economist, May 24, 2013.
5 For more discussion, see Vinod K. Jain, Global Strategy: Competing in the Connected Economy
(New York and London: Routledge, 2016).
6 An earlier version of this section appeared in the July 2020 issue of the Mensa Bulletin, Vinod K. Jain,
“Old is new again: A dazzling new sheen on the rust belt.” https://www.us.mensa.org/read/bulletin/
features/old-is-new-again/.
7 Paul Tullis, “Pete Buttigieg revived South Bend with tech. Up next: America,” Wired, April 11, 2019.
https://www.wired.com/story/pete-buttigieg-revived-south-bend-with-tech-up-next-america/.
8 James Fallows, “How America is putting itself back together,” The Atlantic, March 6, 2016. https://www.
theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/03/how-america-is-putting-itself-back-together/426882/.
9 Laura Lane, Ben Grubb, & Anne Power, “Sheffield City Story,” CASEreport 103, May 2016, LSE
Center for Analysis and Social Exclusion.
10 Mainstreet, “America’s dying cities,” Newsweek, January 21, 2011. https://www.newsweek.com/
americas-dying-cities-66873.
11 Jorge Lopez, “Digital business is everyone’s business,” Forbes, May 7, 2014. https://www.forbes.
com/sites/gartnergroup/2014/05/07/digital-business-is-everyones-business/#4952ea4b7f82. See also:
https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/every-business-digital-business/.
12 Jagdish Bhagwati, In Defense of Globalization (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), p. 3.
13 Michael Spence, The Next Convergence: The Future of Economic Growth in a Multispeed World (New
York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011), p. 15.
18 ◾ Global and Digital Strategy
Chapter 2
Paradox of Globalization
What an extraordinary episode in the economic progress of man that age was which
came to an end in August 1914! … The inhabitant of London could order by tele-
phone, sipping his morning tea in bed, the various products of the whole earth, in
such quantity as he might see fit, and reasonably expect their early delivery upon his
doorstep; he could at the same moment and by the same means adventure his wealth
in the natural resources and new enterprises of any quarter of the world …
John Maynard Keynes, The Economic Consequences of the
Peace (London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., 1919) p. 6
This is how John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946), the renowned economist and man of quite a
range of interests and influence, described globalization as it existed (for the upper classes in
Britain) during the pre-World War I era—in some respects a bit akin to what exists today. His
1919 book, The Economic Consequences of the Peace, from which the above quotation was taken,
made him a celebrity, well before he formulated Keynesian Economics and became famous.
The railroads, steamships, telegraph, and telephone—multinational communication net-
works—already existed by the year 1900. Prior to 1914, people, goods, and capital could move
between countries much more easily than today—largely unimpeded by trade and investment bar-
riers, visas, and such. Hence, a London inhabitant could indeed order on phone what he needed
to purchase or invest his capital in any part of the world relatively easily.
So, what is globalization and when did it begin? And what is the paradox? It depends on whom
you ask.
Views on globalization range from it being the root of all evil to a solution for many of the
problems the world is facing. Perhaps there is some truth to both positions. However, there are
many kinds of globalization, such as cultural, ecological, economic, and political. Even though
these types are somewhat interconnected, economic globalization tends to be the most prominent
and bears the brunt of criticism. Some people tend to ascribe anything and everything to (eco-
nomic) globalization, without making distinctions among the different kinds of globalization.
In this book, we will mostly be concerned with economic globalization, defined as growing inte-
gration and economic interdependence among nations—via international trade and investment,
and people, capital, and technology and data flows. The paradox centers on positive and negative
forces impacting globalization, discussed later in this chapter.
DOI: 10.4324/9781003037446-3 19
20 ◾ Global and Digital Strategy
Economic globalization derives its underpinnings from Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations,
published in 1776 during the early years of the first Industrial Revolution, which explored the role
of free trade, specialization, division of labor, and markets in raising productivity and prosperity
in nations. However, globalization actually preceded Adam Smith by thousands of years.
The principal and most profitable goods they traded in were spices... But precious
goods were not the only points of exchange between the traders. Perhaps more impor-
tant was the exchange of knowledge: knowledge of new peoples and their religions,
languages, expertise, artistic and scientific skills. The ports along the Maritime Silk
Roads (Spice Routes) acted as melting pots for ideas and information. With every ship
that swept out with a cargo of valuables on board, fresh knowledge was carried over
the seas to the ship’s next port of call.2
More recently, explorers like Marco Polo (thirteenth and fourteenth centuries), Zheng He
(fifteenth century), Christopher Columbus (fifteenth and sixteenth centuries), Vasco da Gama
(fifteenth and sixteenth centuries), and David Livingstone3 (nineteenth century) were some of the
early torchbearers of globalization.
Marco Polo, for instance, traveled the Silk Road with his uncle and father eastward from their
home in Venice in 1271, taking a somewhat different route from the one his uncle and father had
taken 10 years earlier. While in China, Marco Polo served in the court of the Great Kublai Khan
for 17 years, in various important, high-ranking positions, and traveled a great deal on official mis-
sions within China and even to Burma and India. Some of the places Marco Polo visited during
his travels were not seen by the Europeans until centuries later. The Polos returned to Venice in
1295 with great wealth, singing tales of the wonders and the wealth of the Chinese civilization.
Three years after his return to Venice, war broke out between Venice and the rival city of Genoa.
Marco joined the army but was captured and spent a year in a Genoese prison. While in prison,
he dictated the story of his travels to a fellow prisoner, a writer, who recorded his tales. The story
turned out to be one of the greatest travelogues in history, The Description of the World or The
Travels of Marco Polo, a “bestseller” in Medieval Europe. However, the book came to be known as
Il Milione (The Million Lies), because no one believed that any country could actually be as rich and
cultured as China. The book had a tremendous impact as Europeans began to learn more about
the East, and future explorers, including Columbus, read it with interest. Much of what Marco
Polo wrote was later verified by travelers in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Even Chinese
historians found the book of great value as it helped them better understand the thirteenth century
China.4
Some of the “more recent” traders were the various East India Companies of the seventeenth
to nineteenth centuries from Britain, the Netherlands, France, etc. For example, the British East
India Company was chartered in Britain in 1600 to trade with the East Indies, and the Dutch
East India Company was chartered in the Netherlands in 1602 with a 21-year monopoly to trade
with Asia. Some have referred to the East India Companies as the first multinational corporations
(MNCs).5 Not really, they were indeed chartered to conduct trade, but they also carried armies
with them, conquered lands, and subjugated native populations in those lands for hundreds of
years. The British East India Company became involved in politics and acted as an agent of British
imperialism in India from the early eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries.6 The company
was also a catalyst for British imperialism in China. The Dutch East India Company was, in
fact, given “quasi-government powers, including the ability to wage war, imprison and execute
convicts, negotiate treaties, strike its own coins, and establish colonies.”7 They were no MNCs.
Zheng He, an Admiral during China’s Ming dynasty, led an armada of the largest ships8 in the
world at the time exploring the Indian Ocean, including India, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Arabia,
and East Africa, on seven voyages in the early 1400s. The armada had over 27,000 crew members
and soldiers and 300 ships, the longest being 400 ft by 160 ft. (By comparison, in 1492, Columbus
had 90 sailors on three ships, of which the longest ship, the Santa Maria, was 85 ft long.) The pur-
pose of his voyages was apparently to obtain recognition and gifts for emperor Yongle from rulers
of the lands he visited, rather than to conquer or colonize them. He did use force against those
who refused to respect the emperor’s wishes.
22 ◾ Global and Digital Strategy
During the Age of Discovery, a period from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries, Europeans
carried out many global explorations and discovered many ocean routes, such as to the West in
1492 when Christopher Columbus reached the Americas and to the East in 1498 when Vasco
da Gama reached India. The conquistadors, professional warriors from Portugal and Spain, con-
quered the Americas, especially Mexico and Peru in the sixteenth century, and ruled the region for
300 years. European explorers also set up trading posts in Africa, Americas, and Asia for tradable
goods such as spices, gold, silver, firearms, and slaves.
Angus Maddison (1926–2010), formerly Professor Emeritus at the University of Groningen,
was a noted British economist who had specialized in measuring and analyzing economic growth
and development during long periods of time in dozens of countries. His databases are important
sources for analyzing long-term economic growth and are used by academic researchers and policy
analysts worldwide. Table 2.1 presents excerpts from one of his databases highlighting how the
different countries and regions of the world fared over the last 1,000 years.9 Although China and
India had the highest gross domestic product (GDP) in the world early on, they were overtaken
by Western Europe by 1870 (not shown in the table), by the US by 1913, by the former USSR by
1950, and by Japan by 1973.
These data show the GDP in different countries and regions, but they do not show the extent
to which these countries/regions were involved in trade. Table 2.2 presents Maddison’s estimates
of merchandise exports as a share of GDP for a selected group of countries, which give an indica-
tion of the extent to which they were involved in international trade from 1870 to 1998. The most
active exporters throughout this period were the European countries included in the table, though
Spain and France seem to have joined the club of big exporters of manufactured goods only in
T
Country/
Region 1000 1500 1700 1820 1913 1950 1973 2003
Total Asia 81,683 153,617 214,281 391,738 609,135 830,428 2,621,624 13,855,834
(excl.
Japan)
Source: Angus Maddison, Contours of the World Economy, 1–2030 AD: Essays in Macroeconomic
History (London: Oxford University Press, 2007), p. 379.
Paradox of Globalization ◾ 23
Source: Angus Maddison, The World Economy: A Millennial Perspective, Vols. I and II, (OECD 2006),
p. 362.
the 1990s. The US, on the other hand, had not been a big exporter throughout this period, partly
because of its huge domestic consumption.10
According to Maddison’s analysis, the causes for the ascent of the West compared to the rest
of the world included higher population growth, dramatic progress in shipping and navigation,
scientific progress, and technical innovations. For instance, population grew five-fold in the West
between 1000 and 1820, somewhat less than four times in the rest of the world. Progress of
Western shipping and navigation, a result of scientific discoveries and innovation, led to twenty-
fold increase in world trade between 1500 and 1820. Table 2.3 shows that world trade had been
growing much faster than the world GDP throughout the period shown in the table, except dur-
ing 1913–1950 because of the two world wars and the near collapse of world trade and cross-
border capital flows.11
Source: Angus Maddison, Growth and Interaction in the World Economy: The Roots of Modernity
(Washington, DC: The AEI Press, 2004), p. 22.
Multilateral Institutions
The devastation caused by the two world wars and most countries’ desire to create a calmer world
led to the creation of three multilateral institutions—the International Monetary Fund (IMF),
the World Bank, and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT); GATT was later
absorbed into the World Trade Organization (WTO) on January 1, 1995. Representatives from 44
nations met in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire in the US from 1944 to 1947 to try and develop
international institutions that would help create stability in the world’s economic, financial, and
trading systems, and to help rebuild Europe. The idea behind the creation of these institutions was
that they would help manage, regulate, and police the global marketplace, and provide financial
assistance to countries when needed. They did and continue to do all of that—at least to some
extent—and have had a major influence in helping to create an increasingly integrated and inter-
dependent world.
Governments
Member countries must fulfill their obligations as members of the three multilateral institutions—
obligations to which they had previously agreed at the Bretton Woods Conference and at later
meetings and discussion rounds. Over the years, governments of individual countries have taken
many actions in their own interest, though some of them also helped bring countries together eco-
nomically, politically, and culturally. For instance, countries within certain regions (though not
always in the same region) have formed economic integration agreements, such as the European
Union (EU) and the US–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA), which replaced NAFTA (North
American Free Trade Agreement) in March 2020. Such agreements are designed to help countries
benefit from free trade over and above what they could achieve as WTO members. There are many
other such actions taken by country governments to foster their economic interests and have a
greater say in world affairs, which also led to greater interaction among nations.
Paradox of Globalization ◾ 25
Multinational Enterprises
An MNC or an MNE is a firm that has manufacturing and/or service presence in two or more
countries. As of 2018, there were an estimated 60,000 MNCs in the world, with about 500,000
subsidiaries worldwide.12 Unlike a few decades ago, many of today’s MNEs come from developing
countries. Some MNEs are small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and some were even born
global. The latter category includes companies that operate on the internet, such as Skype, Netflix,
and Google, serving customers anywhere and everywhere. Netflix shows are available in dozens
of countries, some in their own language and some dubbed or with subtitles, and with Google
Translate, enabling people from throughout the world read foreign-language newspapers; it’s often
the MNEs that are now helping integrate the world.
Globalization today
The result of the recent growth in globalization is that the world today is much more integrated and
more interdependent than it was even a few decades ago, even taking into account growing trade
tensions, protectionism, and move away from democratic and free market institutions. Furthermore,
there is a growing convergence between the developed and developing worlds. However, the impacts
of globalization extend much beyond that. We now observe trends depicting role reversal between
developed and developing nations, which is redefining the rules of global competition.
T
Advanced
US Countriesa Emerging Countries
T
Foreign Companies Building Foreign Companies Buying
Country Category Factories in Our Country Is Good Our Companies Is Good
Emerging 70 44
Developing 85 57
Global median 74 45
The 2014 and the 2018 Global Attitudes Surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center,13 a
Washington, DC-based think tank, found that most countries believe that globalization is good
for their country at least in some respects (see Table 2.4). However, respondents in advanced coun-
tries, especially in the US (and Japan and Italy, not shown in the table), seem to be ambivalent
about its benefits on trade in matters relating to jobs and wages, whereas emerging countries are
the strongest supporters of trade and globalization.
Foreign direct investment, the second pillar of globalization (the first being trade), is generally
welcomed by countries, both advanced and emerging. More specifically, greenfield investment
which involves creating a new business in a foreign country (e.g., building a new factory) as com-
pared to executing mergers and acquisitions (M&As; taking possession of existing businesses) is
generally preferred, because it can mean creation of new employment and dissemination of new
technologies, new management methods, and other intangibles in the host market. Table 2.5
shows countries’ contrasting views on greenfield investment versus M&As. A global average of
74% of the survey respondents approved of foreign firms building new factories in their countries,
but only 45% said that foreign companies acquiring local enterprises was a good thing. The dis-
tinction is even more pronounced for advanced countries—74% approving building new factories
compared to only 31% approving foreign acquisitions of domestic enterprises. However, the dif-
ference in public opinion between greenfield investment and M&A is less pronounced among
emerging and developing countries. In developing countries, especially, 85% of the respondents
Paradox of Globalization ◾ 27
T
Foreign Companies Building Foreign Companies Buying
Country Factories in Our Country Is Good Our Companies Is Good
South Korea 76 27
Japan 57 33
Brazil 72 41
Mexico 73 51
South Africa 67 45
Nigeria 89 38
India 62 43
Indonesia 44 28
Turkey 46 24
Source: Global Attitudes and Trends Survey, 2019, Pew Research Center Survey, 2014, Pew
Research Center.
thought that greenfield investment was good, but 57% said that foreign acquisitions of domestic
enterprises was good.
Pew Research Center repeated the survey in 2019, but only for 15 selected countries. Of the G7
countries, only Japan was included in the survey. The results are generally in the same direction as
for the 2014 survey, but with some significant differences. On an average, 72% of the respondents
in the 15 countries surveyed said that foreign companies making greenfield investments in their
countries was a good thing, while only 40% thought that foreign companies buying companies
in their countries was a good thing. Table 2.6 shows differences of views in 10 of the 15 countries
surveyed in 2019.
Reverse Innovation
General Electric’s former Chairman and CEO, Jeffrey Immelt and Dartmouth College Tuck
School professors, Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble, coined and popularized the term reverse
innovation in their 2009 Harvard Business Review article.14 Reverse innovation, also known as
trickle-up innovation, refers to any innovation developed for emerging markets that is then sold
in developed markets. General Electric and most MNEs typically sold modified Western products
in emerging markets (a process often called glocalization); reverse innovation, as the term implies,
is just the reverse.
The best-known example of reverse innovation is GE MAC 400—an inexpensive, portable
electrocardiogram (ECG) machine developed by GE Healthcare in Bangalore, India in 2007
for the rural market in India—that was later launched in the US as GE MAC 800. Another
good example, also from GE, is the conventional ultrasound machine sold in sophisticated hos-
pital imaging centers in China in 2002 for $100,000 and more. The local R&D team in China
28 ◾ Global and Digital Strategy
developed an inexpensive, portable ultrasound machine using a laptop computer that was sold for
$30,000–$40,000 in 2002 in China. By 2007, cheaper models were selling at $15,000 and found
a huge, growing market in China, the US, and elsewhere.
Other examples of reverse innovation include Procter & Gamble’s Vicks Honey Cough, a rem-
edy for cold and cough developed by the company in Mexico, which found success in America and
Europe, and Coca-Cola’s Minute Maid Pulpy, orange fruit juice with real orange pulp, popular in
the Chinese market. Later introduced in other Asian markets and in New Zealand, Minute Maid
Pulpy is the first billion-dollar Coca-Cola brand to emerge from China. Microsoft created an app
for dumb (nonsmart) phones to allow their users in India and South Africa access to websites, such
as Facebook and Twitter. The app has found new use as a low-cost cloud computing platform.
MNEs have been investing in R&D in emerging and developing nations for over two decades—
primarily to develop products for local use, but also to arbitrage the cost and talent advantage of
such nations for R&D work for developed nations. Now, with reverse innovation, some of the
products developed by the MNEs in emerging nations find markets in developed nations.
Strategy &, the consulting arm of PwC, conducts the annual Global Innovation 1000 study of the
world’s top 1000 R&D spenders. Since 2005, the study has been charting the pattern of innovation
spending by these top spenders. In the 2015 Global Innovation 1000 study, PwC reported that 94%
of the world’s largest innovation spenders conducted key elements of their R&D programs overseas,
with Asia being the top destination, followed by North America and Europe. The top 1000 R&D
spenders, for instance, spent a total of $28 billion in India in 2015, a 115% increase since 2007.
Multinationals have been relocating R&D to India for a variety of reasons, with cost not necessarily
being the most important. According to Denise Ramos, the CEO of the US-based ITT Corporation,
“Our tech center in India gives us an around-the-clock capability to accelerate development work due
to the time difference with the US... Highest priority was access to technical talent that was in close
proximity to regional customers. The fact that some of the labor is lower cost was nice to have, but not
a primary driver.” As for moving R&D to China, 71% of the survey respondents mentioned proximity
to high-growth market as their top reason for moving R&D to China, followed by proximity to key
manufacturing sites (59%) and key suppliers (54%), and a cost advantage (53%).15
Reverse FDI
For too long, international investment between developed and developing countries was a one-way
street, with investment flowing from the developed to the developing countries. In recent decades,
however, we have been seeing a reversal, whereby developing countries have also been investing
in developed countries. China, for instance, has been making substantial outward foreign direct
investment (FDI) for many years—investing in both developed and developing countries—rank-
ing as the #2, #3, or #4 largest foreign direct investor nation in the world; with state-owned
enterprises (SOEs) accounting for a dominant share of Chinese firms’ outward FDI. However,
outward FDI from China has been declining since 2016 (when it was $196.149 billion, the second
largest foreign direct investor nation in the world)—due to stricter government regulations against
capital outflows, slowdown due to COVID-19, and security concerns in recipient countries due to
Chinese companies’ investments there.
The US had been the largest foreign direct investor nation for a long time but lost its top rank
in 2018 as American MNEs began repatriating their foreign investments and earnings back to the
US as a result of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. The US regained its status as the largest foreign
direct investor nation in the world in 2020. Table 2.7 shows the list of the top five foreign direct
investor nations during 2019–2021.16
Paradox of Globalization ◾ 29
T
2021 2020 2019
According to Sanford C. Bernstein, a Wall Street research firm, the Chinese are “increasingly
aspirational and conspicuous consumers.”17 The same can also be said of Chinese corporates. For
example, Chinese carmaker Geely acquired Volvo from Ford and took a 9.69% stake in Germany’s
Daimler AG. Lenovo acquired IBM’s PC division with the right to use the IBM logo for 5 years.
China National Chemical Corporation’s (ChemChina’s) wholly owned subsidiary China National
Tire & Rubber Co. acquired Italy’s tire maker Pirelli, while Dongfeng Motor took a 14% stake
in France’s PSA Peugeot Citroen. Chinese companies go to developed countries for a variety of
reasons, including seeking new markets, global brands, advanced technologies, and global man-
agement expertise. With China’s going out policy, companies often receive significant government
support in their efforts to become world leaders in their respective industries. SOEs may especially
be driven to be seen as national champions in the eyes of their government.18
Indian companies had been making investments abroad for much longer, though mostly in
developing countries in the past. Since about 2000, however, some two-thirds of Indian MNEs’
foreign direct investments have gone up-market—to highly developed countries such as the US, the
UK, Germany, and France. India’s Tata Steel acquired the British-Dutch steelmaker Corus, Tata
Motors acquired Jaguar Cars and Land Rover from Ford, and Suzlon Energy acquired Germany’s
Repower. Other foreign acquisitions by Indian firms included HCL Technologies’ acquisition of
UK’s Axon Group, an SAP consulting company, and Tata Consultancy Services’ acquisition of
the French IT services firm, Alti SA. The Indian-owned Mittal Steel Company acquired Arcelor
(France, Spain, and Luxembourg) through a hostile takeover in 2006 and became the world’s larg-
est steel maker, ArcelorMittal SA, headquartered in Luxembourg city.
India Inc.’s investments in developed countries result from several factors, including Indian
companies’ ability to arbitrage their cost advantage; India’s human capital, both technical and
managerial; a huge domestic market with cut-throat competition in many industries; well-devel-
oped institutions (compared to many other emerging markets); business acumen resulting from
deeply embedded entrepreneurial traditions; and a long exposure to Western and Japanese multi-
nationals and their management practices.19
In addition to the Chinese and Indian MNEs, companies from other emerging and developing
countries have also been investing in advanced countries. When Mexico’s cement firm, CEMEX,
decided to go global in 1992, it acquired two cement firms in Spain, Valenciana, and Sanson,
for reasons of cultural and linguistic affinity. Much of the investment between Spain and Latin
America had been a one-way street for decades. Reversing two decades of Spain’s acquisition spree
into Latin America, Latin American firms spent more on acquiring Spanish firms for the first time
in 2013 than the other way around. In fact, Mexican firms were the biggest acquirers of Spanish
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"5. Two famous Pillars, Jachin and Boaz.
"6. Three great Lights: the Sun Hieroglyphical to rule the Day, the Moon
Emblematical to rule the Night; a Master Mason Political to rule his—Lodge.
"7. The Entered Prentice's Token.
"8. The Letter G famous in Masonry for differencing the Fellow Craft's Lodge from
that of Prentices.
"9. The Funeral of a Grand Master, according to the Rites of the Order, with the 15
loving Brethren.
"10. A Master Mason's Lodge.
"11. Grand Band of Musick.
"12. Two Trophies; one being that of a Black-shoe Boy and Link Boy, the other that
of a Chimney Sweeper.
"13. The Equipage of the Grand Master, all the Attendants wearing Mystical
Jewels."
A different, but a smaller, print of this Mock Procession was printed in May 1742,
with the following memoranda, viz. "The great Demand there has been for The
Westminster Journal, of the 8th instant, occasion'd reprinting the following piece.
"From my own Apartments in Spring Gardens.
"Though I do not belong to the Fraternity mentioned in the following piece, and
therefore am little concerned in the annual disputes, I think it my duty, as a
Watchman of the city of Westminster, to preserve the memory of the late
extraordinary Cavalcade, the like to which hath never happened since I have been
in office. As more solemn processions have of late years been very rare, it cannot
surely be taken amiss, either by the Free Masons, or the Scald-Miserables, that I
give so much distinction to this.
"T. Touchit.
"The Free Mason's Downfall, or the Restoration of the Scald-Miserables."
After the print follows: "A Key, or Explanation of the solemn and stately Procession
of the Scald-Miserable Masons, as it was martial'd on Tuesday the 27th past, by
their Scald-Pursuivant Black Mantle—set forth by Order of the Grand Master
Poncy."—Printed by J. Mechell, at The Kings Arms in Fleet-street, and sold by the
Pamphlet-shops, &c. Price Two-pence.
Extracts from The London Daily Post, March 20, 1740-1, &c. "Yesterday some
mock Free-Masons marched through Pall-Mall and The Strand, as far as Temple-
Bar, in procession; first went fellows on jack-asses, with cows horns in their
hands; then a kettle-drummer on a jack-ass, having two butter-firkins for kettle-
drums; then followed two carts drawn by jack-asses, having in them the stewards
with several badges of their order; then came a mourning coach drawn by six
horses, each of a different colour and size, in which were the grand master and
wardens; the whole attended by a vast mob. They stayed without Temple Bar till
the Masons came by, and paid their compliments to them, who returned the same
with an agreeable humour that possibly disappointed the witty contriver of this
mock scene, whole misfortune is, that though he has some wit, his subjects are
generally so ill chosen, that he loses by it as many friends as other people of more
judgement gain."
Again, April 28, 1742. "Yesterday being the annual feast of the ancient and
honourable society of Free and Accepted Masons, they made a grand procession
from Brook-street to Haberdashers Hall, where an elegant entertainment was
provided for them, and the evening was concluded with that harmony and
decency peculiar to the society."
"Some time before the society began their cavalcade, a number of shoe-cleaners,
chimney-sweepers, &c. on foot and in carts, with ridiculous pageants carried
before them, went in procession to Temple-Bar, by way of jest on the Free-
Masons, at the expence, as we hear, of one hundred pounds sterling, which
occasioned a great deal of diversion."
Again, May 3, 1744. "Yesterday several of the mock masons were taken up by the
constable empowered to impress men for his Majesty's service, and confined till
they can be examined by the justices."
30. Right Hon. Gustavus Lord Viscount Boyne, &c. &c. Whole length,
mezzotinto. W. Hogarth pinx. Andrew Miller fecit. "A very bad print,
done in Ireland."
I have since met with an early impression of this mezzotinto. The
inscription, dedication, &c. underneath it, are as follows:
"W. Hogarth pinx. Ford fecit. The Rt. Honble. Gustavus Lord Visct.
Boyne, Baron of Stackallen, one of his Majesty's most Honble. Priuy
Council, one of the Comrs. of the Revenue of Ireland, &c.
"To the Rt. Honble. the Earl of Kildare this plate is humbly dedicated
by his Lordship's most obedient humble servt. Mich. Ford.
"Published and sold by Mich. Ford, Painter and Print-seller on Cork
Hill. Price 5s. 5.d. [i. e. five thirteens."]
Mr. Walpole's is probably a later or a retouched impression from the
same plate, after it had fallen into the hands of one Andrew Miller,
who effaced the name of Ford, and substituted his own.
This scarce print will undoubtedly suffer from comparison with the
works of Smith, M'Ardell, Earlom, Jones, &c. and yet perhaps it is the
best mezzotinto that Ireland has hitherto produced. It must be
confessed, however, that Hogarth's whole-length figure of Lord
Boyne is equally void of grace, meaning, and proportion; but these
defects have no connection with the labours of Ford, which would
have appeared to more advantage had they been exerted on a
better subject.
36. Another, almost the same as N° 34, but with a view of The
London Hospital.
37. Six prints for Don Quixote. W. Hogarth inv. & sculp.
When Lord Carteret, about the year 1737, was seeking artists to
design, &c. plates for his Spanish edition of this famous novel,
published in 1738, Hogarth, of course, was not overlooked. His
performances, however, gave so little satisfaction to his noble
employer, that they were paid for, and then laid aside in favour of
Vandrebank's drawings, afterwards engraved by Vandergucht. The
plates remaining in the hands of Mr. Tonson, his lordship's publisher,
at his death, were bought by Mr. Dodsley, who, finding they
exhibited no descriptions that could render them welcome to the
possessors of any copy of Don Quixote whatever, had the titles of
the chapters, &c. to which they belong, together with references to
the corresponding pages in Jarvis's translation, engraved under each
of them. The subjects of them are, I. Funeral of Chrysostom, and
Marcella vindicating herself; vol. I. p. 71. II. The Inn-keeper's wife
and daughter taking care of the Don after being beaten and bruised,
p. 129. III. Don Quixote releases the galley slaves, p. 129. IV. The
unfortunate Knight of the Rock meeting Don Quixote, p. 140. V. Don
Quixote seizes the barber's bason for Mambrino's helmet, p. 155. VI.
The Curate and Barber disguising themselves to convey Don Quixote
home, p. 166. Tonson had several specimens of plates, both in
quarto and octavo sizes, executed for editions of Shakspeare, but
they shared the same fate with the others prepared for Don Quixote.
38. An oval, with two figures representing Hymen and Cupid. A view
of a magnificent villa at a distance. This print was intended as a
ticket for Sigismunda, which Hogarth proposed to be raffled for. It is
often marked with ink 2 l. 2 s. The number of each ticket was to
have been inserted on the scroll hanging down from the knee of the
principal figure. Perhaps none of them were ever disposed of. This
plate, however, must have been engraved about 1762 or 3. Had I
not seen many copies of it marked by the hand of Hogarth, I should
have supposed it to have been only a ticket for a concert or music-
meeting.
* 45. Arms of Chudleigh; motto "Aut vincam, aut peribo." Done for
Major L'Emery, whilst Hogarth was apprentice.
46. The Great Seal of England, from a large silver table. This was
given to Mr. S. Ireland by a Mr. Bonneau, who took off the
impression before the year 1740.
I am told, however, that this plate was designed by the last Countess
of Burlington, and etched by Goupy. I may add, that the figures in it,
though slightly done on the whole, consist of more than a single
stroke, being retouched and heightened by the burin in several
places. On the contrary, Hogarth's plate, intituled The Charmers of
the Age, only offers an etched outline, which at once afforded the
extent of his design, leaving no room for improvement. The former
print exhibits traces of perseverance and assiduity; the latter is an
effort of genius that completes its purpose without elaboration.
[1] He had once enlisted as a private soldier in the Guards, for a protection. See p.
152.
51. Pug the Painter. This has been usually understood as a satire on
Hogarth, rather than a design by him. Mr. Ireland once told me it
was etched by Dawes, and that our artist gave a copy of it, as his
own design, to Mr. Kirby. But I am assured with superior confidence
by another gentleman, that the true author of it is to be sought
among those artists whom Hogarth had provoked by his
contemptuous treatment of their works. If Pug was not designed as
his representative, why is the animal exhibited in the act of painting
the ridiculous figure of the Priest in The Good Samaritan?
* 54. The Master of the Vineyard. St. Matthew chap. xxi. v. 28. "Son,
go work to-day in my Vineyard."
* 55. The London Infirmary for charitably relieving sick and diseased
Manufacturers and Seamen in the Merchants' service, their Wives
and Children. A blank certificate for Pupils in Surgery and Anatomy,
printed on a half sheet, folio.
56. A ticket for the benefit of Spiller the player. He died in the year
1729.
In the plate before us, which possesses no small share of humour,
poor Spiller is represented in a melancholy posture. His finances are
weighed against his debts, and outweighed by them. His taylor's bill
appears to be of great length, and many others for ale, gin, &c. are
on the ground near him. A bailiff is clapping him on the shoulder—a
prison is in sight—ladies and gentlemen are taking tickets, &c. This
very uncommon and beautiful little print is, at present, found only in
the collection of Mr. Ireland.
57. St. Mary's Chapel. Five at night. Several performers playing on
different instruments. William Hogarth inv. G. Vandergucht sculpt.
This was certainly an ornament at the top of a ticket for a music-
meeting. The name of Hogarth is affixed to it, and the whole design
might have been his. I do not, however, believe it was so. A few of
the figures appear to have been collected from his works by some
other hand, rather than grouped by his own. Vandergucht too was
so thoroughly a mannerist, and especially in small subjects, that he
was rarely faithful to the expressions of countenance he undertook
to trace on copper. There is no humour, and indeed little merit of any
kind, in this performance. It has not hitherto been met with on the
entire piece of paper to which it must originally have belonged.
POSTSCRIPT.
The Author of this pamphlet, being convinced that, in spite of all his
care and attention, some errors may still be found in his catalogue,
list of variations, &c. will think himself highly obliged by any
gentlemen who will point them out, and enable him to correct them.
Such favours shall be gratefully acknowledged, if the present rude
Essay towards an account of Hogarth's different performances
should happen to reach another edition.
As in consequence of the extraordinary prices lately paid for the
collected works of this great master, certain dealers, &c. are
supposed to be assembling as many of his prints as they can meet
with,—binding them up in pompous volumes,—writing "fine old
impressions" either over or under them—specifying the precise sums
pretended to have been disbursed for several of them (perhaps a
guinea for a three shilling article)—preparing to offer a few rare
trifles to sale, overloaded with a heap of wretched proofs from our
artist's more capital performances;—exhibiting imperfect suites of
such as are cut out of books; and intending to station puffers at
future auctions, whose office will be to intimate they have received
commissions to bid up as far as such or such an amount (i. e. the
sum under which the concealed proprietor resolves not to part with
his ware), &c. &c. it is hoped the reader will excuse a few parting
words of admonition. Perhaps it may be in the power of Mrs.
Hogarth to select a few sets from such of her husband's pieces as
have remained in her own custody from the hour of their
publication. Let the multitude, who of course cannot be supplied
with these, become their own collectors. Even ignorance is a more
trusty guide than professional artifice. It may be urged, indeed, that
the proportionate value of impressions[1] can be ascertained only by
those who have examined many of them in their various states, with
diligence and acuteness. But surely to qualify ourselves for
estimating the merit of the curiosities we are ambitious to purchase,
is wiser than to rely altogether on the information of people whose
interest is commonly the reverse of our own. Let it also be
remembered, that the least precious of all Hogarth's productions are
by far the scarcest; and that when, at an immoderate expence, we
have procured impressions from tankards ornamented by him, or
armorial ensigns engraved for the books of his customers, we shall
be found at last to have added nothing to his fame, or the
entertaining quality of our own collections. By such means, however,
we may open a door to imposition. A work like The Harlot's Progress
will certainly remain unimitated as well as inimitable; but it is in the
power of every bungler to create fresh coats of arms, or shop bills
with our artist's name subscribed to them: and wherein will the Lion
or Griffin of Hogarth be discovered to excell the same representation
by a meaner hand? A crafty selection of paper, and a slight attention
to chronology and choice of subjects, with the aid of the hot-press,
may, in the end, prove an overmatch for the sagacity of the ablest
connoisseur. A single detection of such a forgery would at least give
rise to suspicions that might operate even where no fallacy had been
designed. How many fraudulent imitations of the smaller works of
Rembrandt are known to have been circulated with success!—But it
may be asked, perhaps, from what source the author of this
pamphlet derives his knowledge of such transactions. His answer is,
from the majority of collectors whom he has talked with in
consequence of his present undertaking.
He ought not, however, to conclude without observing, that several
genuine works of Hogarth yet remain to be engraved. He is happy
also to add that a young artist, every way qualified for such a task,
has already published a few of these by subscription.
J. N.
[1] Prints have, of late years, been judiciously rated according to the quality of
their impressions. But the very term impression, as applied to copper-plates,
perhaps is a novelty among us. If we refer to the earliest and most valuable
assemblage of portraits (such as that catalogued by Ames, afterwards purchased
by Dr. Fothergill, and lately sold to Mr. Thane), we shall have little reason to
suppose any regard was once paid to a particular of so much importance. As fast
as heads were met with, they were indiscriminately received; and the faintest
proofs do not appear to have been excluded at a time when the strongest might
easily have been procured. In consequence of an àmás so carelessly formed, the
volumes already mentioned, were found to display alternately the most beautiful
and the most defective specimens of the graphic art.
J. N. had once thoughts of adding a list of the copies made from the
works of Hogarth; but finding them to be numerous, beyond
expectation, has desisted from a task he could not easily accomplish.
This pursuit, however, has enabled him to suggest yet another
caution to his readers. Some of the early invaders of Hogarth's
property were less audacious than the rest; and, forbearing to make
exact imitations of his plates, were content with only borrowing
particular circumstances from each of them, which they worked up
into a similar fable. A set of The Rake's Progress, in which the
figures were thus disguised and differently grouped, has been lately
found. But since the rage of collection broke out with its present
vehemence, those dealers who have met with any such diversified
copies, have been desirous of putting them off either as the first
thoughts of Hogarth, or as the inferior productions of elder artists on
whose designs he had improved. There, is also a very small set of
The Rake's Progress, contrived and executed with the varieties
already mentioned; and even this has been offered to sale under the
former of these descriptions. Thus, as Shakspeare says, While we
shut the gate upon one imposition, another knocks at the door.
It may not be impertinent to conclude these cautions with another
notice for the benefit of unexperienced collectors, who in their
choice of prints usually prefer the blackest. The earliest copies of
Hogarth's works are often fainter than such as have been retouched.
The excellence of the former consists in clearness as well as
strength; but strength only is the characteristic of the latter. The first
and third copies of The Harlot's Progress will abundantly illustrate
my remark, which, however, is confined to good impressions of the
plates in either state; for some are now to be met with that no more
possess the recommendation of transparency than that of force. I
may add, that when plates are much worn, it is customary to load
them with a double quantity of colour, that their weakness, as far as
possible, may escape the eye of the purchaser. This practice the
copper-plate printers facetiously entitle—coaxing; and, by the aid of
it, the deeper strokes of the graver which are not wholly obliterated,
become clogged with ink, while every finer trace, which was of a
nature less permanent, is no longer visible. Thus in the modern
proofs of Garrick in King Richard III. the armour, tent, and habit,
continue to have considerable strength, though the delicate
markings in the face, and the shadows on the inside of the hand,
have long since disappeared. Yet this print, even in its faintest state,
is still preferable to such smutty impositions as have been recently
described. The modern impressions of The Fair, and The March to
Finchley, will yet more forcibly illustrate the same remark.
ADDITION.
Four Times of the Day, p. 250.
It should have been observed, that the third of these plates was
engraved by Baron, the figure of the girl excepted, which, being an
after-thought, was added by our artist's own hand.
APPENDIX.
N° 1. [See p. 23.]
The following letter, printed in The Public Advertiser soon after the
first edition of the present work made its appearance, may possibly
contain some authentic particulars of the early life of the famous
Monsieur St. André. Mr. Woodfall's ingenious correspondent does
not, however, dispose me to retract a syllable of what is advanced in
the text; for he fails throughout in his attempts to exculpate our
hero from any one of the charges alledged against him. On the
contrary, he confirms, with additions, a considerable part of them,
and strives only to evade or overwhelm the rest by studied
amplifications of the little good which industrious partiality could pick
out of its favourite character. I shall now subjoin his epistle, with a
few unconnected remarks appended to it. A rambling performance
must apologize for a desultory refutation.
"Sir,
"The entertaining author of the last biography of the admirable
Hogarth, in the excess of commendation of a particular risible
subject for his pencil, has written too disadvantageously of the late
Mr. St. André. One who knew him intimately (but was never under
the smallest obligation to him) for the last twenty years of his life,
and has learned the tradition of his earlier conduct seemingly better
than the editor of the article in question, takes the liberty to give a
more favourable idea of him, and without intending to enter into a
controversy with this agreeable Collector of Anecdotes, to vindicate
this notorious man, who must be allowed to have been such; but it
is to be hoped in the milder sense Lord Clarendon often or always
uses the epithet. The making a subject of Mr. St. André is therefore
merely accidental. The writer expects to derive no praise from
exhibiting that person as the Hero of a page. He thinks it is only
doing justice (for the Dead deserve justice as well as the Living)
when he draws his pen against some very injurious insinuations,
thrown out with more inadvertence and at a venture than in malice,
against the memory of an acquaintance and of a foreigner (to whom
perhaps more mercy is due than to a native), who is more roughly
handled than he appears to deserve.
"Mr. Nathaniel St. André came over, or rather was brought over, very
early from Switzerland, his native country, in the train of a Mendez,
or Salvadore, or some Jewish family. Next to his countryman
Heidegger, he became the most considerable person that has been
imported from thence. He probably arrived in England in no better
than a menial station. Possibly his family was not originally obscure,
for he has been heard to declare, that he had a rightful claim to a
title, but it was not worth while to take it up so late in life. He had
undoubtedly all the qualifications of a Swiss. He talked French in all
its provincial dialects, and superintended the press, if the
information is to be depended upon, and perhaps taught it, as his
sister did at Chelsea boarding-school. He was early initiated in
music, for he played upon some musical instrument as soon as he
was old enough to handle one, to entertain his benefactors. He had
the good fortune to be placed by them with a surgeon of eminence,
and became very skilful in his profession. His duty and gratitude to
his father, whom he maintained when he was no longer able to
maintain himself, was exemplary and deserving of high
commendation. Let this charity cover a multitude of his sins! His
great thirst for anatomical knowledge (for which he became
afterwards so famous as to have books dedicated to him on that
subject), and his unwearied application, soon made him so compleat
an anatomist, that he undertook to read public lectures (and he was
the first in London who read any), which gave general satisfaction.
The most ingenious and considerable men in the kingdom became
his pupils. Dr. Hunter, now at the head of his profession, speaks
highly of his predecessor, and considers him (if the information is
genuine) as the wonder of his time. He continued his love of
anatomy to the last, and left noble preparations behind him, which
he was continually improving. The time of his introduction into Mr.
Molyneux's family is not known to the writer of this account.
Whether anatomy, surgery, knowledge, or music, or his performance
on the Viol de Gambo, on which he was the greatest master, got him
the intimacy with Mr. Molyneux, is not easy to determine. Certain it
is, that he attended his friend in his last illness, who died of a
dangerous disorder (but not under his hands), which Mr. Molyneux is
said to have pronounced, from the first, would be fatal. Scandal, and
Mr. Pope's satirical half-line, talked afterwards of 'The Poisoning
Wife.' She, perhaps, was in too great a hurry, as the report ran, in
marrying when she did, according to the practised delicacy of her
sex, and her very high quality. The unlucky business in which one
Howard, a surgeon at Guildford, involved him, who was the
projector, or accessary of the impudent imposture of Mary Tofts,
alias the Rabbit-woman of Godalmin, occasioned him to become the
talk and ridicule of the whole kingdom. The report made by St.
André, and others, induced many inconsiderately to take it for a
reality. The public horror was so great, that the rent of rabbit-
warrens sunk to nothing; and nobody, till the delusion was over,
presumed to eat a rabbit. The credulous Whiston believed the story
(for to some people every thing is credible that comes from a
credible witness), and wrote a pamphlet, to prove this monstrous
conception to be the exact completion of an old prophecy in Esdras.
The part St. André acted in this affair ruined his interest at Court,
where he had before been so great a favourite with King George I.
that he presented him with a sword which he wore himself. Now, on
his return out of the country, he met with a personal affront, and
never went to Court again. But he continued anatomist to the Royal
Houshold to his dying day, though he never took the salary. He
probably was imposed upon in this matter. And has it not been the
lot of men, in intellectual accomplishments vastly above his, such as
Boyle, for instance, a man infinitely his superior, to be over-reached
and misled? He took up the pen on the occasion (and it was not the
first time, for he wrote some years before a bantering pamphlet on
Dr. Mead), which could at best but demonstrate his sincerity, but
exposed the weakness of his judgement, on that case. It had been
insinuated he adopted this scheme, to ruin some persons of his own
profession. If he had a mind to make an experiment upon the
national belief, and to tamper with their willingness to swallow any
absurdity (which a certain nobleman [Duke of Montagu] ventured to
do, in the affair of a man who undertook to jump into a quart
bottle), he was deservedly punished with contempt. Swift (according
to Whiston), and perhaps Arbuthnot, exercised their pens upon him.
The cheat was soon discovered, and rabbits began to make their
appearance again at table as usual. But they were not at his own
table, nor made a dish, in any form of cookery, at that of his friends.
Perhaps they imagined that the name or sight of that animal might
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