Global Marketing Management, 6th Edition

HAPTER OVERVIEW

1. COUNTRY SELECTION
2. SCALE OF ENTRY
3. CHOOSING THE MODE OF ENTRY
4. EXPORTING
5. LICENSING
6. FRANCHISING
7. EXPANDING THROUGH JOINT VENTURES AND ALLIANCES
8. WHOLLY OWNED SUBSIDIARIES
9. DYNAMICS OF ENTRY STRATEGIES
10. TIMING OF ENTRY
11. EXIT STRATEGIES

In 1996, Danone, a French food and beverage conglomerate, signed an agreement with the Hangzhou Wahaha Group (“Wahaha”), a Chinese beverage company, to set up a series of joint ventures in China in which Danone would hold a 51 percent stake. The partnership was established to market bottled water, tea, and juices under the Wahaha brand name (Wahaha means “laughing children” in Chinese). Ultimately, the agreement would result into thirty-nine joint ventures. At the time, Forbes magazine hailed the partnership as a “showcase” for joint ventures in China.¹ Danone left most of the day-to-day management in the hands of Wahaha's founder and longtime chairman, Zong Qinghou, one of China's wealthiest business tycoons. The joint venture was hugely profitable as the Wahaha brand name became a household name in China. In spite of all these successes, the relationship turned sour in 2007. After a lengthy investigation, Danone suspected that Zong had set up copycat operations that were stealing revenue of the Sino-French partnership. Danone alleged that ...