This insightful volume covers the development of 19 prominent European, American and Asian companies from their humble origins to their current status as global operators. Each case study comprehensively reviews the changes in the company's corporate structure and the successes and failures of its marketing and branding strategies over time. A wide range of business sectors is covered, including food and drink, retail, apparel, electronics, aviation, cars and entertainment. Of prime importance for corporate survival and growth in all sectors and countries is the crucial shift from owner/founder-run companies to consolidated management-led corporations.

The wide spectrum of sectors and countries of origin featured also permits valuable conclusions to be drawn on the persistence of distinctive national management styles and brand images. This clearly proves that there are corporate limits to globalisation, which companies implementing thoughtless cross-national mergers ignore at their peril. This second edition has been thoroughly updated and enlarged to cover the crucial and often dramatic corporate developments of the past two decades.