Module 3: The Problem

Core Question In “Distance Still Matters,” Pankaj Ghemawat addresses the question of why many companies struggle when pursuing global expansion. He sought to explain why companies “become so dazzled by the sheer size of untapped markets that they lose sight of the vast difficulties of pioneering new, often very different territories.”1 His analysis revolves around the concept of “distance,” which encompasses cultural, political, administrative, geographic, and economic differences between countries. The concept of distance is then used to develop a novel analytic framework-the CAGE Distance Framework-that can assist managers in assessing such differences and their effects.