Toward a critical framework for understanding MNE operations: Revisiting Coca-Cola’s exit from India
- 21 March 2012
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Organization
- Vol. 20 (2), 212-232
- https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508412440350
Abstract
The exit of Coca-Cola from India in the 1970s has been extensively used in IB textbooks as illustrating the challenges faced by MNEs in difficult political/regulatory environments. In this article, we use critical hermeneutics to challenge the conventional understanding and interpretation of the event. Instead, an understanding of the macro-economic and historical context suggests that the company had other options available to it and may have lost a valuable opportunity due to inflexible policies. IB textbooks should be wary of falling prey to naïve managerialism and instead provide a critical understanding of the operations within a larger context to their readers.Keywords
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