Navigating growth in emerging markets: six rules for improving decision making between corporate and local leadership

Purpose – We argue that in order to achieve sustainable profitable growth in emerging markets, MNCs need to rely less on preexisting corporate management models and more on a flexible, principle‐based set of practices that can change from market to market and even from year to year. Design/methodology/approach – The article focuses on six key practices: how long‐term direction is established and reviewed; how the emerging market business fits within the organizational structure; how roles and decision rights are defined between headquarters and the local leadership; how local decisions are prioritized and how fast they are made; how resource allocation can be made more flexible; and how performance is monitored and managed. Findings – To fully capture the emerging market growth opportunity, MNCs must strike the right balance in each of these six areas, surmounting the inevitable tension between global standards and on‐the‐ground realities. Originality/value – Multinational corporations are scouring the globe for growth, and increasingly they are finding it in emerging markets. But the potential pitfalls of this approach are substantial – and often underestimated. This paper outlines an approach that will help local and corporate leaders steer the path to long‐term success more nimbly than standard models.