Global Meets Digital

The world today is at the intersection of two megatrends – Globalization and Digitalization – a business revolution unfolding in real time. Global Meets Digital captures the many nuances of this revolution succinctly, including its impact on our lives and business. An immediate implication of this revolution is that the economic principles that underpinned business and strategy for hundreds of years, such as diminishing returns to scale and resource scarcity, are no longer valid for a large and growing number of products and services. The book will challenge you to think differently not just about digital products, but also about physical products.

In the global-digital world, products are of three kinds—physical, digital, and smart machines (products that are both physical and digital, and connected to the internet)—a distinction missed by most books on strategy and global business. The economics of each kind of products is distinct from that of the others, which has strategic implications for all kinds of businesses –implications such as how to compete and how to create and capture value.

With several mini case studies and over 100 company examples, the book covers themes and cutting-edge issues like the paradox of globalization, digital disruption, disruptive business models, exponential technologies, Internet of Things, competition in digital markets, winner-take-all market dynamics, Industry 4.0, how to innovate, strategizing for the New Normal, and value creation and value capture in both B2C and B2B contexts. The book derives its underpinnings from the practice of global and digital business, while theory remains in the background.

Intended specifically for an executive/professional audience, Global Meets Digital should also be of value to business students and professors learning to dip their toes into a digital world.

Vinod Jain is an expert in global and digital strategy, award-winning professor, Fulbright Scholar, and author of an MBA textbook, Global Strategy. He taught at the Rutgers Business School, Newark and New Brunswick, and the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, College Park. At Maryland, he was also the Founding Director of the federally funded Center for International Business Education and Research and Academic Director of Smith School’s Executive MBA program in China. Since leaving Maryland, he has taught in China, Denmark, Finland, Poland, and India as a visiting or term professor. His opinion pieces have appeared in The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, Mensa Bulletin, and Economic Times and Mint (India's #1 and #2 business dailies), among other media. In the past, he worked as a middle- and senior-level executive with American and British multinationals. Vinod has a PhD in Strategy and International Business from the University of Maryland, College Park, MS in Management from UCLA, and MS and BS (Hons) in Statistics from the Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta.

Vinod Jain is an expert in global and digital strategy, Fulbright Scholar, award-winning professor, and author of an MBA textbook, Global Strategy, published by Routledge (New York and London, 2016). Vinod taught at the Rutgers Business School, Newark and New Brunswick, Nottingham University Business School China, and the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, College Park. At Maryland, he was also the Founding Director of the Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) and Academic Director of Smith School’s Executive MBA program in China. He has been a visiting/term professor at Aalto University, Finland, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark, Hult International Business School Shanghai, China, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, India, and Polish American Management Center at University of Lodz, Poland.

In the past, Vinod worked with British and American multinationals for many years, including Macmillan Publishers (Vice President), Molins (Manager Coordination), and Coca-Cola (Marketing Research Executive). He has conducted over a hundred executive and academic seminars in Bahrain, Brazil, Canada, China, Europe, India, and the United States, and has been active on many boards and professional and trade associations.

Not a techie, Vinod is fascinated by and has flirted with digital strategy and digital business ever since the dotcom days. (He registered his first internet domain in 1998). For instance, in April-May 2000, he conducted a six-Saturday, executive seminar on e-Business Strategy. The same year, he designed and chaired an All-Academy Symposium on "Business Models in the New Economy" at Academy of Management’s annual, international conference in Toronto, Canada. The symposium attracted over 200 participants and had presenters from several universities, including Alabama, INSEAD, Oregon, Rutgers, Wharton, and a think tank in Canada. Since then, he has presented talks and seminars on global and digital strategy and once ran a digital business for a few years. In March and May 2022, he was invited by the Academy of Management to offer a webinar on digital strategy for its members. Vinod is a member of the Forbes Business Council.

Vinod’s articles and opinion pieces have appeared in The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, Mensa Bulletin, Economic Times and Mint (India's #1 and #2 business dailies), and other media. He has been honored by the Governors of both Ohio and Maryland for his services to international and internationalizing businesses in their states. He is a member of the Academy of Management, Academy of International Business, Mensa, and a former Board member of TiE-DC, the Washington D.C. chapter of TiE.org, one of the world’s largest associations of entrepreneurs and CEOs.

Vinod has a Ph.D. in Strategy and International Business from the University of Maryland, College Park, M.S. in Management from UCLA, and M.S. and B.S. (Hons.) in Statistics from the Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta.

Personal Website: https://www.vinodjain.com

Blog: https://www.vinodjain.com/blog