International Business Consulting and Strategy

The rules of international business are being rewritten, creating opportunities for companies that are nimble enough to capitalize. BCG’s international business consultants help companies recognize the economic patterns in globalization and seize the future.

Even as the world becomes more decentralized politically and physically, customers, devices, services, processes, and businesses continue to integrate digitally. The simultaneous rise of economic nationalism and digital globalization is redefining the international business landscape. We help companies adapt their products, approaches, and business models to the new global reality. Companies must take a more nuanced approach to identifying and creating growth opportunities.

Our International Business Services

International Trade

Go-to-Market Strategy

Emerging Markets

Foreign Direct Investment

Economic Development

Digital Ecosystems

How Can Businesses Take Advantage of Globalization?

We help companies absorb the shock of global volatility by building capabilities and structures that enable data integration, flexibility, and agility across borders and businesses.

As an international strategy consultancy, we advise all stakeholders in international business and in economic globalization:

Multinational Corporations. We help MNCs unlock growth in emerging markets through both global and local opportunities. Our tools position MNCs ahead of evolving consumer trends and rising local competitors.
Global Challengers and Other Local Competitors. Our international consulting group works with a class of rapidly growing companies in emerging markets that we call global challengers—and with the local companies that aspire to compete at this level. Our strategies help them win at home and compete with global leaders.
Governments. We team with national and regional authorities to promote economic and international development. Our experts evaluate local business climates and map out the ways to attract more foreign direct investment and build public–private partnerships.

Our Client Work in International Business

We collaborated with Celcom Axiata, one of Asia’s largest telecommunications companies, to create an e-wallet and lifestyle app called Boost. In less than two years, it became Malaysia’s leading cashless platform—a digital ecosystem of 17 banks and a growing list of more than 125,000 participating merchants.

We conducted an end-to-end customer experience transformation for a leading cinema operator in India. The team leveraged deep consumer insights to reimagine the cinema-going journey for consumers—physically and digitally—and built a top-five loyalty program with a first-in-market personalization engine.

A global pharmaceutical company serving 100 million patients in more than 130 markets approached us for help in strategic planning to address post-Brexit risks and options. Our team helped devise solutions tied to $6 billion in revenue.

We worked with the government to generate an investment accelerator model that would stimulate the private sector. The effort resulted in ten deals valued at $130 million and created 29,000 jobs.

Our work with a footwear maker in India accelerated growth by nearly 10%, increased e-commerce by 400% over three years, boosted sales productivity by nearly 20%, and reduced attrition by 10%.

Meet more experts

Our Insights on International Business

Trends in Global Trade for 2023

BCG’s Nikolaus Lang describes three overarching shifts in global trade—what’s driving them and what their impact will be—as we look ahead to a complex 2023.

Read the report

Slideshow

Foreign Direct Investment and the Greening of Emerging Markets

Green FDI is key to achieving climate goals, but too little is going to emerging market economies. Here’s how four countries are changing this.

BCG Executive Perspectives: War in Ukraine

This special edition of the BCG Executive Perspectives series assesses the economic impact of the war in Ukraine and the implications it bears for companies and governments.