First, viewing globalization as an escape from domestic weakness. Global expansion almost always requires upfront investment of capital and the leveraging of technological, cost or other strengths from the home base to foreign markets. If the company is in trouble domestically, globalization could make things even worse. Second, overlooking heterogeneity across cultures and markets. However, it is important to remember that becoming a prisoner of diversity can be just as bad as overlooking it. Consider Toyota. As Toyota sets up factories in the U.S., the last thing it should do is to emulate the historical manufacturing culture of the U.S. auto industry. Rather, what it should do (and has done) is to bring the culture of its Japanese factories to the U.S. At the same time, it would be ridiculous to have each day in a San Antonio factory start with Shinto prayers. Bottom line: you must respect local cultures but also find a way to rise above them. Third, interpreting globalization simplistically in terms of presence in a large number of countries. Counting the number of countries in which you operate can be very misleading. What really matters is your presence and success in the strategic locations. For most companies, the number of strategic locations (key customer sites, key manufacturing bases, key R&D bases) is often less than ten countries.