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Research for the case study was conducted using a combination of semi-structured interviews and secondary data sources.

This case traces the international expansion of Sadowsky Guitars’ bass guitar product line. Roger Sadowsky is one of the most respected instrument makers in the world and gained early acclaim for his outstanding repair and restoration work on guitars and basses. Some of his early clients included Prince, Will Lee (The Tonight Show), Tom Hamilton of Aerosmith, Jason Newsted of Metallica, Eddie Van Halen and Marcus Miller. Roger’s reputation and the demand for his instruments led to some customers having to wait for more than a year to obtain the chance to purchase a Sadowsky instrument, while others were unable to do so due to financial constraints. In 2003, Roger made the decision to form Sadowsky Japan to begin the contract manufacturing of more affordable Sadowsky instruments in Tokyo, Japan. As the company grew in size, Roger realized he was becoming more focused on running a business than building instruments. Furthermore, his Japanese partners were only interested in serving the Japanese market. This required him to handle the sales and distribution in the remaining parts of the world. In December of 2019, he announced a new, exclusive licensing agreement and distribution partnership between Sadowsky Guitars and Warwick GmbH & Co Music Equipment KG. The new agreement allowed Roger to continue running the Sadowsky NYC Custom Shop while Warwick would take over building and distributing the Metro instruments and a less-expensive, Chinese-built version of the MetroExpress instruments.

This case is appropriate for undergraduate and graduate-level courses related to marketing and consumer behavior. The case walks students through a real-life scenario when the founder of a well-known musical brand sought to expand internationally as a way to meet growing market demand. Students are asked to consider the advantages and disadvantages of the five key international market entry strategies: exporting, licensing, contract manufacturing, joint ventures and investment (equity/acquisition).

The case works well in the classroom, even if people are unfamiliar with the musical instrument retail industry. Participants are most likely aware of some of the artists and musicians mentioned in the case. Some may also be or know musicians. The instructor should be able to quickly engage participants in a lively discussion about Roger Sadowsky’s vision for his instruments and the opportunities and challenges of expanding product offerings and increasing market share.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

The rise of emerging economies in the innovation landscape has often been attributed to the positive spillovers of innovation capabilities from multinational corporations (MNCs). However, it is less certain that their innovative capabilities imported from the home country function effectively in the host country from the outset. This study examines the performance of the innovation capabilities of MNC subsidiaries in emerging economies over time by considering the gradual process of their learning about host countries.

We employed stochastic frontier analysis to measure innovation capabilities, our focal construct. For regression analysis, we applied the Mundlak estimator, a variant of the fixed-effects panel estimator, to a sample comprising subsidiaries of MNCs from technologically advanced nations operating in Korea between 2006 and 2016.

Our results indicate that the innovation capabilities of MNC subsidiaries initially underperform those of local firms but improve over time, eventually surpassing the capabilities of their local counterparts. Furthermore, our findings reveal that institutional distance amplifies the underperformance of the innovation capabilities of MNC subsidiaries.

This study contributes to the literature by extending both theoretical development and empirical measurement of innovation capabilities in cross-national settings. Additionally, it deepens our understanding of whether and how MNC subsidiaries adapt their innovation capabilities to the local market environment.