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This illustrative case discusses and evaluates Vodafone Group and its overseas expansion and diversification in global business. Vodafone is a UK‐based company that was established after a spin‐off from Racal Electronics Group in 1982. The primary objective of this case is to examine Vodafone’s changing focus and international expansion in the world wireless industry. The case intends to look at Vodafone’s future expansion, growth and global strategies within the concept of internationalization and competitive advantage issues.

Within a competitiveness perspective, the main purpose of this paper is to investigate and analyze franchise categories and changing profiles and trends of the franchising industry.

Based on data from The Franchising Handbook, the study investigates 1,464 franchisors in 67 franchise categories that encompass 445,314 franchisees. The work uses content analysis in the investigation of franchise categories.

The study finds that franchise categories tend to be diverse regarding their category issues, franchising fees, capital requirements, and category franchisees. The work also provides meaningful implications and future research directions.

The author believes that fast‐growing mid‐sized and newly formed franchisors may need to be included in the survey from the USA and other countries. The study's implications are that the franchising industry requires new business models regarding franchising fees, capital, and sales that are critical in maintaining companies' competitiveness.

Franchisors should pay attention to those fast‐growing franchise categories that may become available in the coming years.

Within the areas of changing franchising and franchise categories, this work provides useful findings for researchers as well as practitioners.

The aim of this study is to investigate and analyze product recalls and product-harm crises in the US toy industry, which is a major area in marketing and firms' competitiveness.

By using longitudinal data from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the paper uses content analysis to compare and contrast toy recalls, product hazards and country of origin issues of 721 toy recalls in the US market between 1974 and 2008, covering 270 million recalled toys.

Findings of this work reveal that most of the recalled toys were manufactured in China, although a wide variety of toy brands were designed in the USA. Major hazards of toy recalls included choking, lead poisoning, aspiration, fire/burn and other injuries.

The study relied on the CPSC's data that seemed representative of the toy industry in the US market, but missed other markets of Europe and Asia. Also, there was availability of detailed data in sub-categories of the toy industry.

The paper provides useful academic and managerial implications that can help us understand the issues of product recalls and product-harm crises.

Toys are one of the most widely available products in the world; the industry is a $50 billion industry and has transformed itself from a small-scale business sector into a well-established industry.

This investigation is particularly important in the areas of firm-specific competitiveness, business ethics and regulatory and societal issues.

The purpose of this illustrative case‐based research is to analyze and evaluate the 2004 controversial merger of two high‐profile French pharmaceutical companies, Sanofi‐Synthelabo and Aventis.

This is a case‐based research paper that relates existing theory to mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and global strategies by highlighting those issues that impact business and industrial markets as well as multinational corporations' (MNCs) operations.

Sanofi‐Aventis continues to go through a multitude of changes in its corporate reorganization while Novartis has been exploring collaborative ventures with pharmaceutical and bio‐tech companies.

There is a scarcity of published work in the case‐based research area. The work provides an understanding of the French government's national champion initiatives and their impact on the European and global pharmaceutical companies.

The findings of this case have tangible implications for those business marketers and MNCs that operate in the European markets and other countries regarding seeking M&As and expansion.

The case adds value in the national champion theory and its associated areas that relate to business and industrial markets.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate and analyze company slogans which play an important role in corporate identity and corporate communications.

By discussing relevant literature, morphological issues (word formation in sentences), and content analysis, the study investigates 329 companies and their slogans that operate in global and domestic markets.

The study finds that within the areas of corporate identity and corporate communications, company slogans tend to be diverse with distinct forms and morphological features. The work reveals that slogans go through evolutionary changes because of diverse markets and firms’ corporate communications and corporate identities. The study also compares and contrasts slogans from 2007 to 2013 which were used by the firms on their web sites.

Interestingly, over half of the companies did not keep their slogans in 2012/2013. Many firms have stopped using slogans on their corporate web sites and systematically capitalize on brands and corporate identities when dealing with the areas of corporate communications. This supports the notion that slogans help corporate identity and corporate communications.

The paper’s original value added is in the areas of corporate communications, slogans, and corporate identity.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate textual issues and communication patterns of CEOs/chairmen/presidents’ letters to shareholders in the post-2008 financial crisis period. By taking a global perspective, the work specifically explores how 307 banks from 15 countries communicated the issues of financial crisis with shareholders, customers and other stakeholders in their letters to shareholders published in the banks’ annual reports.

By using content analysis and qualitative research, the work specifically analyzes 307 letters to shareholders that constitute 1,028 pages.

Results of the work suggest that textual features and communication patterns of letters to shareholders remain distinct regarding corporate messages that banks delivered to their shareholders. There was little resemblance between financial institutions regarding their communicative patterns. This could be the result of cultural issues, diverse business environments, regulatory standards, discursive information and hidden business practices.

Within our limited data (307 banks), the significance of this paper lies in its timeliness and relevance to the post-2008 financial crisis period and its worldwide business disruptions.

Practitioners need to use the results of this research and should be familiar with the main causes of the crisis that remain controversial and complex.

Global markets and society as a whole were impacted by the severity and longevity of this crisis because of losses, socioeconomic disruptions and business bankruptcies.

Original value of this work falls within the domains of global financial markets and multinational banks.

This case study analyzes Wal-Mart’s market entry and expansion in the Mexican market. Today’s Wal-Mart has become the largest retailer in Mexico. The case discusses all the current issues of this debate within the perspectives of growing the international firm and other internationalization issues. The case also evaluates the global retailing industry and its changing competition. Within the current circumstances, it is expected that Wal-Mart will continue to grow in Mexico and the NAFTA region. On the other hand Wal-Mart may face heightened competition and will be challenged by Mexican and other international retailers. The significance of this work lies in its timeliness and relevance to the ongoing debate of NAFTA-related boom and internationalization in the retailing industry.