Levitt in 1983: an opening salvo heard around the world. Photo by Richard Chase

A consultant and professor with a Ph.D. in economics from Ohio State University, Ted Levitt had already published two articles in the Harvard Business Review when he joined the HBS faculty in 1959. One year later, observed HBS marketing professor emeritus Stephen A. Greyser, Levitt “achieved international renown with the landmark article ‘Marketing Myopia.’” That Harvard Business Review article (published again in a 1975 HBR “classic” version) posed the famous question that has been pondered by generations of students and executives alike: “What business are you in?”

Greyser, a longtime colleague, interviewed Levitt for a special video presentation shown at the The Globalization of Markets colloquium. Noting that in 1983 Levitt’s HBR article had “created a firestorm of debate,” Greyser asked him to recall its impact at the time it was published.

“The article did succeed in stimulating a great deal of comment,” said Levitt, who chaired the Marketing faculty from 1977 to 1985 and served as HBR editor from 1985 to 1989. He noted that he was “not at all surprised” that the article still gets attention today. “I admit it’s written in a provocative way,” he said, “and that’s one reason it gets assigned all the time.”

Commenting on the status of globalization today, Levitt views overseas reaction against some American products as validating the notion of globalized markets. “To some people, it looks like a foreign intrusion on domestic industry and a violation of culture, habits, and ways of doing business,” Levitt said. “The octave level of the reaction shows very clearly that there’s a lot at stake.” Asked by Greyser whether international companies should therefore rethink the way they do business, Levitt replied, “A global company should always go about its business in a way that’s responsive to the major differences from one country to another,” in terms of, for example, how retailing, or distribution or payment systems, work. But the core product or service should remain unchanged, he added, since that is what is “globalized.”

The Edward W. Carter Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus, Levitt has published a total of 25 articles in HBR, in addition to authoring or coauthoring eight books and numerous other writings. He retired from the HBS faculty in 1990.

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