Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • October 2003 (Revised December 2020)
  • Case
  • HBS Case Collection

Globalizing Consumer Durables: Singer Sewing Machine before 1914

By: Geoffrey Jones and David Kiron
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:21
ShareBar

Abstract

Examines the global strategy of Singer, one of the world's first multinationals, before 1914. Singer, a U.S. pioneer of the modern sewing machine, established its first foreign factory in Scotland in 1867. Investments followed in manufacturing and marketing in other countries, especially Russia. By 1914, Singer held a remarkable 90% share of all sewing machine sales outside the United States and was the seventh largest firm in the world. Examines why sewing machines became one of the world's first global products and the entrepreneurial and organizational factors behind Singer's international success. Taught as the first case in the MBA elective Evolution of Global Business.

Keywords

Business History; Multinational Firms and Management; Global Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Investment; Globalization

Citation

Jones, Geoffrey, and David Kiron. "Globalizing Consumer Durables: Singer Sewing Machine before 1914." Harvard Business School Case 804-001, October 2003. (Revised December 2020.)
  • Educators
  • Purchase

About The Author

Geoffrey G. Jones

General Management
→More Publications

Related Work

    • October 2003 (Revised December 2020)
    • Faculty Research

    Globalizing Consumer Durables: Singer Sewing Machine before 1914

    By: Geoffrey Jones and David Kiron
Related Work
  • Globalizing Consumer Durables: Singer Sewing Machine before 1914 By: Geoffrey Jones and David Kiron
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College