Suitable for MBA, EMBA, GEMBA, and executive education courses, this field based case offers an opportunity to examine the scalability of a successful American advertising agency globally. In eight years, mcgarrybowen had become the lead agency for several big advertisers. The agency's calling card was its reputation for being collaborative, reflected in the way the agency's name was written?no spaces between the names. As part of a global expansion strategy, CEO John P. McGarry Jr. and his partners had decided two years prior to sell their company to Dentsu, a Japanese advertising holding company, and now that plan was coming into place. The agency planned to stick with the formula that had been successful in Chicago and hire local talent that fit with its culture. The question was whether or not it that model would work in other parts of the world.
