GBA case studies
GBA · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The Global Business Administration (GBA) Certification is a professional credential for individuals who manage or advise organizations across borders. It suits early- to mid-career managers, consultants, and analysts who need a structured, broad foundation in international business rather than deep specialization in a single function. The GBA case studies are 5 cases and about 4,156 words.
1Halden Pumpen: Choosing an India Entry Mode Under Local-Content Rules
Halden Pumpen AG, an Austrian manufacturer of municipal water pumps with €210 million in revenue, sells into India through an exclusive distributor and holds roughly 4% of a €480 million market growing 8–10% a year. Three changes arrived in one quarter: India raised basic customs duty on industrial pumps from 7.5% to 12.5%; national procurement rules now give a margin of preference to bidders whose local content exceeds 50%; and a Chinese rival began supplying municipal tenders from a rented assembly hall near Pune at prices 22% below Halden's landed cost.
905 words, about 5 min2Norhavn in León: Integrating a Mexican Family Firm Without Breaking It
Norhavn, a Danish industrial coatings group, has bought 70% of Química del Bajío, a family-owned manufacturer in León, Mexico with 340 employees and revenue of MXN 1.1 billion. The founder stays as CEO for 24 months under the share purchase agreement and the family retains board seats.
652 words, about 3 min3MexCo, IrishCo, USCo: A Three-Country Transfer Pricing Squeeze
IrishCo, the principal of a 1.4 billion industrial group, buys finished assemblies from its Mexican subsidiary MexCo and resells them to the group's US sales company. MexCo's total costs are 64 million (materials 52 million; labour, overhead and depreciation 12 million) and it invoices IrishCo 69.1 million, an 8% markup on total cost.
903 words, about 5 min4Vietnamese E-Bike Assembly: Preference, Circumvention and Customs Value
An EU cycling brand owns a wholly owned assembly plant in Vietnam that builds 12,000 e-bikes a year for the European market. The Vietnamese plant buys the frame (€88), motor (€112), display and controller (€34) and rims, forks and handlebars (€46) from Chinese suppliers, and invoices the brand €360 ex-works, made up of €280 of Chinese parts and €80 of assembly labour and overhead.
851 words, about 4 min5CBAM on Turkish Aluminium: Verify, Absorb or Switch?
A European façade contractor imports 4,200 tonnes of aluminium extrusions a year from a long-standing supplier in Türkiye at about €4,800 per tonne. CBAM definitive obligations start in 2026, and the supplier's default embedded emissions value is 8.9 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per tonne of product.
845 words, about 4 min