In 1987, Barnevik’s merger of Swedish firm Asea and Swiss competitor Brown Boveri created a potent new force in the electrical systems and equipment sector and triggered a wholesale restructuring of Europe’s electrical power industry. The creation of ABB became a sign of the economic times when it initiated a process of consolidation and rationalization, though plant closings and layoffs. Barnevik’s vision, however, was Ted Levitt’s maxim to “think global, act local” and build a new business model that combined global scale and world-class technology with deep roots in local markets. This was his theory and practice of building a “multidomestic”s enterprise through ABB’s matrix system, a structure designed to leverage core technologies and global economies of scale without eroding local market presence and responsiveness.