Term Project

A. GLOBAL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

1. Global Business Manager

a. Fundamental capabilities required include:

i. Ability to identify opportunities and risks across national borders and functional specialties

ii. Ability to coordinate activities across borders to capitalize on MNEs worldwide competitive advantages.

b. Responsibilities and roles of Global Business Manager

i. Be a Global Business Strategist

· Need to have worldwide perspective to assess the firm’s strategic position

· Forms an integrative strategy incorporating the views of geographic and functional managers.

· Likely come from a country subsidiary

· Does not necessarily have to be located in home country

ii. Be an Architect of Asset and Resource Configuration, characteristics:

· Oversees worldwide distribution of key assets and resources, with input from geographic and functional managers.

· Must be politically savvy to overcome

iii. Be a Cross-Border Coordinator

· coordinating flow of materials, components, finished products

Continued

B. WORLDWIDE FUNCTIONAL MANAGEMENT

1. Typical worldwide functional manager includes those responsible for:

a. R&D

b. Manufacturing

c. Marketing

d. Finance

e. IT

2. Roles/Responsibilities of worldwide functional manager include:

a. Worldwide Intelligence Scanner

i. to ensure specialized intelligence obtained gets to the right person

ii. Use informal networks to disseminate info among functional managers (e.g., through conferences, task forces, etc.).

b. Cross-Pollinator of “Best Practices”– to enable “best practices” capabilities and innovations developed in subsidiaries to spread throughout the firm

c. Champion of Transnational Innovation –

i. Identifies and coordinates locally-leveraged innovations which can be used/applied elsewhere in the firm

ii. Coordinates globally linked innovations – to exploit firm’s access to worldwide innovations/information regardless of where it is from.

C. GEOGRAPHIC SUBSIDIARY MANAGEMENT

Identifying the roles/responsibilities of a “country manager”:

1. Bicultural Interpreter

a. Must be able to understand local culture and the needs of the local market

b. Must be able to communicate goals/information of headquarters to the local subsidiary.

Continued

2. National Defender and Advocate

a. Must be able to counterbalance global strategies/objectives of the firm with strategies/objectives of the local firm

i. Ensure that local needs and opportunities are incorporated in global decision-making

ii. Country manager must defend and mentor local employees in their fight for corporate resources and recognition

3. Frontline Implementer of Corporate Strategy

a. Problems/challenges faced by country manager when implementing corporate strategy

i. Local government suspicious of MNEs subsidiary motives

ii. Local unions distrust MNEs national commitment

iii. Local consumers unfamiliar with MNEs way of operating

iv. Headquarters demands that local management translate global strategies into specific actions that are locally responsive

D. TOP LEVEL CORPORATE MANAGEMENT

Identifying roles/responsibilities of top level managers

1. Providing Direction and Purpose

a. Need to create common vision and shared set of values which supersedes local management’s objectives

i. Vision must be:

· Clear

· Simple

· Relevant

· Continuously reinforced

· Consistent across organizational units

2. Leveraging Corporate Performance

a. Must achieve short term goals to remain competitive

2. Leveraging Corporate Performance (continued)

b. Must provide

i. Controls – use proactive methods

ii. Support –

· delegate responsibility and provide rewards

· Resist sending in “experts” from HQ.

iii. Coordination of activities

3. Ensure continual renewal

a. Ensure external orientation by:

i. Reduce/eliminate internal bureaucracy

ii. Maintaining customer focus

iii. Benchmarking against competitors

b. Create “dynamic imbalance” – i.e., question, challenge, and change to force adaptation and learning.

c. Define the corporate mission to have flexibility and maneuverability.