Chapter 1

A global manager is set apart by more

than a worn suitcase and a dog-eared
passport.

-- Thomas A. Stewart
Editor, Harvard Business Review, USA

(p. 1)

2
Global managers are made, not born. This is
not a natural process. We are herd animals;
we like people who are like us.

-- Percy Barnevik
Former CEO, ABB Group, Switzerland
CEO, Hand-in-Hand International, UK

(p. 1)

3
Opening question:
To what extent do you agree or disagree with
the observations of Stewart and Barnevik
about global managers? Why?

4
Consider: “Excellent” companies
• Why have so many so-called “excellent”
companies failed in recent years?
• What might managers have done to prevent
some of these failures?
• What is your definition of an excellent company?
• Is this definition universal to all countries, or
would you modify it to meet local situations? If so,
how?

(p. 1)

5
Topic for today:
Global realities and management challenges

• Globalization, change, and competitiveness

• The new global realities
• Challenges facing global managers

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 The new global manager

• Managers are responsible for utilizing human,

financial, informational, and physical resources in
ways that facilitate their organization’s overall
objectives in turbulent and sometimes hostile
environments about which they often understand
very little.
• These challenges can be particularly problematic
when operations cross national boundaries.

(p. 2)

7
What is globalization?

Globalization is the inexorable integration of

markets, capital, nation-states, and
technologies to a degree never seen before.
-- Thomas Friedman

(p. 4)

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 Why the upsurge in globalization?
Globalization drivers
• Increased customer demands and access to competing
products and services.
• Increased technological innovation and application.
• Increased power and influence of emerging markets
and economies.
• Shared R&D and global sourcing.
• Increased globalization of financial markets.
• Evolving government trade policies.

(pp. 5-6)

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Consider: What are the consequences
of globalization?
1. What are some of the positive consequences of
globalization?
2. What are some of the negative consequences?
3. How can managers and their companies work to
mitigate these negative consequences?

10
Globalization pressures on business

From isolation to
interconnectedness

From biculturalism to
multiculturalism

(p. 12)
11
Business challenges facing global firms

12
People and communities are also
under globalization pressures

(p. 8)
13
People challenges facing global firms

(pp. 17-21)
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Consider: Working across cultures

• Over 50% of international joint ventures fail within

the first 5 years of operation. The principal reason
cited for these failures is cultural differences and
conflicts between partners. Why is this?
• What does it take to succeed in building successful
partnerships in today’s increasingly turbulent global
business environment?

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So, what do managers need to
know to work successfully
across cultures?

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 Challenges facing global managers/1

1. Develop a learning strategy to guide both short and

long-term professional development as a global
manager.
2. Develop a basic knowledge of how different cultures
work, what makes them unique, and how managers can
work successfully across such environments.
3. Develop effective strategies for working with managers
from other cultures who may process information
differently and view their roles and responsibilities in
unfamiliar ways.

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 Challenges facing global managers/2

4. Develop an understanding of the competing interests

and demands of various stakeholders in an
organization, as well as the organizational processes
necessary for achieving targeted outcomes.
5. Develop an understanding of how business enterprise
can be organized differently across cultures, as well
as the implications of these differences for
management, cooperation, and competition.

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 Challenges facing global managers/3

6. Develop effective cross-cultural communication skills.

7. Develop an understanding of leadership processes
across cultures, and how managers can work with others
to achieve synergistic outcomes.
8. Develop a knowledge of how cultural differences can
influence the nature and scope of employee motivation,
as well as what global managers might do to enhance
on-the-job participation and performance.

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 Challenges facing global managers/4

9. Develop effective negotiating skills and an ability to

use these skills to build and sustain global
partnerships.
10. Develop an understanding of how ethical and legal
conflicts relate to managerial and organizational
effectiveness, as well as how managers can work and
manage in an ethical, fair, and socially responsible
manner.

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 Application:
Learning objectives

2. How will increasing globalization affect future

management careers like yours?
3. What can you learn from this class to help prepare you for
these challenges?
4. What are your learning goals for this class? What specific
objectives would you like to achieve?
5. What are you—as individuals and groups—prepared to
invest to achieve these goals?

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 Think about it:
Becoming a global manager

• How important are global issues and challenges to

your future career aspirations?
• What principal skills do you currently bring to a global
manager’s job?
• What skills do you believe you need to acquire or
further develop in order to succeed in today’s
increasingly competitive business environment?

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