*{Global Economy, National Mindsets [http://www.weforum.org/site/knowledgenavigator.nsf/Content/Global+Economy%2C+National+Mindsets?open&topic_id=300250000&theme_id=300]

            26.01.2001

            Annual Meeting 2001}

            Does a one-size-fits-all approach work for managing international operations? The answer is both yes and no, participants at this working lunch agreed - but they disagreed on some of the reasons why. A number of reasons were reported by the table hosts:

            *{--Guillermo de la Dehesa, Chairman, Centre for Economic Policy Research, United Kingdom
            --Carlos Ghosn, President and Chief Operating Officer, Nissan Motor Company, Japan
            --Shiv Nadar, Chairman, HCL Corporation, India
            --Lubna S. Olayan, Chief Executive Officer, Olayan Financing Company, Saudi Arabia
            ·Hirotaka Takeuchi, Dean, Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy, Hitotsubashi University, Japan}

            There was consensus that there are basic approaches to doing business that are global. These include a pragmatic vision and strategy, quantifiable targets and priorities, and effective communication to motivate staff. The need to make money is the same no matter where you are doing business.

            However, the way to go about making money is not the same in different countries, or even in different areas within large countries or regions, suggested a number of participants. One person from Argentina talked about different ways of doing business in Brazil and Chile. An American participant said his company’s dealers have different business practices from Portland to St Louis to Atlanta. 

            The principle of equal pay for equal work, for example, might not be as important or mean the same thing in different countries, it was pointed out. How should a western company adapt its practices at home to an Islamic country? There are even questions about maintaining the same weekends and days off in various operations across the globe in order to reduce the amount of downtime due to different schedules.

            In Japan, it was reported, the importance of communication in companies is changing. This is not due to changes in Japanese culture, but rather it has been necessary to meet business objectives. A participant from Japan said that Japanese executives no longer think their way of doing business is the best way, and they are now adopting a more global standard. This is not necessarily the American standard, however.

            At one of the discussion tables it was pointed out that not one participant was of the same nationality as his company. They felt that it was often a mistake to send people from headquarters to manage operations outside the country. Rather it is better to bring in local people to headquarters, train them and send them back.

            The extent to which the approach is central or local is often determined by whether the company is offering a product or service. Service companies tend to have a greater local bias in managing international operations, whereas manufacturing companies tend to be more centralized. Technology companies tend to be the most centralized of all. "Most who are working with advanced technology get away with murder with one-size-fits-all," commented a participant.                 

                  *{Contributors:       Dehesa Guillermo
                  Ghosn Carlos
                  Nadar Shiv
                  Olayan Lubna S.
                  Takeuchi Hirotaka}