Globalization Wisdom Series: Introduction
Posted on September 17, 2009 by AtulNo Comments
Continual
technological, social and economic advancements propel us further into a global
business world in which business executives in Boise, Idaho can teleconference
with business executives in Beijing, China as if they were sitting across the
table from each other. Entire departments now work remotely from home offices
and other locations as the rule rather than the exception. And with the
cropping up of freelance online employment markets that serve as intermediaries
between businesses and services workers, the ability to globalize is more
accessible to businesses and individuals of all sizes.
initial wave of globalization in the late 1990s and early 2000s was about
taking advantage of lower labor costs in offshore destinations. With the rapid,
inexpensive transmission of data available, businesses can leverage the time
zone difference with India to achieve 24-hour workdays. But those opportunities
were only the beginning of what services globalization offers. Today's successful
globalizers understand that there are a number of additional advantages to
services globalization and embrace them where other not so successful leaders
do not. Furthermore, they understand that they can't afford not to.
implemented, globalization can be a means for shoring up competitive advantage
as organizations take advantage not only of lower labor costs but also diverse
intellectual capabilities, growth and quality enhancement opportunities, as well
as the ability to get products to market more quickly. Successful globalizers
that embrace a global and flexible mentality are constantly looking for
opportunities to improve—whether those opportunities present themselves in
Michigan, Mexico, Malaysia, or anywhere in between. Much more than bottom-line
labor costs and longer workdays, successful globalization means a more
successful business, period.
Some
organizations and leaders have leveraged those opportunities successfully. Most
have not. Successful globalizers realize—while many not so successful
organizations and leaders do not—that services globalization is not a one-shot
deal. It is still a relatively new way of doing business; a new part of the
business lifecycle that requires not only diligent planning, but also ongoing
management. And it requires strong commitment from the organization’s
leadership.
Not
surprisingly, the companies and leaders that are successful globalizers engage
in similar practices—key practices that other companies regardless of size can
emulate. In my two decades of consulting major corporations on global sourcing
I’ve seen similar trends and patterns among firms that have succeeded in
services globalization and have come to recognize that there are seven best
practices in successful services globalization. This and the next seven
articles are book excerpts are from my upcoming book, Globalization Wisdom: The
7 Secrets of Great Globalizers. They are about sharing those leading practices
from successful globalizers, the seven secrets.
The
seven articles that follow expound the key attitudes and behaviors that
successful globalizers share—and offer concrete guides for replicating their
success within your own organization. I’ve paired what I know from my work with
Neo Advisory (Formerly neoIT), as an advisor to firms looking to globalize
their services, with sage advice and stories from executives at organizations
that are successful globalizers, many of whom were among the first to globalize
services, including Applied Materials, Lenovo, Virgin, Cisco, FedEx and
Plantronics. The end result is a book designed specifically for C-level
executives at organizations positioned at all stages of global maturity.
Road Map
Perhaps
one of the most fundamental secrets of successful globalizers is that services
globalization, like most business initiatives, is a lot about trying, learning
and retrying. By understanding the paths that other organizations have taken to
become successful globalizers, the learning curve on your own path will
hopefully be shorter.
In
the course of the next seven articles (book excerpts), we’ll highlight the
following seven secrets to successful globalizers:
Secret #1: Embrace Globalization
Secret #2: Welcome Globalization as a Transformation
Lever
Secret #3: Adopt a Lifecycle Approach
Secret #4: Align Business and Globalization
Objectives
Secret #5: Assign the Best People
Secret #6: Implement a Strong Governance Model
Secret #7: Embrace a Continuous Improvement Mindset
Vashistha is Founder & Chairman of Neo Advisory (formerly neoIT), a leading
management consultancy since 1999, focused on independent, objective and
actionable advice to enterprises that seek to transform their organizations by
capitalizing on globalization. He is also Founder of NeoGroup, a firm focused
on providing outsourced management of supply relationships and governance. His
latest venture is BestOutsourcingJobs.com, an online job portal focused on
outsourcing careers.
Filed Under: Global Work
