Having
been in corporate life for about 20 years, I have always come across various
thoughts and talks about the ideal qualities that a great business manager
should possess. Vision, positive attitude, team player, perseverance, emotional
bond with employees, etc. and the list is endless. As a part of university days
in a global B-school, working outside India and extensive interaction with
business managers from various countries and cultures I have always found very particular
traits and qualities that characterize the effective working and productive business
cultures of managers from various parts of the world. In fact the economic
progress of a country can be linked to some particular traits that the managers
of that country possess and probably the lack of progress can also be
attributed to some qualities of a country`s managers do not possess.
1) Global
vision and footprint of Americans
The
big boy of the globe certainly did not make as the world`s superpower and
largest economy without its managers thinking big on a global basis. American
firms build products which appeals to people across the world and its managers
build the business strategies keeping the world in mind and built global
brands. Apple, IBM, 3M, Pepsi, Coke all of which are global American brands are
every consumers delight. One of the key traits of American managers has been in
successfully aligning their business strategies according to local business
conditions. Corning Inc., in early 90`s, swooped in on the Chinese telecom
companies and educated them on the benefits and ways to go about building their
telecom networks before the European firms like Alcatel could move in and
succeeded in creating a huge entry barrier for themselves.
The
American military has a presence in almost all regions across the world viz.
Korea, Philippines, Middle East, Africa, Europe, etc. which ensures that they
have a say in many political developments globally. The Americans played the global oil trade
politics by playing off between the Sunnis, Shias and with Israel in the
background creating instability in the region. They changed their game plans,
reflected by the deal with Iran despite their major ally Saudi`s objections,
influenced by the advent of shale oil. Global view and actions are the
trademark of American managers.
2) Strategic
orientation of the British
The Brits ruled the world for over 300 years till the WW-2 weakened them and the USA and the Soviets took over as the global
superpowers. Similar fate was for the other European colonial powers like the
Spanish and the Portuguese but the British have strategically re-aligned themselves
to influence global business and political developments. Politically, Britain
has been happy playing second fiddle to the USA like in the Iraq wars of 1990`s
/ 2000`s and in the Russian – Ukraine crisis in 2014 and thus remain a key
influence in global politics. Britain remains one of the key players in the EU
but has managed to keep its currency, the Pound, out of the Euro and thus
getting the best of both. Business wise, Britain has re-oriented its economy to
a services base from a manufacturing base in tune with global shift in manufacturing
towards Asia. London remains one of the key financial hubs globally, the global epicenter of commodities trade and mainly a desired place to work given its
multi-cultural work force.
3) Technological
prowess and details orientation of Germans
Germany
is the home to some of the biggest manufacturing giants across many sectors
viz. Audi, Bosch, Bayer, BASF, etc. and the technological and manufacturing
strength of Germany was one of the pillars of growth of Germany post WW-2. The
detail orientation and regimental approach of the Germans, which is even
reflected in the way they play football, enable them to overcome all hurdles
and hence maintain their competitive edge, like in high end manufacturing.
4) Teamwork,
classless culture and work specialization of Japanese
Japanese,
like Germans, rebuilt their country after WW-2 through dint of sheer hard and
mainly team work. Japanese work culture encourages teamwork and success of
teams rather than individuals which is reflected in the way the Japanese firms,
especially the automobile firms, captured the world. Even the leading Japanese
corporate houses “sogoshoshas” like Mitsui, Marubeni, etc. enter a business
sector / country as a group and hence spreading the risks and learning from
each other.
Another
aspect of this team work culture that is striking about the Japanese, is the
high focus on specialization. A business team would have a product expert,
finance expert, country expert, etc. who all pitch in for business decisions
and hence analyse a situation from all angles. Thus we see no superstars from
Japanese corporate world, barring a few, and only teams.
5) Operational
efficiency and execution abilities of Chinese
The
last 20 years has seen the rise of China based on low cost high scale
manufacturing which has been enabled by the cheap and highly productive labor which
work with clockwise efficiency. This aspect has enabled firms to churn out huge
quantities of low cost products and swamp the world be it garments, toys,
automobile parts, power plants, etc. The western firms too advantage of this by
setting up their manufacturing bases in China. Many of the Chinese firms like
Haier, Huawei, etc. copied the western processes and “with blinkers on’
produced the products at low costs. Many Chinese firms even pirated the western
technologies and made low cost versions too. The Chinese government is also
known for executing projects, especially infrastructure projects, in double
quick time like the Three Gorges Dam. Buildings, flyovers, etc. are known to be
built in double quick time.
6) Style
policing and aesthetic orientation of North Europeans
North Europeans focus on the final style and
finish in their work which is reflected in some highly technologically advanced
and products with great customer orientation viz. Nokia from Finland, Ikea from
Sweden, Otticon from Denmark, etc. These countries` work ethic is defined by
the quality coupled with product features and thus they have also other great
companies oriented towards industrial sector like ABB, Alfa Laval, etc.
7) Numerical
and analytical prowess of Indians
The zero was invented in India and the
Indian education system, recognises students with superior numerical skills.
These skills have come in handy for the software industry in India and thus
about 70% of software codes globally are written by Indians. Sharp Indian
brains have been powering leading firms in the western world especially in the Silicon
Valley in USA.
8) Fun
with work nature of Brazilians
What’s
life without fun and nobody can party with work better than the Brazilians.
Samba dance is the flavor in all aspects of life. Despite the economic slump and
political issues Brazil successfully pulled off world cup 2014 and is all set
for Olympics 2016. Brazilians mix fun with their work which helps them
de-stress as well as optimize productivity. Work can also be fun is the motto!!
To summarize, there are
lots of other examples to follow from people and managers from many countries.
What can good firms learn from these trends? Global firms move their employees across
various countries to give them market exposure as well as imbibe good
managerial qualities from the country managers. In a multi-cultural work force
it is important to understand the work culture of different nationalities and
mainly learn from other nationals. From education perspective, inter university
exchange programs and field trips would help in imbibing good managerial
qualities at an early stage of life.
As Thomas Friedman wrote in
the book “Borderless World” about free movement across various countries. The
free movement should also include good qualities and work practices across
various nations!
