Cross border movement of managerial qualities

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!