s to make decisions and take actions on the basis of “checks and balance”. Nevertheless, the principle may impair the efficiency through a long journey of “collaborative discussion”, though the decisions possibly appear “democratic”. A true case sounds very irony. In order to response the markets, an automotive company planned to discount the price for one of its cars in China. The company’s policy stipulated that all marketing proposals must be checked and approved by the head-office in Europe. Then, a long round of discussion started and lasted for several months before the local general manager flied to the head-office to convince the executives. The plan got passed finally, but do you think they would still win?
An inappropriate organization structure will seriously hurt business in a fast-growing market. The clients would never wait since they do have many options. Thus, a simple and fast decision-making and controlling system is very necessary for China operations. Personally, I would appreciate globalization rather than “localization” or “de-localization”, because it looks a two-way word. Whether we select foreign managers or local managers, the premise shall be based on “trust”. Trust is a kernel of globalization and requires two-way communication, respect and tolerance.
Afterwords
An excellent manager never just imitates what is told in teaching materials. Markets keep changing, so do our employees and customers. For an experienced HR professional or a business manager, it is critical to identify what the markets look like before a strategy is determined.
Glocal implies to have a global vision while actions shou