7 - Implementation and Future

Question 1

What are the key management positions in the transnational company?

Answer 1

1. Global business manager
2. Worldwide functional manager
3. Country subsidiary manager

Question 2

What is the responsibility and 3 roles of the global business manager?

Answer 2

Responsibility: global efficiency and competitiveness

Roles:
1. Global business strategist
2. Architect of asset and resource configuration
3. Cross-border coordinator

Question 3

What is the global business manager’s role as a global business strategist?

Answer 3

1. Provide worldwide perspective on strategic position
2. Incorporate perspectives and interests of geographic and functional managers
3. Keeping consistency of business strategy with corporate strategy
4. Reconcile different views and prepare integrated strategy

Question 4

What is the global business manager’s role as an architect of asset and resource configuration?

Answer 4

1. Oversee worldwide distribution of assets and resources
2. Shape future configuration by leveraging existing resources and capabilities
3. Link resources and capabilities in a configuration that resembles integrated network

Question 5

What is the global business manager’s role as a cross-border coordinator?

Answer 5

1. Decide on sourcing pattern and managing cross-border transfer processes
2. Use direct central control for products of high strategic importance and use internal market mechanisms for commodity-like products

Question 6

What is the responsibility and 3 roles of the worldwide functional manager?

Answer 6

Responsibility: Provide support to line managers by diffusing innovations and transferring knowledge on a worldwide basis

Roles:
1. Worldwide intelligence scanner
2. Cross-pollinator of best practices
3. Champion of transnational innovation

Question 7

What is the worldwide functional manager’s role as worldwide intelligence scanner?

Answer 7

1. Overcome communication problems
2. Capture and transmit information across national boundatries to track trends and potential challenges and make appropriate adjustments
3. Establish functional specialist information channels to link experts in functional areas

Question 8

What is the worldwide functional manager’s role as a cross-pollinator of best practices?

Answer 8

1. Identify and evaluate leading-edge practices
2. Remove not-invented-here syndrome
3. Take initiatives that will expose others to new ideas like cross-unit visits, task forces, and formal reviews

Question 9

What is the worldwide functional manager’s role as champion of transnational innovation?

Answer 9

1. Locally leveraged: Identify local innovations that have applications elsewhere by scanning the company’s operations
2. Globally linked: Exploit company’s access to worldwide information by linking intelligence sources with internal centers of excellence

Question 10

What is the responsibility and roles of the geographic subsidiary manager?

Answer 10

Responsibility: Defend the company’s market position against competitors, respond to local customers and governments, leverage local resources and capabilities

Roles:
1. Bicultural interpreter
2. National defender and advocate
3. Frontline implementer of corporate strategy

Question 11

What is the geographic subsidiary manager’s role as bi-cultural interpreter?

Answer 11

1. Needs to be a local expert for market needs, competitor strategies, government demands
2. Interpret information for corporate management and communicate the importance of information to members whose perceptions may be biased
3. Communicate corporate strategies to local employees and achieve corporate goals

Question 12

What is the geographic subsidiary manager’s role as national defender and advocate?

Answer 12

1. Defend the need for national responsiveness with efficiency
2. Advocate for the role of the subsidiary in global operations
3. Ensure that needs and opportunities that exist in the local environment are understood and incorporated into decision making

Question 13

What is the geographic subsidiary manager’s role as frontline implementer of strategy?

Answer 13

1. Convert corporate plans into actions for subsidiaries
2. Action must be sensitive enough to respect diverse local constituencies and pragmatic enough to achieve expected corporate outcome

Question 14

What are the 2 ways in which a subsidiary can attract more attention?

Answer 14

Attracting with weight or attracting with voice

Question 15

What does it mean for a subsidiary to attract attention with weight?

Answer 15

Making an impact on the company’s global network. Being in a pivotal role of success of the business

Question 16

What does it mean for a subsidiary to attract attention with voice?

Answer 16

1. Initiative taking: developing new products, penetrating new markets
2. Profile building: Improving image, credibility, and reputation

Question 17

When is subsidiary voice particularly important?

Answer 17

When subsidiaries are located far from headquarters or the subsidiary activities are only focused on the local market.

This can lean to strategic isolation

Question 18

What are the 3 roles of top level corporate management?

Answer 18

1. Provide long-term direction and purpose by providing clarity, continuity, and consistency across ideas
2. Leverage corporate performance to provide controls, support, and coordination
3. Ensure continuous renewal of the organization by constantly questioning processes and creating new initiatives

Question 19

What are the 4 types of multinational enterprises?

Answer 19

1. Exploitive
2. Transactional
3. Responsive
4. Transformative

Question 20

What is an exploitative multinational enterprise?

Answer 20

One that has a single-minded focus of maximizing profits regardless of social impact.

Attracted to developing countries for cheap labour, resource exploitation, preferential government treatment.
Adversarial against NGOs

Question 21

What is a transactional multinational enterprise?

Answer 21

One where maximizing shareholder value is the primary goal but other concerns are integrated as long as they do not conflict with the goal.

They adhere to the spirit of the law in addition to the letter. Relationship with NGOs is more based on monitoring and challenging

Question 22

What is a responsive multinational enterprise?

Answer 22

One where stakeholder and shareholder concerns are equally important.
Decisions are made based on moral principles rather than the law
Try to be proactive rather than reactive in dealing with stakeholders

Question 23

What is a transformative multinational enterprise?

Answer 23

One that goes beyond being a good corporate citizen and takes a leading role in helping developing countries.
They are willing to sacrifice profits to address social issues.
Actively exert their influence to bring positive change in society and business in partnership with NGOs and stakeholders