GLOBAL MANAGER

success in international climate demands highly specialised functional managers companies becoming transnational in nature transnationals integrate assets, resources and diverse people in operating units around the world flexible management process

Business country and functional management form a trial of different perspectives and balance one another to build the three strategic capabilities

global scale efficiency and competetiveness national level responsiveness and flexibility cross market capacity to leverage learning on worldwide basis

Traditional organisations structured along product or geographic lines hence do not have capabilities to cope with three challenges at once.

In volatile world of transnational organisation, there is no universal global manager. There are three groups of specialists

Business Managers Country Managers Functional Managers

and the top executives as leaders managing complex interactions between the three. He identifies and develops talented executives for success of transnational.

A. The business manager : strategist + architect coordinator One over-riding responsibility :- to further company's global scale efficiency and competitiveness. Task requires the perspective to recognise opportunity and risks across national and functional boundaries, also skill to coordinate activities and link capabilities across those barriers. His role is to capture full benefit of integrated world-wide operations. To be effective, three roles at core of business manager's job are to serve as strategist for organisation, architect of its worldwide asset and resource configeration and coordinator of transactions across national borders.

track product and market trends across borders capture valuable global efficiencies to reap benefit of flexible response to national market fragmentation as strategist he relies on both corporate and local managers and never assumes alone the ability and understanding to form a global strategy He solicits guidance on strategy from country managers and functional managers

Global business manager has responsibility for distribution of crucial assets and resources in shaping an integrated strategy. An architect he initiates & leads debate on facilities & location of plants, tech centres, sales offices etc.

The global business manager has to achieve most efficient distribution of assets & resources also protect and leverage the competence at hand. The business manager has to rationalise infrastructure and avoid concentration of facilities in one country or region. At the same time, he has to leverage matching each unit's responsibilities with its particular competence. He has to build a battery of approaches and tools involving simple centralised control to management of exceptions identified through formal policies to indirect management via informal communication channels. Since coordination takes more of global business manager's time, the role demands great administrative and interpersonal skills to ensure coordination & integration do not deteriorate into heavy handed control.

B. The country manager : Sensor + Builder + Contributor

Building blocks of worldwide companies are the national subsidiaries While global business manager's objective is to achieve global-scale efficiency and competitiveness, country manager needs to be sensitive and responsible to local markets

Country manager's role is to meet local customers needs and to satisfy host government's requirements safeguarding company's market positions against local and external competitors.

Often local flexibility puts country manager in conflict with global business manager.

Negotiations to resolve differences country manager is not king of the country

Effective country managers play three very vital roles :

sensor and interpretor of local opportunities and threats builder of local resources and capabilities contributor to and active participant in global strategy

As a sensor, country manager must be good at gathering and sifting information, interpreting the implications and predicting a range of feasible outcomes. He has difficult task of conveying importance of such intelligence to people higher up whose perceptions may be biased by distance and ethnic reasons

Transnational has definite advantage of access to scarcest resource - human resources hence they develop local labs into global centers of technical excellence. Hence country manager has burden of identifying, developing and leveraging such resources and capabilities. Country manager has central role for control over strategically important assets and information. He has influence on strategic and operational decisions. He participates in new product development committees, product marketing task forces and global strategy conferences.

C. The Functional Manager : Scanner + Cross Polinator + Champion Every organisation needs to use learning to create and spread innovation. Also requires skill to transfer specialised knowledge and connect scarce resources and capabilities across borders. The functional manager scans for specialised information worldwide, cross-pollinate leading edge knowledge and best practice and champion innovations

he acts as a scanner to detect trends and move knowledge across boundaries and build information into strategic intelligence he acts as linchpins connecting specialisation in organisations areas of

he uses informal networks to create channels for specialised knowledge

Playing role of champion, he demonstrates sensitivity and responsiveness to consumer needs, brings together dispersed technical knowledge and expertise.

D. The Corporate Manager : Leader + Talent Scout + Developer

No single model for global manager. Managers with diverse skills are needed. He has to focus on intense interchanges and subtle negotiations. Well defined responsibilities, clear understanding of organisation's transnational mission, sense of accountability are integrated by corporate manager at many levels.

He leads, identifies and develops talented business, country and functional managers and balances negotiations among the three. Corporate manager promotes strong managerial specialists who can turn company strategy into effective operations around the world. Corporate manager provides opportunities for achievement; allows business, country and functional managers to handle negotiations in worldwide context.

Thanks!!!