As companies seek profit opportunities beyond their national borders, they encounter new issues:      · planning,     · resource allocation,     · management control,     · organizational strains,     · complexity,     · culture clashes,     · local competitors. Just looking at employees, a company must adjust their work environment and culture to match…

While facing increasing competition, this innovative company is known for:      1.  Retaining large market share            ·  CEO Tim Cook is not pursuing market share at all costs, saying, “Our objective has always been to make the best, not the most.”                This is…

Some think that 20% of an organization is ready for change, 60% can be swayed and trained, and yet there will always be 20% that resist. I believe this is an optimistic outlook, as social scientists and behavioral economists find that humans are biased toward the status quo. They say that humans resist changing assumptions…

There is not always an apparent right answer. Case studies are all discussed with hindsight knowledge. What would you do? How does your behavior act out?  One person told me to take the 3M test – would your behavior change if:      ·  Mentor was coaching you?      ·  Media – front page…

“Listen” and “silent” have the same letters. When working with people who speak different languages, we must allow time for them to translate in their heads and prepare their response; however, many Western based workers are not comfortable with the pause. In fact, in this culture we are practically starting our sentences before the other…

Facebook’s “App Economy” (i.e. Scrabble, photo sharing, etc.) has users downloading 20 million apps per day. This has created 50,000 jobs and added $12 billion to the U.S. economy (University of Maryland).  That is good news, until you consider that a study in Great Britain found that Facebook costs businesses (in Great Britain) $264 million/day…

The days of being a one-country company are gone. The rapid growth of emerging markets provides more global opportunities. In order to do this, your company must be able to assess:      · New market potential / economies of scale      · Talent availability      · Employee engagement / alignment to a…

Managing the balance between supply and demand is critical to company success. For supply, you must consider how to source your product and there are some value-creating factors that go beyond labor costs.              · First, geographically, can you source and assemble the product close to the final demand in…

Continuously executing strategic initiatives is essential in ensuring corporate competitiveness. The executive team must:      ·  Engage time, resources, attention        ·  Align on strategic initiative expectations      ·  Take accountability for/ownership      ·  Speak with “one voice” on why doing change and what benefits will come from it…instead of change…

Roy Disney said, “It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.” Yet, for many companies, profits overwhelm principle. Do your employees know your organization’s values? Are they personally aligned? If “yes” to these two, then you should feel confident that your employees will behave in all situations in a manner…