duo bcudary—jourydopm daisy ‘any evve ut UL Strategy 119 designe y has developed a unique training system al localization’. At the apex of this system is ygement Training Group. This Group first convened i ifferent membership every year, comp! “Intercultural management orientation for top managers -d recently at the International Management Trai *) for 1997. This Group comprised seven senior managers eon fc ym the United Kingdom, and one each from the “United States, the Caribbean, Austria, Australia and Switzerland. BMW AND ‘GLOCALIZATION’: CASE STUDY IN INTERCULTURAL MANAGEMENT a European company of note that is making concerte efforts to address the issue of intercultural management. Its efforts have resulted from its multinational operations. This company managed to carve out an enviable niche premium segmei innovation. Through BMW © expertise to resolve success ation and enlargement of BM _ of this IMTG, Jesus Cordoba m BMW (Caribbean), was CEO- the situation on the ground, the IMTG went To better understa ind for a week. Yecame the first automobile company a prototype version of a 7Series saloon car with a hydrogen engine. That BMW has done so is not at all surprising, that the is company relies on the engine making engineers. The demand for hydrogen-powered cars that can replace petroleum-based fuel vehicles is a real one, given the capacity for these cars to emit fewer toxins, The company has had to manage a companion ch; success in the market. This ch that of evolving a corporate strategy th cement as a global BMW has evolved a corporate strategy that reflects its his global strategy BMW has described as ‘glocal ation’, ‘where the aim is to find the right combination of global networking and local policy’. Actual problem-solving unknown to most of them. They were also membel 1g experience. ly diverse group, which in itself was a A year after IMTG 1997 had assembled in Bangkok the group con- Geneva,Gor cresdory~ounydoy dey, ayant 800z0r'01 F politely even when they disagree. This Information sharing by competitors see that Thais just smile potty even ‘managers unacquainted One of the highlights fo bald cause a serious prodlens for Geneva Road Be oe vas for MWe Seent of information sharing among rival automobile cone cen ane waiuer Switzerland, Data on orders received and sales achieved men i Daas eeling K BMW wes viewed as a Public domain, By contrast, the German members of the grou, i nated rom the local population, One example Y would never be given comparable data fa tal protection standards as Mercedes-Benz in Germany, lion is not as stringent in Thi 5 ins why BMW has topped and This sort of polcy Open-mindedness | Dow Jones Sustainabi . is expected that The rationale behind the International Management trening Prone tn company becomes wel Mealy denennet ie imparted to IMTG 1997 is to faster open-mindednoss Nene eae eee ee crac ard Wal gourted Blobal managers. Observations made at the Geneve R AR petal leah petal reinforced their awareness that ways of transacting business | dbl asian hn be ea differ across cultures. Hence BMW m. ation’ is the key concept driv CE ec auaan thas hh to corporate strategy, a uursuing a global approacl Fe Hear nila! ach cour afer beng adapted t0 q mnagerial challenge lies i : sntry’s cultural heritage. The managerial J Tsung the apparent contadictons involved. BMW pretest jrand depend on the expertise of managers from the court jan extensively use expatriates. is | with the result that outsiders cannot fully gauge the mactio Inahich thas operations ae than extensively use expats. management practices are also sufficiently perm and responses of their Thai counterparts, of these approaches, SMW adopted a three-step procedure for Thailand, This pra Beton of cuturaspaciic anpraaities 50 a eed Sedure was developed by IMIG 1997 after having examined the. when found successful and inherently sound, functioning of other German companies like Siemens in Thailan for use worldwide. The first step was to induct Thais into key postions in BMW These Wire seconchiine management jobs reporting directly to the CEO, | Bravia Senior managers acted as gatekeepers, communicating BMW what various Thai groups (employees, customers, gover ment) really wanted and expected The second step was to inculcate among these ne @ good example of : loc n. These individuals had been recruited met iculously and felt proud to work for an internationally reputed ned {oprated corporation like BMW. They were keen to imbibe BMW values, It then became their responsibility to exert influence over the ' Inferences ‘The following tentative inferences may be drawn from the BMW case: 1 Global companies require managers possessing intercultural «4 er ral management expertise Management Training BMW believes in fostering intercul Ween Wine at te through education. The Internatio’ and bring them in line with BMW's aoe are part of this educational effort, remainder of the Thai workforce, $,8anizational objectives. As Thais, they naturally understood the ‘Thai minclset as no expatriate could. A member of the IMTG veeduor, peydary~ourydere\duron:oy/:o1ig 8002'01'01 al management ional Management Training Groups develop, res, and thereby formulate country. s and f jul from ethnic cultures, They must ive enough to assess trends and janagement is characterized by. decision making has been delegated to its various country divisions. ‘nt who have internalized BMW values and thei ese values to thi ing about c h firsthand exposure. Issues about the management y divisions are discussed by International Management Training Groups. These groups: se top BMW managers from different counties. The | groups often discuss and analyse issues pert of which they have no worthwhile recommendations, the group travels to the country in question for a short sojourn, to learn about The company is now poised f future are based on assessmi plans for the us Country divi sted itself of both the Rover Rover brands of automobile, having sold the former 10 Phoenix Corpora ‘0. General Motors. In Thailand, ns in 1997, ata time when the baht had fallen to an alltime low and purchasing power was also low. The Thai economy has since recovered fairly well. BMW has Panache for financial prowess combined with skills in intercultural management, [CASE STUDY DISCUSSION QUESTIONS Suategy 123 ays would BMW enact ils strategy differently for its he United Kingdom? its top management ec 4, Why does BMW encourage a be in a continuous learning mode vis vis national culture? ltural approach to Jon to strategy fo Does BMW believe that formulating strategy that can adapt to local culture is an evolutionary process? ACADEMIC DISCUSSION i ics involved in the formulation and ‘This chapter examines the dynamics invol ‘mentation of strategy by global companies, As alzeady mentioned lenge of corporate strategy in ling a balance between glok teay'e ‘eness of orgt irrespective of cul all the global managers interviewed for this book concur that the following techniques of corporate strategy can be adopted in any culture, Action plannins ‘This ensures thatthe various strategies formulated by a transnational corporation are implemented in every culture, and the appropriatedatas ¢/udare~rouniclarmctenrys ener Strategy 124 _Intercutural management Action planning is p fashion, This reduces Anning is conceptwalizi inning to end. This the necessary tasks have hee! stage, the MASTERS criteria referred to by Cushway and '999) can be used. The acronym MASTERS stands 10 other tasks should be identified 8 well. The time required for the execution of ea gauged and recorded. The date on which each task ‘completed has to be noted. The managers and for task completion have then to be deployed. to decide on a reasonable time frame for rev "strategic feedback and strategic learning. CORPORATE STRATEGY AND. INTERCULTURAL MANAGEMENT ‘organizational objectives iprehensive course of action for (1998) have averred that The balanced scorecard ~ Inessence, corporate strategy is the s followed by the establishment of ac concern of corporate strategy is the pursuit of ‘ng to fulfil too many objec potential, Kaplan and Norton recommend four key measures, These are the perspective, the intemal perspective, the innovation and learning nd the financial perspective. The customer perspect ies engaged in strategic decision making adopt the following five steps: 1, Definiti statement. 2. Scanning of environmental conditions are ‘of corporate philosophy and the development of a mission examines the extent to which the glo! ‘competencies. The innovation and learning perspective is concerned with Continuous improvement. The financial perspective investigates whether the Finanaial maetao nn -