We’ve all heard the ancient adage, “When in Rome, do as the Romans.” However, many well known, successful US companies have had to undergo painful lessons in adapting to foreign cultures. The business philosophy of “Think Globally, Act Locally” cannot be ignored no matter how successful your brand is in your home market. For example, Coca-Cola, the dominant global soft drink producer, faced significant push back in the late ’90′s when they aggressively expanded their French presence. Coca-Cola got sideways with the French when they tried to acquire Orangina, a popular French soft drink company. Coke’s lack of awareness of EuropeanRead more
As a young boy growing up in the Midwest in the ’60′s, I was surrounded by people who looked and sounded similarly, carried essentially the same belief system, and held the same values. Today, the workforce has evolved from homogeneity to a diverse multinational group. In today’s business world, a manager deals with all types of cultures when they report to work at the office suite or pull up to MacDonald’s to buy a cup of coffee. The impact of a diverse society at home and abroad creates a whole new set of challenges. As the world continues to shrink from the impactRead more
Benjamin Franklin said, “It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it.” How true. Reputation reflects who you are, and how you conduct your business. A reputation is built over a lifetime, but in the blink of an eye, it can be destroyed. So, how can you ensure that your reputation is outstanding and draws customers to you? A reputation begins with how you act towards others. In its basic essence, a reputation is an opinion formed by others about you. The Golden Rule, which says that you should treat othersRead more
I have been playing chess since I was 12 years old when my father gave me a chess set for Christmas. I enjoy chess as it appeals to my competitive spirit as well as a way to develop strategic thinking and analysis. Chess strategy has always intrigued me, and as I have developed as a player, I have also improved my analytical and strategic skills for my business career. Even without a working knowledge of chess, anyone can learn what it has to teach us about strategic thinking. The object of chess is to place the enemy king in checkmate from which he cannotRead more
“You can’t manage what you can’t measure.” I have heard this business axiom quoted many times throughout my career, and I have often wondered who was the author of this quote. After reseaching this on the internet, it is generally attributed to two different business gurus, Peter Drucker and W. Edwards Deming. Further research indicated that while it seems possible that either man could have offered this advice, neither actually did. For instance, in Deming’s Seven Deadly Diseases of Western Management, he states in Principle #5, that running a company on visible figures alone is a deadly disease of management,Read more