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Mark Vickers TrendWatcher #14

Mark Vickers TrendWatcher #14

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DATE : Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:52:29 -0400
Entered in Database : 2008-09-29 16:52:29
length : 16697629
Link to the Show / Show Notes

Life sure was easier when the world was round - at least for North American companies. Back then, U.S. and Canadian firms tended to have a lot of advantages over their foreign counterparts: more capital investment, better-educated workforces, wealthier customers, freer markets, better infrastructures, etc. But now that "the world is flat," as Thomas Friedman has famously argued in his book by that name, life is tougher for a lot of corporations. Global companies based in North America must compete on what Friedman argues is a relatively level playing field, and some observers suggest that those businesses are not faring as well these days. Newsweek recently published an article titled "Is America Losing at Globalization?" It points to the success that many competing nations had against the U.S. on the field of Olympic play and argues that this is occurring in the marketplace as well. The dazzling and innovative architecture and ceremonies on display in China, for example, "reflect the deep economic trends of a decade in which our competitors have raised their game and we haven't," noted The Progressive Policy Institute's Edward Gresser, director of the project on trade and global markets (Gross, 2008). Of course, things are never really that simple. It isn't so much nations that compete in the marketplace as it is companies. And quite a few North-American-based enterprises are doing quite nicely in today's flat world, thank you. Still, it's true that most organizations hit rough patches as they strive to compete on the world's playing field, finds a 2008 study conducted by i4cp and commissioned by the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) (Institute for Corporate Productivity, 2008). In fact, only about a quarter of responding globally competitive companies said that their organizations' transition to "global or multinational operations" has gone smoothly or very smoothly. The rest said that they've encountered some rough spots, with 10% saying it's been either "pretty rough" or "chaotic." Most responding companies are headquartered in North America, but a majority have operations in Asia and Europe, and those two regions are also the top two destinations for expansions within the next three years. So, what can organizations do to raise their games and avoid or at least lessen rough patches on this global playing field? The ASTD/i4cp survey, to which there were 317 respondents from global organizations, showed that one major answer to this question is, "Get a whole lot better at global learning." Not even a third (29%) of responding organizations said that learning initiatives in their global operations have been successful to a high or very high extent. The good news is that there's much they can do to improve things. First, companies can get learning professionals involved more - and earlier - during global expansion plans. For example, only a fraction of respondents (23%) said that, to a high or very high extent, at least one member of the learning function joins their organizations' project team during initial plans to expand operations beyond national borders. Yet this strategy is strongly correlated with the success of learning initiatives in global operations, and it's also significantly and positively related to the smoothness of the transition to global operations. That's just one example of where organizations are failing to do enough in regard to global learning. A mere 17% said that their organizations "train trainers in regional learning differences" to a high or very high extent, yet nearly two-thirds said that their organizations should do so... Go to www.totalpicture.com for the full transcript

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