Practice Being A Manager

Hometown Culture One of the major dilemmas in global management concerns the degree to which a multinational firm should adapt its business practices to particular locations and cultures versus the degree to which it should maintain consistency across all its operations. In general, firms prefer consistency because it streamlines operations and may result in global economies of scale.

At the same time, multinational firms cannot gloss over differences without running the risk of losing a particular market to more responsive (local) competition. In this exercise, you will interpret your "hometown" culture for a large multinational company.

Suppose that a large multinational equipment company (based outside your country of origin) is planning to open a major production facility and retail dealership in your hometown. This company has hired you as a consultant to help it successfully establish operations in your hometown.

Step 1: Describe your hometown. Write a brief sketch (1-2 pages, using bullet points will suffice) in which you describe the important cultural features of your hometown, including such aspects as language, dress, courtesy/customs, and attitudes toward "foreignness" and newcomers. Try as much as possible to capture aspects of the location and culture of your hometown that would be important for newcomers to recognize and respect.

Step 2: Form a team. Your professor will assign you to small discussion groups of three to five students.

Step 3: Share your description. Take turns in your discussion groups introducing yourselves, identifying your hometown, and sharing the highlights of your brief sketch of your hometown. Listen for similarities and differences across your hometowns.

Step 4: Make recommendations. As a group, agree on some recommendations to the multinational company. Assume that the company is planning to enter all of your hometowns simultaneously. To what degree might the company use a consistent (same) approach in entering your hometowns? Is one or more of your hometowns likely to require a foreign multinational to make more particular adaptations?

Step 5: Share findings with class. Each group should share its list of hometowns and its recommendations with the class.

Step 6: Consider challenges. As a class discuss the challenges of entering global markets, particularly in regard to achieving the appropriate mix of consistency and adaptation.