|
Executive Interviews: Interview with David Ahlstrom on Global Economy and Global Managers
October 2008
-
By Dr. Nagendra V Chowdary
Prof. David Ahlstrom Professor in the Department of Management at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. 
-
What according to you is the new
economic consensus and the new
business order? Do you see the rise
of business diplomacy? Do you see a
greater role for government in
business, positively of course?
I hope we will not see a greater role
for government in business.
Government can play a positive role
in creating cutting edge regulations, or
establishing standards for safety, or
new process technologies that benefit
a whole industry. But government
cannot forecast major technological
change. I am hopeful that
governments recognize this, and stop
trying to prop up old industries that
are being disrupted, such as the
integrated steel mill industry.
|
|
- The pace of technological
change will increase as more
countries 'get in the game' of science
and technology.
- Increased communication will
facilitate global business.
- Trade barriers will continue to
break down as regulations change
and technology facilitates trade.
- Global business will become more
important and managers will have to
pay attention to becoming
internationally competent.
- More attention will be paid to new
forms of energy and other
sustainability factors.
What do these trends mean for the
organizational preparedness? Do
you advocate that companies should
invest heavily in 4Ps people,
processes, platforms and
programs to be at the forefront of
innovation in the new business
order?
Companies should not neglect
investments in human resources, at
multiple levels. What should be a CEO's agenda in
the new economic and business
order? What factors do you think
are going influence a CEO's agenda?
CEOs have to wear many hats in the
future. They have to be leaders,
influencers, and diplomats. What do you think would be the
critical success factors for global
firms in the new business order and
what should be key result areas for
the executives in the new economic
and business order?
Innovation is central to firm success.
It is difficult for a firm to disrupt its
own main products and introduce
new ones, but the ability to do this
will be even more important than
going forward. Intel is an example of a
firm that was able to disrupt its own
main product line when it
introduced the Centrino line and
other chips and chipsets that
facilitated mobile computing. This
was against the advice of some of
Intel's top engineers, but they did it,
and the new lines are now a very
important part of Intel business. One of the often cited capabilities
that companies should develop is
managing multicultural teams. How
do individuals develop their
capability to adapt effectively across
different cultures? Why do some
individuals possess superior
capacity to deal with the challenges
of working in different cultures?
How do individuals reach full
productive potential working in
culturally diverse work
environments in their home
countries and overseas? How do
organizations build capability for
effective work assignments in locations around the world? How do
organizations optimize individual
and collective performance when
they harness the cultural diversity of
their people across the world?
Firms should try to give crosscultural
training. Some peoplemay be
more naturally adept in cross-cultural
situations, but anyone can be trained
so as to improve at this. The current business lexicon
consists of competitive advantage/
edge, strategic positioning, core
competencies, value chain, value
nets, value creation and value
migration, shareholder activism,
corporate governance, corporate
social responsibility, blue ocean
strategy, etc. What
do you think would be,
rather should be, the new
business lexicon?
I do not argue for a new lexicon. I
would like to see these concepts
understood first, and applied
properly. They are powerful if used
properly. Just think of the number of
firms that practice 'me too' strategies.
They are violating basic principles of
differentiation and value-add. But
they do it all the time, and we all
suffer because of it. In Hong Kong for
example, every shopping mall looks
just like every other one. Why must
they imitate each other exactly? It has
to do with the staid retail
environment here, and the lack of
risk-taking in this industry here. Just
trying to get students and business
people to understand and properly
apply these terms takes up most of
my teaching time and energy.
1.
The Soviet Economy Case Study
2. ICMR
Case Collection
3.
Case Study Volumes
|
