Is Vietnam A Luxury Market?
December 19, 2007
In what it described as a "dazzling debut", German automaker Porsche has launched its full range of sports cars and SUVs through a new showroom in Ho Chi Minh City.
According to the company’s press release, “The time for Porsche in Vietnam is now,” said Mr. Andreas Klingler, General Director of Prestige Sports Car Company. “Drivers in the high-end market are now looking for more than just average luxury vehicles."
Drive a Porsche in Vietnam? Not so fast …
Anyway, the point isn’t that the traffic in Vietnam is horribly congested, although it is. What’s significant about the Porsche debut is that Vietnam now has enough "drivers in the high-end market" to attract one of the world’s most exclusive and expensive brands of automobiles. Read more… »
How Global is Your Organization?
December 12, 2007
Here’s a useful way to assess the global strengths and weaknesses of your organization. First, print out this page. Then, for each of the following statements, assign a score of "1", "2", or "3" according to how well they describe your company: 1 if a statement is false, 2 if it’s somewhat correct, or 3 if it’s true.
- In order to create an overall corporate “glue,” our organization devotes a large share of its resources to global executive development
- Global experience (actually living and working overseas) is considered essential to a successful career in our organization
- A considerable number of our employees live outside the home country
- A sizable percentage of our investments lie outside the home country
- The power of our subsidiaries is considerable
- Non-home-country executives are well represented on the board
- Our language of business is predominantly English
- The members of the executive board have extensive overseas experience
- The organization is very experienced at handling expatriation/repatriation issues and offers executives considerable help with transitions
- We invest in preparing our executives for foreign assignments
- In considering people for assignments in countries other than their own, we look at many factors other than technical/functional expertise
- We lose very few of our executives due to unsuccessful foreign assignments
- Our organization doesn’t favor home-country nationals for fast-track careers
The higher your score, the more your organization tends to be global. Please feel free to share your scores and questions with International Innovations.
Specific scores are privileged information. However, if you find your score below 25, it is reason for concern if your organization is global. In the case where you’re planning on going global, these areas are paramount in the process.
For more information, see our other articles about organizational development.
China v. India: The Battle of the Titans
December 9, 2007
As China has been the dominant low cost solution for the manufacture of consumer products, so too has India for IT and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), especially since the burst of the technology bubble in 2001. The duality of these economies is based on the practice of many US based companies to invest in China as the manufacturing powerhouse and India as the software powerhouse.
Companies making their initial entry into Asia, or looking to expand beyond the borders of China, may find India a very compelling place for high technology investments and lower costs. On the surface, India does not necessarily look like a major economy or an attractive place for a US company to setup a manufacturing operation. India’s infrastructure is poor, its traffic is chaotic, its policies and bureaucratic processes stifle development, and it is home to rampant corruption. Read more… »