Global / Local services (Fernando Salvetti)

Global services open up interesting prospects and not just for globe-trotters. Homologation and standardisation, as the drivers of action preclude the occasion to “listen” to the local context, to interpret it and to revise the singularities within a business strategy effectively suited to the geo-cultural chessboards of reference. One requires cross-cultural intelligence, the ability to “grasp” at a deep level the local context and the most common thought processes, whilst being aware that “the receiver, not the sender, defines communication.” To this day, there are many actions implied in terms of cultural colonialism/tailorism, of standardisation. The interpretations of local contexts aimed at supporting global business initiatives with real cultural knowledge of the more common thought processes and actions, rooted in the different market contexts, are still few in number. The risk is obvious, especially if we believe as Michael Porter does, that “strategy is to be different.”

Managing in Asia: conflict, incomprehension, or successful relations? The difficulties encountered by Western expatriate managers in Asia (Pascale Reinhardt)

Working and succeeding in Asia depends more on "knowing how to be" rather than on "know-how.” Long-term cultural and psychological support of these new expatriates is one of the most effective means to help them accomplish their mission and to develop both professional efficiency and personal “alignment.” Western people working in Asia are confronted with a dual reality which they perceive as contradictory. With their sense of adaptation, their desire to learn and to help those around them, progress can be sorely tried by this double constraint. Time is the best factor for professional integration in Asia, more than elsewhere and a minimum of 2 years after arrival is indispensable to become effective. Among the most frequent traps, the idea of cuddling the newly-arrived expatriate and protecting him from the inevitable "culture shock" does not seem to facilitate adaptation. Those most protected on arrival are also those who later have the most difficulty in adapting their methods to the differences manifested by their Asians subordinates, or able even to question these methods.