GMSC Spring 2007
 Conference Abstracts

Conference Sessions

Keynote: Managing Global Customers

George S. Yip

Vice President and Director of Research & Innovation, Capgemini Consulting, UK.

In this talk, George Yip addresses one of the hottest topics in international business: managing global customers. Multinational companies no longer buy on a country-by-country basis, but increasingly on a global basis. These customers seek global contracts, standardized terms and conditions, and uniform products, services and prices. Managing these customers places new demands on multinational suppliers. So the latter increasingly use a variety of management techniques for co-ordinating their activities with multinational customers.

The talk provides a systematic framework for developing and implementing global customer management programs. It draws on in-depth research at over 20 major U.S. and European multinational companies. The audience will learn how to

  • think about managing global customers in the context of their overall global strategy
  • develop effective global customer management programs
  • overcome barriers to implementation and success
  • build better relationships with important customers
  • get the entire company to engage with managing global customers

The talk is based on the speaker's new book, Managing Global Customers, to be published Oxford University Press in September 2007.

 

The Big Picture

The Globalization-Localization Tradeoff: Challenges for the 21st Century

Dr. Mohan Subramaniam

Associate Professor of Strategy, Carroll School of Management, Boston College, MA

Harnessing the benefits of globalization and localization has long been one of the primary challenges for firms competing in international markets. Being global often conflicts with being local, and hence, finding ways to be both requires making important tradeoffs. The nature of these tradeoffs and our approaches to manage them, have evolved over the years with fundamental shifts in the global competitive landscape and with our changing perspectives on global strategy. This talk reviews this evolution and offers new insights as to how the globalization-localization tradeoffs need to be managed in the 21st century.

 

China's Impact: accommodations and responses

David McHardy Reid, PhD

Thomas F. Gleed Chair of Business Adminjistration
Seattle University

China's expansion is already bringing about far reaching consequences, political and economic. China has already become the world's manufacturing hub and is a destination for business process outsourcing (BPO) as well as intelligent process outsourcing (IPO). The trading relationships between China and its partners are overwhelmingly beneficial. Yet the point of great friction between China and its more developed trading partners is that of intellectual property rights (IPRs) infringement. 
Based on two decades of study and interviews, conducted recently, with over 100 CEOs of companies operating in China, both foreign and local, Dr Reid will reveal his insights on the direction of the economy, and deliver his analysis of the opportunities and threats it poses. In addition he will discus his synthesis of the responses that foreign players should make to deal with the real IP threat and by doing so bolster their global IP positions. 
 

 

Global Marketing

Web Site Cultural Customization: Strategies for India

Nitish Singh

Associate Professor of Marketing and head of the Localization Certification Program at California State University, Chico, CA

Go Beyond Translation- Learn to Design Culturally Customized Web Sites to effectively target and reach 1.08 billion strong global online consumers!

This session will provide you:

  • A powerful web site cultural customization tool that has been developed based on 5 years of research across several countries
  • Cultural Maps to easily customize web sites for any country in the world
  • Special insights into developing culturally customized web sites for the booming Indian online market.
  • Unique cultural insights into Indian culture

 

 

Globalisation from a Non-US perspective

China: Economic Miracle or Mirage

Stan Crock

Senior Editorial Director, U.S. Federal Client Group, Accenture, USA

This session will provide you:

  • A look at ominous political and economic trends in China
  • Insights into how different types of business face different risk levels in China
  • A contrarian analysis of the true nature of globalization and its implications
  • An analysis of how all this fits into the recipe for becoming a high-performance company

 

Globalisation From the Other Side

Mike Gendron

Partner, Tatum LLC, Cincinnati, OH

In the US we may view outsourcing with a negative connotation… in a we/they global competition. Those in the US affected by global competition – companies challenged by low cost outsourcing; individuals potentially losing jobs or career opportunity – may fail to consider the other side- those people and businesses in China, India, Eastern Europe etc. Those global citizens want to improve their living standards, and prosper just as we have in the US. We often fail to see the upside potential, and capture the job and career growth potential. "Globalisation From the Other Side" will put the global business environment in a different perspective and demonstrate that on a global scale, opportunity only increases for the US, provided that we accept our global citizenship responsibilities. Change our focus! Think of China, India and so forth as global citizens with consistent goals as those in the US… consider them as 2 billion+ potential customers, not just as an outsourcing destination.

 

Case Studies

Case Study - Developing a Global Marcom strategy for Select Sector SPDRs

Students from both the Business School and Translation & Interpretation School at MIIS will share insights and learning points from their experience working on a hands-on consulting/localization project for a large exchange-traded fund. The student team will explain how they walked the client all the way from strategic planning and international market research to implementation of a website localization strategy. They will explain how GLOBE Center projects such as this serve as a lab for innovative management practices, influencing the way business is done in the real world.

 

Facilitated Mini-Case Study

Michael McKenna

California Digital Library
University of California Office of the President

In this lively session, conference participants will break up into small groups and we will go through the issues and topics covered in the previous two days by means of a facilitated discussion and hypothetical case-study. By assigning each table a different role in an organization or the global community - Marketing, Technology, Government, Local Community, etc., we will walk through several "what if's" as we brainstorm our way through the shoals of the international marketplace, the intricate local and cultural nuances, the government hurdles, and the global community.