“Businessmen go down with their businesses because they like the old way so well they cannot bring themselves to change. One sees them all about-men who did not know that yesterday is past, and who wake up this morning with their last year’s ideas.”
-Henry Ford
The company I work with company that is considered to be a multinational enterprise (MNE). These are companies that seek returns by doing business in two or more countries (Moran, Abramson, Moran, pp. 102).
When competing in a global market, it is vital for companies to focus on global efficiency. The company I work for focuses on perfecting their global strategy. They have done a good job thus far with combining global efficiency with local responsiveness in order to grow the global business.
Henry Ford’s statement is very fitting for growing a business in a global market. The global market is constantly changing with the creation of new technology. A lot of this strategy is affected by the company’s mindset. Perlmutter states that there are three mindsets: ethnocentric, polycentric, and geocentric. Out of these three mindsets, the company I work for would fall into the geocentric mindset. This mindset is where the company strives to achieve global efficiency and local responsiveness at the same time (Moran, Abramson, Moran, pp.115).
Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing Cultural Differences (9th ed.). Oxford: Routledge
Sven Frisell says
Hi John! I love your example and quote of Henry Ford. A visionary who despite his quote still managed to make that mistake. I refer to Fordlandia, a visionary town in Brazil that Ford created to supply him with the rubber he needed and a better life for the Brazilians living there.
Despite the brilliance of the idea and the intelligence and foresight of Ford he made a few blunders precisely because he didn’t follow his own advice. First of all Rubber trees do not grow in rows plantation style so despite trying to force them to do so he failed as they died off.
Secondly he did not anticipate that the indigenous people might have different ideas about work and living then Ford’s employees did in Dearborn. The Brazilians erupted in rioting after being fed up with being forced to live in strict accordance to a foreign culture. The high wages and health care were not sufficient, they were not willing to have their whole lives regimented to Ford’s schedule.
I attach a link here. I find it interesting because Ford did not get much wrong, he was really a brilliant man, however this mistake was one of his biggest and costliest and therefore I found it interesting.
https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-resources/popular-topics/brazilian-rubber-plantations/
Hope you have a great week! Sven