There are many struggles that a company in China faces in order to become global. Being a little company in a “hierarchical society that often makes it difficult to practice Western management theories of empowerment and delegation” (Moran, Harris, Moran, p. 332) can be a huge feat to overcome and that is what Lenovo did. Lenovo did really well in its home country of China but when it tried to go global it ran into some hiccups. It all came together when Lenovo bought IBM in 2005 and eight years later becomes a fortune 500 company.

In order for Lenovo to become a global company they had to choose a leader that understood personal development, growth, and monetary rewards (Moran, et. al. p. 333) to entice employees and ensure they stick around. Once Lenovo had a grip on the small business portion they began to work on negotiations. In their negotiations they decided they wanted to go global, they bought IBMs corporate PC business division (“From guard shack to global giant”, 2013). From the economist an article was posted on how Lenovo became such a large company with all of the pitfalls and issues it endured. Bringing the Chinese culture to the United States was tricky and figuring out what works took some trial and error and it almost ruined the company trying to implement a strict culture into an American workforce.

Cultural differences made it trickier. IBMers chafed at Chinese practices such as mandatory exercise breaks and public shaming of latecomers to meetings. Chinese staff, said a Lenovo executive at the time, marvelled that: “Americans like to talk; Chinese people like to listen. At first we wondered why they kept talking when they had nothing to say.” Two Western chief executives failed to turn things around. By 2008, as the financial crisis raged, Lenovo was bleeding red ink. (“From guard shack to global giant”, 2013).

Lenovo then appointed a new leader, Yang Yuanqin, and started cleaning house. Yuanqin made changes in the company that were not typical Chinese culture practices. Saving face was no longer something he was highly concerned about. Guiding the company into success was most important. After many changes Lenovo became a fortune 500 company and is quite successful. Understanding the Chinese culture may not work in America was a key component to their success. “Yang sought to integrate IBMs organizational culture and promote cross cultural teamwork (Moran et. al, p. 329)” which improved the overall business and created a synergy employees were happy to work in.

The company is in a race against Hewlett-Packard and is improving while Hewlett-Packard is declining. The image below shows Lenovo on the incline in the PC business.

As the company adapts to coming into the global market and overcoming some hiccups Lenovo is in line with the large companies we have all known for many years. Coming from a small business in China to a large global business with a presence in America can be hard but learning about what the workforce is like and how to work with the people are the key components to success.

Work Cited:

From guard shack to global giant. (2013, January 12). Retrieved March 31, 2015, from http://www.economist.com/news/business/21569398-how-did-lenovo-become-worlds-biggest-computer-company-guard-shack-global-giant

Moran, R., Harris, P., & Moran, S. (2011). Doing Business with Asians and Australians. In Managing cultural differences global leadership strategies for cross-cultural business success, eighth edition (8th ed.). New York, New York: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. (n.d.). Retrieved March 31, 2015, from http://www.idc.com/tracker/showproductinfo.jsp?prod_id=1

Outsourcing can be the key to a businesses success, when working with other countries it is important to understand how to negotiate with others to create an ideal relationship with the other party. Negotiations between cultures can be misunderstood greatly and leave a sour taste in ones mouth if not performed respectfully which in turn will hinder possible future negotiations. Understanding the culture of the business will help with negotiations and building trusting relationships. There are many factors that go into a negotiation and even more that go into a negotiation overseas. Some of the key considerations are the culture, language most commonly spoken in a professional setting, learning who is in the negotiation team, and how the team functions with respect to time, preferred way to do negotiations, and many other factors.

Doing business with other countries put you at risk for many things if you are not properly educated and prepared. First and foremost it is very important to learn the culture and what things or actions are accepted and appreciated versus what things or actions are offensive and disrespectful. Dr. Lieh-Ching Chang of the department of business administration for Hsuan Chuang University points out, “Each culture has its own standards, and one behavior that has a certain meaning in a certain culture could be interpreted differently in another” (2006). Cultural differences can make or break a deal and it is highly important to fully research and understand how a business works and does business deals.

Learning how a business conducts negotiations is important too. It is smart to know if decisions are made by one person or as a group. Does the other party like to become friends before they do business with you or are they to the point like the Chinese (who) value interpersonal relationships, followed by morality and law (Chang, 2006)? Do they want you to have a meal or two with them before they trust you? Do they want to gain or win in the negotiation as well or do they mind losing? Do they want you to lose? These are all important options to grasp and understand when doing business with another culture.

Another key component is learning what is appropriate for time with business dealings. “It is said that Germans are always punctual, Latins (sic) are habitually late, Japanese negotiate slowly, and Americans are quick to make a deal” (Salacuse, 2005). Being quick to make a deal puts Americans at a disadvantage because with the Japanese negotiating slowly, it will take a long time for them to come to an agreement. When American moves quickly and Japan moves slowly there will be a happy medium but determining where that is can be tricky. Rushing a deal will break the negotiation all together.

References:

Chang, L. (2006, November 1). Differences in Business Negotiations between Different Cultures. Retrieved March 19, 2015, from http://www.hraljournal.com/Page/18 Lieh-Ching Chang.pdf

Salacuse, J. (2005, April 1). THE TOP TEN WAYS THAT CULTURE CAN AFFECT INTERNATIONAL NEGOTIATIONS. Retrieved March 19, 2015, from http://iveybusinessjournal.com/publication/the-top-ten-ways-that-culture-can-affect-international-negotiations/

In Central and South America the poverty level is in three levels with 40% being at the lowest level (Valero, 2013). In order to overcome this poverty gap there are numerous things the country can try for its people. Having good leaders globally will help them understand the need of the people and address them at their weakest points. Having leaders that know how to address concerns and build the workforce are a top priority for fixing the economy. Our reading this week lists some important key things that leaders should know how to do such as; better manage national resources, manage technology and information for development in the people of the country and development of multinational companies all over the continent (Moran, 2011, p. 320).

Globalization is required for all countries to be successful. America uses other countries for cheaper items so other countries should as well and a key country to do it is Pan-America. Caterina Valero states “to increase its productivity and competitiveness in global markets, the region requires more investments in education, research, technology, and innovation. (2013)” Her article focuses on the Americas and their struggle with poverty and offers thought provoking ideas of how to improve the economy and all throughout her article she is insistent on globalization as one of the key factors to bringing the countries to their feet and equalizing poverty. With globalization being a requirement for a country to get out of poverty it is clear some things will need to be outsourced.

In North America it is commonly said that we send too much stuff overseas to be outsourced and I am a culprit I dislike calling a company and getting a call room clearly from another country. Globalization is ideal to a certain point and helpful for a country to get back on their feet. If the Pan-American countries outsource more work to each other they would help each others economies but if it was that simple why haven’t they done it yet?

Carlos Sabino of the PanAm post lists what he thinks are the two largest problems are: Inflation and high taxes coupled with stringent rules that hinder an entrepreneurial business. If the citizens themselves are not able to have successful businesses how can a business that is not large and can easily go global develop? It will struggle greatly and that may be the reason why the Pan-Am has so much poverty.

References:

Moran, R., Harris, P., & Moran, S. (2011). Motivating the Global Workforce. In Managing cultural differences global leadership strategies for cross-cultural business success (8th ed., pp. 156-179). New York, NY: Routledge.

Sabino, C. (2014, January 21). The True Causes for Latin America’s Social Inequality. Retrieved March 18, 2015, from http://panampost.com/carlos-sabino/2014/01/21/true-causes-latin-americas-inequality/

Valero, C. (2013, June 25). Yale Journal | A Time of Hope and of Challenges for Latin America. Retrieved March 18, 2015, from http://www.padf.org/blog-hidden/2014/9/25/yale-journal-a-time-of-hope-and-of-challenges-for-latin-america

Every successful company gains its success from those who put their time and effort into it. Whether it be your ideas, hard work or collaboration it takes something from everyone for it all to come together. Ideas, hard work and collaboration all come from striving to be successful and performing to the best of your ability for the success of the team you are working on and with. Above the team is the leader or manager who helps develop group workmanship and collaboration. The hardest part of coming together is learning to value everyone’s opinions and consider all ideas as if they are your own. Learning how to consider others ideas, listen to people and develop further solutions off those ideas are key to a successful team and company. Implementing them harmoniously after developing the plan is the icing on the cake.
In large companies you have people from all over the United States and highly likely people from all over the world. The chances of your customer base being outside of the U.S. are highly likely as well. It is a well-known fact that diversity and inclusion in the workplace help a workplace flourish and grow and if it was that easy to achieve everyone would be ideally diverse and successful. Ted Childs is the former vice president of Global Workforce Diversity at IBM and he wrote an article about global diversity workplace strategies and he points out some points to help people grasp how important it is to learn and understand diversity:
• In the United States, 49 cities have at least 100,000 people, and an ethnic minority population is the majority of that city.
• In 18 of America’s top 50 cities, and in nine of our state capitals, the mayor is a woman or ethnic minority.
• In the U.S. Senate, there are 16 women, two Asians, one black and three Hispanics. In the House of Representatives, there are 71 women, four Asians, 42 blacks, including the first Muslim member of Congress, 27 Hispanics, one Native American and three gay and “out” representatives.
• Sixty-nine countries have some form of workforce diversity legislation intended to define expectations of corporate conduct, and 24 of them require the submission of reports.
Those facts show us that the U.S. alone has become global whether we knew it or not.

With globalization happening in our back yard it is important to understand where managers lack and “the challenge is to innovate ways to improve human commitment and performance at work. (Moran, 2011, p. 164)” Managers understanding their employees is key to an employees happiness, listening to their concerns and responding are very good for employee relationships. When it comes to a group of people, each person in the group should be treated the same way and each employee should act as if the other team members are just as crucial to the success and happiness of the team as they are. It is a large help to listen to everyone and make them feel as though their opinions are valued.
In a group all ideas are good ideas, none are pointless or a waste of breath. Each person no matter their diversity blueprint has a background and experience of some sort that can help the teamwork through the toughest problems and come up with groundbreaking solutions. Including everyone in the team and using everyone’s ideas no matter who they are based off of their input and experience will help a team be successful. In the economy today, it is most important to understand that “a diverse workforce can capture a greater share of the consumer market. (Kerby, 2012)”

Happiness at work starts with inclusion, inclusion helps understanding diversity and working with both inclusion and diversity will help grow the business to be a global workforce in today’s society.

References:
Childs, T. (2008, September 23). Four Critical Global Workforce Diversity Strategies . Retrieved March 16, 2015, from http://www.shrm.org/hrdisciplines/diversity/articles/pages/fourcriticalglobal.aspx

Kerby, S., & Burns, C. (2012, July 12). The Top 10 Economic Facts of Diversity in the Workplace. Retrieved March 16, 2015, from https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/labor/news/2012/07/12/11900/the-top-10-economic-facts-of-diversity-in-the-workplace/

Moran, R., Harris, P., & Moran, S. (2011). Motivating the Global Workforce. In Managing cultural differences global leadership strategies for cross-cultural business success (8th ed., pp. 156-179). New York, NY: Routledge.