The Power of Global Thinking

IESE Insight 5

Gives you the bigger mindset you need to adapt to the challenges of operating cross-culturally. Richard M. Steers and Carlos Sanchez-Runde explore the implications of culture for managing and motivating employees around the world. Marieke de Mooij urges managers to take a culturally segmented approach in their global marketing effort. Sophia Kusyk challenges three myths about doing business across cultures and provides some ethical decision-making tools. B. Sebastian Reiche identifies vital criteria to leverage the skills and knowledge that subsidiary staff brings to headquarters.Elsewhere in this magazine, Dominique Hanssens prescribes better marketing strategies to turn around a sick brand during periods of reduced consumption; and Raúl Ibáñez and Josep M. Rosanas examine management planning and control systems to help executives use them more wisely.Other articles touch on sustainability: Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide of Saatchi & Saatchi, considers it the biggest idea of our time and the next big imperative; while Robert G. Eccles, of Harvard Business School, notes a clear trend in most industries and most countries toward integrating sustainability into the companys core operations and processes: Get ready, he says, or get left behind!Theres also a business case on an Israeli/Palestinian start-up, with three executives pondering whether such an unlikely joint venture in this part of the world might actually generate peace as well as profit. We go jumping with parachuting enthusiast and entrepreneur Josep Lagares and learn about the importance of training, teamwork and backup. And Joan Enric Ricart pays tribute to the enduring management legacy of the late, great C.K. Prahalad.