Managing across borders: the transnational solution

786 Pages·1998·2.52 MB·English

by  Christopher A. Bartlett

Managing Across Borders : The
title:
Transnational Solution
Bartlett, Christopher A.; Ghoshal,
author:
Sumantra.
publisher: Harvard Business School Press
isbn10 | asin: 0875848494
print isbn13: 9780875848495
ebook isbn13: 9780585232522
language: English
International business enterprises--
subject
Management.
publication date: 1998
lcc: HD62.4.B36 1998eb
ddc: 658/.049
International business enterprises--
subject:
Management.
Page iii
Managing across Borders
The Transnational Solution
Christopher A. Bartlett
and Sumantra Ghoshal
H B S P
ARVARD USINESS CHOOL RESS
B , M
OSTON ASSACHUSETTS
Page iv
Copyright © 1998 President and Fellows of Harvard College
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
02 01 00 99 98 5 4 3 2 1
Bartlett, Christopher A., 1943-
Managing across borders : the transnational solution / Christopher
A. Bartlett and Sumantra Ghoshal.2nd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-87584-849-4 (alk. paper)
1. International business enterpriseManagement. I. Ghoshal,
Sumantra. II. Title
HD62.4.B36 1998
658'.049dc21 98-26004
CIP
The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the
American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed
Library Materials Z39.49-1984.
Page v
To Barbara and Susmita
With love and appreciation
Page vii
CONTENTS
Preface to the Second Edition ix
Preface to the Paperback Edition xv
Preface to the First Edition xvii
Acknowledgments xxi
Part I: The Transnational Challenge 1
1. Organizational Capability: The Next Battleground 3
2. New Organizational Challenge: Beyond Structural Fit 21
3. Administrative Heritage: Organizational Asset and 39
Constraint
4. The Transnational: The Emerging Organization Model 65
Part II: Characteristics of the Transnational 83
5. Building Competitiveness: The Integrated Network 85
6. Developing Flexibility: Specialized Roles and 109
Responsibilities
7. Facilitating Learning: Multiple Innovation Processes 131
Part III: Building and Managing the Transnational 155
8. Legitimizing Diversity: Balancing Multiple 157
Perspectives
9. Managing Complexity: Developing Flexible 181
Coordination

Page viii
10. Building Commitment: Creating a Matrix in 203
Managers' Minds
Part IV: Transformation to the Transnational 229
11. Developing Transnational Managers: New Roles and 231
Tasks
12. Managing the Transformation Process: 251
Rationalization, Revitalization, Regeneration
13. The Transnational Solution 281
Application Handbook 301
Notes 349
Bibliography 367
Index 381
About the Authors 391
Page ix
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
Almost a decade after we completed the research that resulted in the
publication of Managing Across Borders: The Transnational Solution,
it has been a strange experience to find ourselves revisiting the
manuscript. So much has occurred in the intervening years that we
approached the possibility of the new edition of the book with some
trepidation.
As we reviewed the concepts and frameworks, and reacquainted
ourselves with some old familiar companies, we experienced a variety
of emotions. At one extreme was a glow of nostalgia for the
wonderful experiences we had in researching and writing this book; at
the other was a sense of embarrassment about sections of awkward
prose or inappropriate predictions. But the over-whelming feeling we
had was one of contentment and even pride. This was not so much a
contentment born of self-satisfactionthe manuscript's numerous errors
and revealed blind spots prevented thatbut a contentment born of a
recognition of how fortunate we had been to be in the right place at
the right time. Through the generous cooperation of some 236
managers in nine core companies, we were able to see an emerging
transnational management model supported by an integrated network
organization form that has proven robust and powerful in the years
that have followed the publication of the book.
As we look around at the international business environment in the
closing years of this century, it gives us a great deal of satisfaction to
see companies developing the kind of multidimensional strategic
competencies and the flexible organizational capabilities that we
described as the transnational model. In today's environment, this is
no longer simply an idealized model. It is the corporate form that
companies around the world are building and managing in an ongoing
routine fashion.
Page x
As we noted in the original preface and acknowledgments, we count
ourselves extraordinarily privileged to have had the opportunity to
learn from so many knowledgeable and experienced managers.
Throughout the seemingly endless process of researching this book,
whenever we became discouraged that we would never be able to
make sense of the vast amounts of data we were collecting, we simply
reminded ourselves that ours was the easy task. With access to
leading-edge companies and generous managers willing to share their
views, we had the luxury of being able to step back and look for
patterns and trends across the very diverse organizations we were
studying. Our simple goal was to reduce the large and complicated
world that the managers were wrestling with into some simpler
concepts and frameworks that could capture the essence of the
emerging strategic imperatives and organizational forms without
destroying either the subtlety or the complexity. In fact, we found this
experience such an exhilarating one that within months of the
publication of Managing Across Borders, we were already engaging
in the design of a follow-on project. That project has provided the
material for the update of this book.
Although our research for this book focused on the ways in which the
forces of globalization were creating new strategic and organizational
imperatives for companies worldwide, by the time we had finished the
study, we were acutely aware that we were examining only one part of
a much more profound revolution. Globalization was only one of
several important and urgent forces of change that were
simultaneously reconfiguring the corporate model in a way that had
not been seen in more than three quarters of a century. In the closing
decades of the twentieth century, the forces of deregulation and
privatization were also sweeping the world. Meanwhile, the
information age and knowledge revolution were reconfiguring the
strategic characteristics of whole industries and providing new