Discussing the topic of “Global Management”, Mr. Srini Nageshwar harped on the fundamental importance of adapting to global markets and cultures. He started with an example indicating the changing global scenario. He stated that earlier all one required to go global was the knowledge of English, French and German languages but today the combination reads English, Hindi and Chinese.
Outlining the characteristics of a Global Manager, he said a Global Manager is one who can function anywhere in the world, can start off immediately on any assignment, should be able to understand the company very well to achieve objectives and leave the organization better off than when he started with. Stating that a Global Manager should also be able to manage diverse backgrounds, he claimed Indians to be better suited to become Global Managers because of India’s inherent diversity.
Mr. Srini Nageshwar said the prerequisites to becoming a Global Manager are: a sound upbringing, extrovert behavior, openness, flexibility and adaptability and a strong intent of practicing day in and day out. He also held forth the difference between global professionals, in country professionals and employees who carried out the routine tasks of a company.
Speaking in context of practicing Global Management, he said that a company usually starts a subsidiary in a new location through a trustworthy lieutenant, emphasizing the need for someone who knows what the company wants exactly. He likened this to potting a plant in one place in a garden and repotting it in a new location. He told that a Global Manager was parachuted in when a company wants to accomplish change, add skills to the organization or manage outsourcing. He spoke of each of his stints where he had to work as a Global Manager to open a foreign business and manage change to refocus towards growth.
For achieving such goals, Mr. Srini Nageshwar harped on the need to develop a good business strategy, staff the team accordingly and execute the strategy solidly. For a robust top-line, he emphasized the importance of appropriate business and financial models for a firm, a good product strategy, people skills and people management.
He also spoke of differences between a Silicon Valley company and an Indian company. To become a balanced company, he said that one should squeeze all possible sales out of current products and define and execute new product development programs. This requires having a killer marketing and sales group while using current resources extremely effectively.
Regarding entering foreign markets, Mr. Srini Nageshwar recommended to start off at avenues where mistakes made wouldn’t hurt the company much and develop templates for functions such as products, logistics and support. These guidelines to Global Management were peppered with examples from his own professional life, making the discussions more relevant and useful to the audience.
Finally, Mr. Srini Nageshwar answered the audience’s queries, harping on the need to strengthen the Indian infrastructure with respect to support for entrepreneurship as well as the need for building better companies to build a better nation.
Vishal Chourasiya & Kunal Lal
(MBA batch of 2009)
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