Distant Echoes

The perils of International Business are many. A case I discuss in class deals with a Capt.Rinen and his ship the Tampa, where the good and conscientious Captain picked up a clutch of Afghan refugees off the Christmas Is.
The refugees insisted on being landed in Australia, for what they thought would be a better life. The Australian government had other ideas and it turned into a huge international incident causing much heartburn in
Australia, Norway (the ship was Norwegian), Afghanistan & Indonesia.
There is yet another recent incident involving Norway again.
An estimated 30,000 Norwegians seeking justice for the rape and murder of student Martine Vik Magnussen in London three years ago have launched a boycott against Coca-Cola products. They’re protesting Coca-Cola’s business ties with the wealthy father of her suspected murderer, who has eluded arrest by British police.

The girl was a regular fun loving youngster, who is said to have had her fair share of alcohol and drugs, tragically suspected to be butchered by her Yemenese boyfriend, who fled Britain for Yemen, post the murder, in 2008, after a night long party.
Now here comes the rub. The boyfriend’s dad is a billionaire who runs the distribution for Coca Cola in Yemen, Egypt and Libya and has ties with Xerox and Daimler Benz. Pressure built in Norway and then threatened to spread to the rest of the western world against doing business with the allegedly tainted Arab family, as they refuse to extradite the suspect to Britain.
A few days ago, finally, Coco Cola severed ties with Shaher Abdulhak the alleged suspect’s millionaire father three years after Martine was raped and murdered. The point is an event in London, involving a Norwegian miss and an Arab youth has implications across several nations and lead to business realignment.
Shaher Abdulhak lobbied hard with politicians in Norway and Yemen. He threatened to sue politicians in Norway, as well, but public pressure was a little too strong. Business, politics and ethics are all wonderfully juxtaposed as this case shows you and when it goes international the going gets complicated.
Interestingly the campaign to preesure the soft drink giant was run on Facebook. Social Networking and technology. A modern day panacea for an age old crime!
Will the dead girl get justice? Martine's family belives she will and the struggle to get the young suspect to Britian to stand trial continues.

Lawless Seas!

The marine fraternity watched with bated breath as a Russian warship, with naval commandos, headed out to the Gulf of Aden, to assist, a sea jacked oil tanker, 'Moscow University'. The tanker was carrying 86,000 tons of crude oil from Sudan to China, valued at over $ 50 million, when it was captured by Somalia pirates on May 5 and rescued by a Russian anti-submarine cruiser the next day in a commando operation. Apparently the tanker carrying crude oil was taken over by heavily armed Somali pirates off the coast of Somalia.In ensuing events the ship was boarded by the Russian commandos & after a firefight, in which one pirate was killed, all the ships crew were saved & moved to safety.The Russian Defense Ministry said, the Russian anti-submarine destroyer Marshal Shaposhnikov freed the Moscow University.
While the commando operation has been lauded the world over, Russian Prime minister, Putin has praised the ships crew for their fortitude, skill & valor. I think the conduct of the Captain & his crew on the oil tanker was exemplary.They seem to have followed, all security instructions, as drilled into them, created a secure perimeter & taken shelter in the ships Engine Room. Not only did they prevent the pirates at getting at them, but were also prepared for a long siege, with adequate water & food. The Captain had also radioed for help as soon as the pirate attack began & when Russian commandos reached the stricken ship, the pirates were sitting ducks. Contrast this with the Belgian ship, captured a couple of days ago. The pirates have physically taken hostage of the ships crew ( 13 Indians ) & enormously improved their bargaining power.
From an organization point of view, what is to be learnt, from this episode? The Captain of the 'Moscow University', said that he & his crew took their anti piracy drills very seriously, so when the crisis hit, they responded, correctly and effectively.Good planning & preparation does that for you!
The Russians have also captured, ten of the pirates & now seem to have a quandary on their hands, whether to hand the pirates over to the defunct Government of Somalia or try them in Russia.Because international laws are so loose & poorly defined, many fear that the Russians, could take the short route & execute the pirates, to bring closure to the event.Suspected pirates from other cases are in custody and awaiting trial in France, the Netherlands and the United States.Handling of internation disputes, continues to be an area of challenge for most nations!Many countries are keen to hand over, captured pirates for trial to Kenya, but the Kenyans, are not very interested, as of now, due to their own internal issues......

Chinese Checkers!

A couple of days ago, a student of mine asked me, as to what I considered, the most important aspects of International HRM. After mulling over the question, I said, training of expatriates and setting up policies to deal with crises that your employees faces when working abroad, would top my list.

I think I was bang on, with the Rio Tinto brouhaha in China. Rio Tinto, a London based metals major, follows a Geo Centric approach to staffing, and in doing so, placed Stern Hu, an Australian, as its rep in China.The issue is further confused because Hu was Chinese prior to turning Australian!

Hu, Rio Tinto's executive in charge of iron ore negotiations in China before his arrest last July, was sentenced in a Shanghai court yesterday to a total 10 years in prison on charges of corruption & bribery. Three Chinese colleagues were imprisoned for between seven and 14 years.

The case was closely watched by foreign companies operating in China. The rulings suggest Chinese authorities are taking a sterner stance toward foreign companies caught violating the country's often selectively enforced corruption code.

It is clear that the Chinese are playing hardball here, obviously miffed by the reluctance that the western world shows in signing extradition treaties with China. The lack of a treaty precludes China from getting its citizens back home to face trial, for offences committed against China.

The Australian's are obviously not pleased. Australia's leader Kevin Rudd said today that secrecy surrounding China's trial of four Rio Tinto workers for commercial espionage leaves room for doubt about the convictions.

Canberra says the jail sentence handed to Australian citizen Stern Hu on bribery charges was harsh, and has criticized the decision to keep media and diplomats out of the court while it considered the other charges of stealing commercial secrets.

I have that that bad feeling that seems to suggest that, this international fracas, is fast spiralling out of control.Rio Tinto said if would fire Hu and his colleagues.

"I am determined that the unacceptable conduct of these four employees will not prevent Rio Tinto from continuing to build its important relationship with China," CEO Tom Albanese said in a statement. The company is increasingly dependent on its business with China.

However corporations would be disappointed at the secrecy of the commercial secrets elements of the trial and chronic corruption that plagues industrial China.China continues to be opaque in many areas.Much of the foreign interest in the case stems from the commercial secrets portion of the charges, because government information controls add a layer of uncertainty and risk to operating in China.

Some of the information the Rio execs are thought to be accused of obtaining illegally -- including detailed mine production and operation rates -- is considered vital market intelligence in China, where official statistics are unreliable.This episode has also placed China, as a business destination,under the scanner, following closely on the heels of Google exiting China, in the recent past, over a spat with the Govt. of China & intense pressure on its business practice, back in the USA.

This is IHRM at its best!It has got all elements of a wonderful drama- International Politics, Business wheeling & dealing, industrial espionage and of course the human touch. A wonderful case study, except that poor Hu, would definitely not be downing 'Fosters' beer & watching Kangaroos, skip across the great Aussie outback, for a while, while politicians across the world indulge themselves in a war of words!

Banzai!

It’s clear by looking at the demographics of Japan’s population that diversity initiatives aren’t just a "nice to have" for Japanese companies. They are a strategy for survival. Right now we in India can bask in the refuge of knowing that we have the largest number of youth, waiting to take up jobs. ( Whether they are employable is yet another story )
Twenty-two percent of the population in Japan is over the age of 65, according to the Central Intelligence Agency’s World Fact Book. At the same time, Japan’s birthrate is only eight births per 1,000 people. "Companies don’t have anyone to replace the workers who are retiring," says Jan Combopiano, vice president and chief knowledge officer at Catalyst, a New York-based nonprofit that focuses on workplace diversity issues. "What many of them are trying to do is make up for decades of not having women in the workforce.” Also, as Nissan has noticed, women in recent years have become a dominant force as consumers, Combopiano says.
While Japanese companies have gotten support from the government, which has declared gender equity as a goal for all employers in the country, the main challenges these firms face is changing the culture of their organizations, as well as addressing the Japanese culture of being very high on the Power Distance Index. Most Japanese men feel that a woman’s position is at home. Despite laws supporting gender equity, Japan still is a male-dominated culture. To address this, companies need to approach diversity initiatives as they would any type of change management program. Internal training needs to be part of these initiatives so that managers and employees throughout the organization understand why diversity is important and how it links to the company’s business results. And it’s not just the male managers who need the training, she says. Women employees often need help understanding their opportunities throughout the organization, since this is a new way of thinking for many of them, she says.
Unfortunately, to really get women employees understanding the potential for their careers at the company, firms need to have more female role models in top positions and this is really an issue after years of women facing the proverbial glass ceiling in terms of top managerial positions.
According to a 2007 white paper issued by the Japanese government, female managers make up only 10 percent of all managers at Japanese companies.The lack of role models means there are a lot of women who don’t see any possibility for them to be managers.
Japanese organizations are also facing the brunt of a generation of change, where, the younger generation, does not display the same sense of organization loyalty that their fathers did. Indeed job hopping is quite a common Japanese trait these days, compounding the issue. Japan has to choose between the devil & deep blue sea. Their untainted culture or business survival! As the situation worsens are we going to hear the battle cry- 'Banzai' from the Japs....................

The maze of International Laws!

Two instances with interntional ramification's but close to home, are those of the Google mess behind the dragon's veil in China & that of Andy Pag in Rajasthan. I'm quite certain much of the folk would have heard of Google but the same would not hold true with Andy Pag.I've got a rather smug smile on my face, as I was talking the Google story, in my International HR class, a couple of months ago as a potential point of conflict between the USA & China.

Andy is a Brit who also holds an Italian passport and believes in saving the world from ecological apocalypse. He drives a twenty year old school bus powered on bio fuels across the world & spreads his message. Apparently he drove a bus to 'Timbuktu' in Africa, powered by chocolate & he also organised the Grease to Greece Rally in 2008, where teams travel across Europe in vehicles powered by cooking oil. Amazing !

Andy, presently in India, is frankly in a mess, where the danger is very clear and present and far away from the ecological doomsday that he is striving to save the world from. As of now he is in police custody in Rajasthan,after being arrested in Ajmer, for being in possession of a satellite phone that should have been declared to the cops, on his entering India. From where did he enter India? Pakistan! Now you have all the ingredients of a explosive mixture. Apparently, the phone is the type that was used by terrorists, in the Mumbia Taj strike,a year ago.The charge is serious enough- Anti terror!

The British media is up in arms & his family has taken up his case.I Can understand their plight- in all likely hood Andy is innocent & most folk from the first world have an unmitigated horror about Indian jails. You talk about jails in India & they visibly blanch and go wobbly around the knees. The British government, quiet as of now, is going to raise the pitch, sooner than later.Andy claims that he was not aware, of the regulation and is innocent. Maybe so, but ignorance is not a good defense, to prove innocence.You just cannot step into another country and say, I do not know your regulations. It is good practice to make yourself aware & that is what makes International Business, so complicated.

There was a case, in China, a few years ago, when the Captain, of a ship, was arrested. His crime- he stayed away from his ship, the night over. An accepted practice the world over, but not in China.

I hope Andy Pag, can prove his innocence and continue on his journey, to save the world, a wiser man from now.

We all learn don't we......................................that's why they say experience is the greatest teacher!

Has Atlas Shrugged?

Dubai Poised for Massive Financial Crash, is the talk of the town. The proverbial 'Atlas' has shrugged bringing down much of Dubai's over priced real estate.The price for unbridled capitalism, as taught by Ayn Rand and practised by her chela Alan Greenspan.

Asset prices in Dubai are forecast to plummet up to 70 percent from to last year's high within the next six months. Moody's estimates that Dubai's debt totals around US$100 billion, with around $25 billion insolvent. State-owned investment firm Dubai World has said it will not sell off its assets at rock-bottom prices simply to repay its debts, but if the financial situation worsens, it may have no other choice. Bloomberg on Monday forecast that Dubai will have to abandon its dream of becoming the financial hub of the Middle East if neighbor Abu Dhabi ends up saving the cash-strapped sheikdom. Not only has Dubai suffered tremendous damage to its financial credibility, but Abu Dhabi will seek to have a significant say in financial matters as a precondition to aid. The Times of London reports that Abu Dhabi already demanded a stake in Emirates Airlines, Dubai's state-owned carrier, in return for financial support years ago. Ian Hay Davison, former chief of the Dubai Financial Services Authority, said, "Dubai will keep its role as a regional center of services in the Middle East, but has come very far from its goal of becoming a financial center like New York."

englishnews@chosun.com / Dec. 01, 2009 13:12 KST

I follow the fortunes of Dubai rather closely because I helped build, the Palm Islands & The World off Dubai.( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lXclgws7n8) The tragedy is that these amazing feats of marine engineering now flounder as the real estate bubble has burst in Dubai. To me the case of Dubai,is the classic case of hype & hoopla over substance. We see it time and again but never seem to learn. Dubai, not many years ago was a camel herders den, with little or no resources to boast about. As the oil economy boomed it became the play ground for the rich Arab from oil rich countries.Then came the real estate boom, which had no foundation. During my stay at Dubai, I rarely saw an Arab work, except in the immigration, custom's and police. The real work came from expats from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and UK.Much of the time expats, particularly from South Asian countries were treated very poorly.Arabs would venture out in their swanky cars, post sunset & head straight for the air conditioned shopping malls. Economies are not built by other people's sweat. They are built by in house skill and hard work, consistently over years. Sustainability comes from solid foundations and careful planning. I think this applies to both the material as well as the living world and is not a flash in the pan.This would be the case with careers too. Career building is an art and not something that happens overnight.If you are looking for a great future it is imperative that your hands get grubby today. No short cuts my friends. So when the going gets tough, hang in there and ride the wave. That is what is character. What about the Arab's? Like a friend of mine said, they can always sell 'Camel burgers'............... As for Ayn Rand and her Atlas Shrugged, trash them.( Watch the video http://themessthatgreenspanmade.blogspot.com/2009/02/dubai-real-estate-crash.html )

And never the twain shall meet.....

The East & West, will they ever meet, is a question that has occupied many a thinker from way back in the past. I'm not sure it is something that is going to have a ready answer in the future, too.

The unstoppable Alexander, in 326 BC ran into his first real resistance on the banks of the Indus, from where we in India draw our name - India.

While camping here he was intrigued by a holy men. In fact both were intrigued by the other. Alexander, the busybody, a Greek God felt that he had conquered the world, while the mendicants, felt that they had too, just by sitting on the banks of the river and meditating.

Their leader, Dandamis, tried to show his guest that his conquests were futile: 'You will soon be dead, and then you will own just as much of this earth as will suffice to bury you.' Although these comments were not very encouraging, Alexander insisted that one of them should come with him, and so it happened. Calanus (Indian Kalyana), became Alexander's adviser and must have played an important role in his dealings with the Indians.

Alexander, was so irritated by Dandamis,at the outset, that he threatened him with death, to which the seer laughed at his face.What are you going to kill, me or my soul he asked?

Alexander later, probably met his first military defeat, in India and died on his way back home. His wife and child were murdered by his Generals and he slipped into history.Dandamis too slipped into the sands of time, nary a footprint.So much for the impermanence of the permanence that Alexander was striving for.

The short story would indicate why it is likely that the East & West may never meet. Culturally we are poles apart and our perception of time and space are at the greatest variance.

Now look at the following story.......

To help retain new employees in India, software firm Sierra Atlantic uses a variation on the American "take your children to work" tradition.

The company invites parents of new hires to visit and learn about the company. There’s an introduction from company executives, lunch is provided, and guests--primarily fathers thus far--have a chance to ask questions about the firm and the workplace. Typical questions include: What are the career prospects for their children? What are the company’s plans for growth? And how does Sierra Atlantic support their children’s pursuit of higher education?

The company is based in Fremont, California, and has about 800 employees at offices in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad. The quarterly "take your parents to work" events are an attempt to recognize the importance of family and parental guidance in Indian culture--and to make Sierra Atlantic stand out in the competition for technical talent there.

In India, parents have a major say in the career moves of their children.If Sierra Atlantic is able to convince parents about our values, work culture and growth prospects for employees, (it can) increase company loyalty among their children. Since the initiative began last year, the annual attrition rate for new college graduates hired in India has dropped from 20 percent to 10 percent.The program also marks an attempt to ease the cultural strains of tech work in India. With the growth in technology and back-office operations, young Indians are at times required to work at night because of the time difference with the U.S., alter their accents to sound American and even take on Western names when handling customer calls.

East is East & West Is West, never the twain shall meet- said Rudyard Kipling, the British author, many a year ago. Maybe they won't, but that does not mean that we cannot be more accommodating and understanding of each other's cultural nuances in a flat world.Letting perception cloud decision making is disastrous for business.

Should we take our children to work or our parents? What is the answer ? Like always, I will leave it open for debate, because that is the spice of life!

The Expatriate

An aspect that many HR practitioners ignore is the way they deal with Expatriate workers- their own or from another nation working for their organization.

Expatriate workers are a different kettle of fish, as dealing with them transcends normal HR activity that a firm would undertake.

A case in point is the recent brouhaha that has been created by the diktat that the MEA has issued, regarding Chinese workers, in India working on business visas.

The Chinese have been working on major power projects all over North India and this step has resulted in all of them leaving India jeopardizing the project, leaving the project contractors scratching their collective heads. The projects are in critical stages of construction using Chinese equipment, extensively and replacing these workers is difficult and expensive.

While the political situation in a country does not effect normal HR activity it does impinge upon International HR and if you as a manager deals with expats then it would be prudent to keep your ear to the ground.

Another example, is the police in Ahmadabad, asking people on business visas, who have overstayed, to leave the country. This has hit many of the upmarket hotels in the city.

"This is rather rude and a very short notice. We are not sure what to do now," said a US national, who has been living in Ahmadabad for the past two years.

According to sources, the Centre has decided to stop misuse of business visas by expats for employment. "Employment visa applications are examined thoroughly while business

"Employment visa has a limit of six months and requires constant monitoring by the employer. Business visas have much relaxed norms and can be issued for up to one year and can be extended by another six months," said an immigration official.

The impact of the notice has also been felt in other cities as well. Foreign nationals were vacating hotels in Surat.I can imagine the confusion, because when at Van Oord, I would put up with colleagues from Holland at the Taj and travel to Hazira Port not too far way. Three, four and five-star hotels have been instructed to ask such foreign nationals to vacate rooms at the earliest.

While that may the case in India, on occasions Indian workers live and work abroad in terrible conditions, particularly in many middle eastern nations as well as nations like the Maldives, where the schism between expats and locals is widening and at times resulting in violence.

Unfortunately as HR Managers, many of us miss out the International part and we do so at our own peril, in what is a globalized world................

The International Manager.......

I'm just through with a course on International Human Resource Management. The course went wonderfully well & I had a lot of fun. My course starts with a case on the ship 'Tampa' and her obstinate Captain Rinan. Right up my street,and the case brilliantly deals with many aspects and challenges that an international manager would face.The Captain has to grapple with a whole lot of Afghan refugees on board his craft who turn increasingly mutinuous as days go by and no country is ready to give them refuge.

A great challenge for MNC's is how do you deal with a workforce at a subsidiary and keep them motivated and raring to go.?

In today’s global economy, managers often supervise staffers who work thousands of miles away. But how?
Managing employees who work in the same office is challenging enough. But in today’s global economy, it’s often necessary to work with and for people thousands of miles away. E-mail and teleconferences are helpful, but they’re only tools; they can’t guarantee that you won’t misunderstand, offend, inconvenience or otherwise annoy co-workers and clients overseas.

So how can an executive keep a global workforce motivated and avoid slipping up at the same time? And is it possible to do it without working literally around the clock?

Some tips:

1. Use time zones to your advantage
Many companies take advantage of time-zone differences and cheaper labor to maintain around-the-clock workflow. But it takes constant communication.


2. Gather the team
For the past 11 years, Boston Consulting’s Sirkin and his 15-person leadership team have gathered twice a year, in Chicago and Paris, to talk business and, just as important, to build personal relationships.

it cost money but builds camaraderie.

3. Be sensitive to cultural differences

In 1998, Erin Peterson, now based in Lincolnshire as global head of talent acquisition for Hewitt Associates Inc., relocated to Germany for three years to lead a Western European recruiting team for another company. Faced with a large task, and unaware of the region’s hierarchical culture, she took a collaborative approach.

"I told the group that I didn’t have all the answers and that we’d figure it out together," she recalls. A Swiss colleague pulled her aside and told her that if she didn’t have all the answers, she wouldn’t be the boss. Peterson quickly changed her tone.

4. Provide meaningful opportunities
Software maker SPSS Inc. uses teams at its Chicago headquarters and in China to develop its flagship statistics software. When the U.S. workday ends, China takes over testing and customer support.

What makes it work?

"Our China team is doing true R&D work, not piecemeal projects," says Richard Holada, who is senior vice president of technology and oversees 400 employees in seven countries. "We want everyone to have a sense of ownership and accomplishment."

5. Recognize talent worldwide
Experts say the companies doing the best job of retaining top talent are looking beyond traditional boundaries for leadership.

Hewitt recently promoted its first global leader based in India.


6. Keep employees motivated
Like all things global, cultural preferences vary when it comes to motivating employees. In the U.S., people generally like to be recognized individually for their successes, while Europeans tend to reward teams for a job well done. Working in Germany, Hewitt’s Peterson singled out an employee for praise. "It was not welcome," she says.

But she finds her recruiting team in India responds well to a combination of both styles.

She uses regular monthly conference calls to praise the group and encourages individuals to share best practices.

7. Videoconferencing is your friend
While e-mail is a constant link, Smart of Bermuda-based Accenture says it’s critical to find the right mix of communications channels. She is based in Chicago, but the consulting giant has leaders in Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and beyond.

Smart likes to see people when communicating, so she relies on videoconferencing technology in the office and a webcam on her home computer.

The internation manager has a job which is tough and challenging.It needs total engagement and involvement.