1 Going global: How to succeed in International Business! (29 pages)
the dance with icebergs
Going Global: How to succeed in international business! 11
had with German labor laws, German work habits and consumer
preferences, or the reports of the struggle for power between top
managers of the German-French Airbus consortium demonstrate
how conflict-laden multinational cooperation can be.
11
In ‘Smart
Globalizing
’, a research study on international cooperation con-
ducted by the University of Luneburg in Sweden, it was found that
80% of all international projects fail.
12
Why is this the case?
The Dance with Icebergs
Global management has become a part of everyday life. Approxi-
mately 1,5 million managers worldwide, commonly known as ex-
patriates or expats, are working outside their home country. Ac-
cording to a 2010 Mercer International Assignments Survey, the
number of expat assignments increased by 4% in 2008/2009, de-
spite the global recession. According to a survey by PriceWater-
houseCoopers, 10% of German organizations that are internation-
ally active send more than 500 employees abroad. And every
company is looking for the best way to do it. In a Mercer study that
surveyed 220 multinational organizations, it was found that nine
out of ten of these companies are either actively revising or indeed
planning to revise their policy regarding the posting of their em-
ployees abroad. In order to save costs, married employees are
11
For Wal-Mart, the article “Chronologie eines Scheiterns” was available to
read in Spiegel from 28.07.2006 (on the internet unde
for
Airbus cf. et al. the article “Machtkampf im Nationalheiligtum” (Süddeutsche
Zeitung from 16.06.2006, on the internet unde
r
“Machtkampf geht weiter” (Die Zeit Nr.19/2005, on the internet under
www.zeit.de).
12
Cf
Files > Symposium 2011 Mastering Intercul-
tural Diversity.pdf