Global Leadership Producing Global Leaders.

Global Leadership

Producing Global Leaders.

This is especially a prescient question and gives one pause when one examines the dismal record for most countries in foreign affairs and in foreign business. Weaving people together whether politically or in international business relationships is a tough task. For this reason, strategic human resource management is so important and it is businessmen that are usually engaged in foreign relations before governments (Sparrow, 2009, 463).

Globalization has made this difficult quest an absolute necessity in both the spheres of businesses and government. In an article that appeared in 2009 in the Journal of International Business Studies, businesses are increasingly depending upon offshore operations as areas where they can remake themselves. This is done particularly in the area of technology innovation where much innovation is happening offshore in outsourcing operations and projects. While innovation in this one sector is critical, there is a shortage of U.S. leaders, therefore, much of the leadership is also being recruited offshore to insure that U.S. companies occupy a level playing field overseas (Lewin, Massini & Peeters, 2009, 1406).

Possible Ramifications of Not Having Global Leaders.

If managers do not realize that there is a critical need for them to be flexible and be ready for overseas postings, they will leave their organizations in very bad shape. Not having these global leaders will leave a company at a grave disadvantage, because eventually domestic markets will become saturated and for a company to expand, it will have to do so overseas. As mentioned above, even leadership searches are being outsourced due to a shortage of competent U.S. global leadership here at home (ibid.). The lack of leaders hinders the great strength of the U.S. business model which is continuing innovation and reinvention. The U.S. does something well that most countries (including European countries) do well and that is make and destroy whole industries. As George Friedman of the Stratfor Intelligence Company, this gives America an advantage that many countries can only dream of which is destroying old industries and creating whole new ones. We need those skilled in global leadership to export this business model to other areas of the world because we do better in areas that have adopted this model of capitalist development (Friedman, 2009).

Changes That Can Be Made in the U.S. To Encourage Companies to Become Global Leaders.

Essentially, U.S. companies have always been leaders in this area (at least the leading ones have). The fact that Roche started in Germany and is now in the U.S. gives a history of foreign operations in the company as being integral to strategy and tactics in its planning. This is a central focus of Roche Diagnostics which is engaged in the testing and early of problems such as HIV / AIDS, congestive heart problems, hepatitis, diabetes and for non-disease issues such as pregnancy detection, blood coagulation and fertility. Early detection of disease allows a wider array of options ("Roche diagnostics: We," 2012). The need for U.S. leadership in global business is necessary because of world wide globalization. Presently, the world markets are much more competitive than they used to be. While the U.S. has had some economic issues with the recession in the last few years, it is still a major economic power. For instance, even now, the U.S. is engaged in some one quarter of the world economy and it must continue to become engaged through the agency of global leaders not just in the diplomatic realm, but also in business (Friedman, 2011). Global leadership is necessary for the competitive edge and to just survive in the present cutthroat market environment.

How Smaller Organizations Can Address Their Global Leadership Development Needs.

As expressed by Lewin, Massini and Peeters, there is a huge tendency to outsource entire business functions offshore. Certainly, if the big boys can do this to save resources and divert them to areas where they are need more using offshore outsourcing, then small companies without the huge amount of resources that Roche Diagnostics have at its disposal can certainly use offshore outsourcing as a way to save money, especially if they are small startups that are in the tender first months of development. Precious startup capital can then be logistically provided to critical areas that otherwise would go unserved to accomplish a large amount of growth with less money. Even white collar functions such as customer service, sales, computers, finance and accounting operations can be outsourced to India or a number of overseas centers with large concentrations of Anglo speakers and readers. Companies are increasingly outsourcing more and more complex functions than ever before and can do so without compromising quality at a cut rate price (Lewin, Massini & Peeters, 2009, 1407)

How Public Policy Can Influence the Development of Global Leaders

Much of this will be accomplished under the aegis of human resources management (HRM). HRM has evolved in the United States to include a greater command of a number of issues that are associated with the 1) systemic character of HRM, 2) the role that context plays in shaping HR policies and practices, 3) the importance of demonstrating the effectiveness of HR policies and practices, 4) the value of addressing the concerns of multiple stakeholders, 5) the need for partnership in managing

human resources, 6) the complexity of managing human resources in multinational enterprises, and 7) the challenge of developing theories and frameworks that provide new and useful insights about how to address all of the above issues. (Schuler & Jackson, 2005, 1-2).