Six management principles for multinational corporation success

Management in MNCs

Management Principles in MNCs

The reliance on management Principles in multinational corporations (MNC) is today more pervasive than ever given the rapid pace of globalization and the need to bring diverse cultures together for attaining common goals. The reliance on the six management principles of vision, people-driven values, robust communication, sense of urgency, execution and extreme customer focus all combine to create a strong platform for future growth of an MNC. Given the pace of innovation that continues to accelerate, these six management principles are essential for the effective growth of any MNC over time (Cveykus, Carter, 2006)

The intent of this analysis is to define the role of each of these six management principles in an MNC, defining which is the most critical to its success.

Assessing Management Principles in MNCs

The six management principles of vision, people, robust communication, sense of urgency, execution and extreme customer focus are the foundation of any effective MNC structure and performance. Of these, vision is critical for unifying the entire organization, across cultural boundaries, to a common and shared series of objectives and goals (Fujimoto, Hartel, 2010). The people aspect of the six management principles is what is the most difficult to manage and lead over time, as resistance to change is often the most common reason that initiatives fail. Communication across the many cultures must take into account large variations in how each region perceives information, what its core values are from a task ownership standpoint vary, and how the perception of time itself is different. All of these factors influence execution of a given series of strategies, so from the perspective of getting things done, the first five management principles are tightly integrated with each other (Underdown, 2010). Finally, all lasting success within an MNC relies on an extreme customer focus, which is the sixth management principle. All of these elements together form a system of continued improvement and alignment to customer needs while taking into account the innate constraints and limitations of any organization over time.

Execution and Customer Focus

The final two management principles of execution and customer focus also combine to propel MNCs to their objectives, despite the challenges and high level of economic turbulence globally today. These are the two most critical aspects of any MNC growth strategy as they combine to keep the entire cycle of management moving forward. Of these two, customer focus is by far the most important (Fujimoto, Hartel, 2010). The customer focus of an MNC will serve to validate and strengthen the vision of the company over time as well. Customer focus also can drive the development of more effective metrics of performance as well, as MNCs must stay accountable to the delivering of experiences and delighting customers to survive. All aspects of management as it relates to MNCs must revolve around the customer in order to also stay relevant. With this galvanizing force of customer centricity, even the CSR programs become more valuable and focus on results as well (Kim, 2011). Vision, employees, communication, sense of urgency, and execution also all stay relevant over time when customer focus permeates the culture of an organization as well. The ability of any MNC management team to stay credible is based on the knowledge of customers as well (Underdown, 2010)