Major Challenges Facing Companies Due to Globalization

The following information and excerpts can be found in the article,

“Meeting the Challenges of Globalization,” by Michael Smith. Caux
Conferences 2002. For a Change Magazine at
http://www.mra.org.uk/fac/oct02/industry.htm

Challenge of Providing Efficient Customer Service

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Globalization requires customer service that allows for easy
conversation exchange in the customer’s native language. Returns
must
be able to be accomplished easily. Either customer call in centers or
e-mail correspondence in the customer’s language must be available
for
a company to compete successfully on a global scale.
To efficiently handle e-mail customer inquiries, “most companies will
need to implement technology made possible by recent advances in
analytics and natural language processing.” "Right now the language
processing being used with most installed e-mail systems is pretty
rudimentary.” Better-equipped templates can “dissect e-mails for
content, and analytics improvements have made e-mail smarter by
helping companies figure out exactly what a customer is asking. The
newer systems can either suggest a short list of possible solutions or
route the customer to a specialist who has the answer.”
Read “Why E-Mail Customer Service Fails,” by Lou Hirsch. CRM Daily
(10/14/2002) at http://www.crmdaily.com/perl/story/19667.html

Excellent Business Leadership Skills are a must!

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According to Dr. Marvin Zonis, an International Political Economist
and Professor at the Graduate School of Business at the University of
Chicago, the many global challenges facing corporations require that
“strong business leadership, and a true understanding of what defines
leadership, is more essential than ever.
From Speaker’s Platform at
http://www.speaking.com/speakers/marvinzonis.html
With the threat of terrorism spreading around the globe, business
leadership and confidence is more important than ever. "In the wake of
September 11, the defenders of globalization need to speak with an
even louder, more confident voice," writes David H. Komansky,
chairman
and CEO of Merrill Lynch & Co.
“CEOs of international companies can touch lives of employees,
consumers and business partners throughout the world. "Corporations
with a global presence already have a large amount of clout in the
world's economy and their leaders are in a position to make a
significant difference in how the world's economy develops," says
Nannerl Keohane, president of Duke University.”
From “Overcoming Challenges in a New Era” at
http://www.nyse.com/content/magazinearticles/NT0006F4FA.html

Challenges involving order fulfillment and product shipment

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Problems can occur when a company has no regional office or
distribution center in a foreign country where they do business.
“Piecemeal shipping is expensive and customer service can easily
break
down over great distances.” One solution is to hire a distribution
representative to represent the company in a foreign country. A global
carrier, such as DHL Worldwide Express, may also work well for
consumer goods companies that have a “relatively low international
volumes, as well as customers who require little service assistance (a
tall order).
From “How to Avoid Global Website Disasters,” by Emelie Rutherford.
CIO (11/14/2000) at
http://www.cio.com/research/global/edit/111400_disaster.html

Internet challenges concerning connectivity speeds, forms of

connection and software
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Many countries have extremely slow connection speeds, which can
alter website performance. Companies must account for regional
differences by building lower-bandwidth sites. Use of mobile
(web-enabled cell phones) is the more predominant form of internet
access in many Asian and European countries, so companies hoping to
compete in these countries must ensure PDA-enabled access to their
websites.
Software difficulties are a major challenge, especially in countries
with complex language translation problems. “The Forrester report,
titled The Multilingual Site Blueprint, interviewed 27 U.S.-based
multilingual-site owners and found that their greatest challenge is
adapting software to work with other languages. To make Web
software
work with Asia languages that contain up to 6,000 characters, for
example, site operators must install Unicode, a character coding
system that supports written texts in different languages.”
From “How to Avoid Global Website Disasters,” by Emelie Rutherford.
CIO (11/14/2000) at
http://www.cio.com/research/global/edit/111400_disaster.html

Local Laws and Regulations

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Each country has its own set of laws regarding business, including
tariff regulations. Foreign consultants familiar with the regulations
of a particular country are essential to efficient globalization. Two
examples: “Germany bars retailers from offering guarantees beyond
14
days. China does not allow sites to carry telephone traffic over an IP
network, so a company with a call center as a part of its Web could be
locked out of doing business in China.”
From “How to Avoid Global Website Disasters,” by Emelie Rutherford.
CIO (11/14/2000) at
http://www.cio.com/research/global/edit/111400_disaster.html