Case Study Response
International Management
Professor Leibsohn
Silvio Napoli - Schindler India
Should Silvio try to adapt his style to the Indian culture and values? Should he try to change some of the Indian norms and behaviors to suit Schindler's corporate values and his own management style? Or, should he pursue another alternative that you might propose?
It is my belief that a geocentric approach is in the best interest of Silvio Napoli to employ at Schindler India and most if not all MNCs today. The sole goal of geocentrism is to globally unite both headquarters and subsidiaries. Schindler's subsidiaries are thus neither satellites nor independent city states, but parts of a whole whose focus is on worldwide objectives as well as local objectives, each part making its unique contribution with its unique competence. Furthermore, geocentrism boils down to product differentiation, diversifying functions in the sense that different markets require dissimilar behavior, and lastly geographic location.
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English: The geocentric world view. From an Icelan...Different methods of marketing and product development exist because different markets, regions, and countries require distinctive ways of approaching them. For example, the standards in which the home country operates are going to be much different from how the host country operates. What is accepted as a permissible way of treating employees in Switzerland, the home country, may not be acceptable to Indian employees, in the host country. In addition, consumer tastes and demands vary greatly from home country to host country.
In Schindler's case, they have a manager in Silvio who has achieved great success at home and has taken on the challenge of proving it abroad. His Indian counterparts have described him as very driven, expressive and as almost too intense and high energy. In order for business to run smoothly it is not wise to impose one's own culture on their...