Particular challenges and opportunities face professional service companies in the age of globalization:
Impact of changing demographics
The facts are clear: Population in mature economies are aging rapidly, and workforce growth in developing countries will dwarf that in mature economies in the coming decades. These developments will bring about a profound shift in economic activity across geographies. These trends raise many interesting business questions for consulting firms supporting business across the world. For example, what are the most effective strategies for sourcing labor throughout the world? The companies will need help from consulting companies to establish a more sophisticate and effective international supply chain. And evaluate how governance and risk challenges will come with these decisions.
Cross-Cultural Competence
Today in a global market, business practices, problem solving, decision-making, meeting management, communication and negotiation styles, are only a few of the examples of basic practices that can be significantly different around the world.
English: Harvard Business School Baker Library 200...
English: Harvard Business School
English: Harvard Business SchoolEach nationality is valued for qualities like these: â Indian - holistic reasoning; â German - discipline, rigor of research; â Danish & Japanese - consensus decision-making; â Brazilian (or Arab) - relationship-building; â American - high tolerance of risk, time-orientation. This cross-cultural fact can affect a global consulting firm in many aspects: How to implement global strategies respecting each individual country values and at the same time how to collect best practices from different countries branches. How to filtrate the local values, to have an understanding of each best practice, to be able to share it with different branches.
McKinsey's experience offer many lessons for other consulting firms contemplating going global:
Identifying global strategies lessons
The first McKinsey international growth was based in to implement the multi-divisional (M-form) corporate structure to companies outside of US. This strategy creates a solid foundation and a fast track to...