Let your eyes wander across the ocean
An oven can bake flour, beaten raw eggs and other originally tasteless ingredients, add sugar and spices, and then refine them over high-temperature fire to bake a fragrant cake. Through hardship and fire, human beings have broken through individualism and narrow regional views and developed international capabilities with delicious and unique flavors. The company's most important resource is talent, and it is even more important to cultivate talents with an international perspective and the ability to break through traditional thinking.
The following two cases are used to illustrate. One is the breakthrough and innovative management method of the famous packaged software information services company SAP (Systems Applications Products, www.sap.com), and the other is the business philosophy of expanding "Israeli products" to the world. .
How SAP does business
The author has lived in the United States for many years and once served at SAP's U.S. headquarters, responsible for the evaluation of the company's database and review of benefits. This company has a business culture that is different from ordinary companies, that is, all levels of the company are treated as "equal". Vice presidents, managers, junior supervisors, database managers, programmers, after-sales service staff and secretaries all sit together. Seat arrangements are based on the number of business trips. Only a few people who do not travel on business have fixed seats, while the rest are on a first-come, first-served basis. This is done to reduce cultural and ethnic barriers and enhance communication opportunities among all walks of life.
The author once participated in employee training organized by SAP, and one of the short films inspired me a lot. The video shows a row of people in crisp military uniforms sitting at attention, answering questionnaires. Some people are writing quickly; some people are writing with their pillows on their laps; some people are leaning on the back of their chairs to answer. An employee with a comically relaxed mood and not wearing a military uniform suddenly lit up his eyes. After asking the host, he moved the small coffee table aside and answered instead of his lap or the back of the chair. The film shows a concept, which is to rely on insight and confidence to not be limited by the external environment, think outside the box and linearly, and seek the best way to flexibly solve problems by changing ideas and breaking through innovation. plan.
SAP operates in this breakthrough and innovative way and continues to expand. Based on the original scale, the company gradually grew. In 2001, it provided diagnostic and software services to the top 100 companies in the United States. Then it targeted the top 500 companies in the second phase, and expanded to the top 1,000 companies in the United States in the third phase. , step by step, first analyze and integrate 365 rows, and then condense them into 26 categories, sequentially providing overall solutions for large, medium and small companies around the world, using packaged software to store data in DB2, ORACLE, SQL- Within various databases such as SERVER and HANA.
The HANA real-time memory database developed by SAP is the latest and leading innovative product in the world's IT information technology. Its suite of software includes procurement inventory management, accounting and financial management, personnel management, production, sales and shipping, customer management and customer relations. services, etc., providing 24-hour problem solutions to large, medium and small enterprises around the world, seven days a week, including prior prevention, post-maintenance and continuous quality confirmation. Users range from small companies with more than 20 people to large enterprises with 50,000 employees such as Wal-Mart.
In terms of global services, SAP has established a global "Golden Triangle of Backup Services" in Pennsylvania, the United States, Beijing, China, Shanghai, and Ireland, and has set up offices in Brazil, Japan, South Korea, India, and Canada to oversee Europe, Asia, Africa, and the United States. Service stations across the continent. Depending on the cost, difficulty and impact of the problem, it is divided into low, medium, high and most critical service levels. Specific events are analyzed with a holistic assessment, upgraded according to difficulty, and feasible immediate solutions are provided.
SAP knows what works, provides commercially necessary software information, matches actual operations with operating costs, and uses hierarchical authorization, collaboration, automatic control and regional services to achieve global unified use. For example, a software information evaluation and benefit review can be conducted by combining local and remote joint consultations with professionals from Switzerland, Ireland, Germany, India, China and North America to achieve a brainstorming effect. From SAP's global operations, we can see the importance of international corporate talents.
SAP's business model is also in line with the internationally renowned Carnegie management philosophy, which focuses on employees' sense of belonging, existence value and importance, removes negative work attitudes, does not find fault with the boss and the company's shortcomings, and treats losses as compensation. Use happiness as a tonic to achieve a win-win situation and win the cooperation of others. If encountering adverse adversity, it will turn into a "catfish effect", waking up a group of originally lifeless sardines and fighting for survival, minimizing the mortality rate of the fish during transportation. Modern human resources management uses similar incentives to awaken employees' crisis awareness and promote work effectiveness.
Global concept of Israeli products
Another case is the external expansion strategy of Israeli products. Due to the small domestic market for Israeli products, there is a lack of local buyers, which prompts operators to not only look at the road under their feet, but to cultivate a global concept of "looking across the ocean" and selling overseas.
Israel and Palestine are one of the most difficult wounds on earth to heal. The high wall and iron mesh between them have blocked communication with each other and frequently triggered wars. Unless this wall is demolished, it will be difficult to open the door to peace. In the midst of a small domestic market and frequent wars, Israelis attach great importance to the cultivation of international affairs talents.
They realize that the improvement of national quality is the result of the improvement of the country's comprehensive strength and education level; and that developing high-tech products and technologies and mobilizing intellectual resources are the secrets to promoting innovation. In addition, the size of the business potential also depends on the reaction of adverse factors (like catfish benefits).
Join a timeless multinational enterprise
It can be seen from the above two cases that if there is a lack of talent cultivation for international affairs, they will be marginalized in the international market. Therefore, young people should set their goal to "challenge multinational companies" instead of just "opening a coffee shop." The government should aim to improve international capabilities, strengthen foreign language training and the establishment of cross-border interpersonal relationships and capabilities to cope with global competition.
There was a news report in Taiwan in which someone threw shoes at political leaders to express their dissatisfaction with reality. In fact, the report made a good comment, "Instead of throwing shoes, it is better to throw yourself on the international stage by spelling out English." The difference between letting one's vision travel across the ocean and creating a new world is incomprehensible compared to being complacent, complaining about oneself, and then venting one's anger on others.
Multinational enterprises must first understand different cultures and nationalities in order to penetrate and integrate. In fact, it is not easy for people of the same culture or ethnicity to get along well with each other, not to mention integrating employees of different cultures and ethnicities is an even more difficult task and needs to be handled wisely.
God created human beings with round heads in order to allow us to constantly change our minds. Finding the solution takes precedence over seeking the cause of the problem. Sometimes you know what you need to do, but you still find excuses not to do it, and you will retreat instead of making progress. Many people don’t have too little time, but have too much time that is not well used. The world progresses due to the pursuit of dreams, during which joy and tears, hardship and perseverance coexist. But in the face of fear, loss and helplessness, if you still have faith in God, courage in things, and enthusiasm for people, you will often succeed in pursuing your dreams. Applying the creativity God has given to people can make the world more progressive and integrated by realizing dreams.
"If flowers bloom, butterflies will come; if people are wonderful, heaven will arrange it." As long as you trust God, have a heart that embraces the world, and add insight, you can create a truly high-quality, sustainable business and development company. businesses, especially multinational corporations. The Kingdom of Heaven can be entered by hard work, and those who work hard will obtain it. The Christian Church is single-handedly run by a father and son who transcend social norms and established a multinational company with a history of more than 2,000 years. Welcome to join the multinational company of evangelism, which has eternal value!
Author profile
Zhao Shiliang, from Taiwan, now lives in Virginia, USA, and serves as a senior database administrator DB2 and DBA in Northern Virginia. He and his wife have two sons.