The Annual LISA Forum Europe

Building Global Teams Locally

Outsourcing, European Integration and Globalization

How to Audit Your Business Processes for Globalization Readiness

09:00 - 17:00 : Thursday, October 25, 2007

Workshop Program

Welcome and Introduction

• Who's who?
• What does each participant hope to take away from this workshop?

Why take the time/resources to do a Globalization Audit?

• Time/resources required
• Pros/cons
• Justification from a business case standpoint

Pre-audit preparation

• Pointers for executives
• Pointers for directors and mid-level managers
• How to ensure a successful Globalization Audit

Three key questions to answer

• Is your organization ready at the strategic level?
• Does your organization have its internal processes properly developed, documented and ready to replicate outside of its home market?
• Are your department managers and team leaders capable of expanding their individual organizations beyond their home market?

Globalization Auditing at the Strategic Level (Part 1)

• Why do you want/need to expand outside of your current market(s)?
• Is your Team as committed as you are? Will they actively support the inevitable restructuring that the expansion will require?
• Is there really a market niche(s) to exploit in the target market that maximizes your core expertise?
• Are major customers now requiring that you have a presence in the target market?
• What are your key competitors doing and how are they positioned in the target market?
• How much revenue will you forego if you do not expand into this market now?
• How much ROI can you expect if you do expand?
• How will this move affect your domestic market position?
• Which members of your Executive Team are truly committed to be involved directly in this market expansion, and in what specific roles?
• What is your backup plan if your target market entry does not proceed according to plan, or worse yet, fails?

Globalization Auditing at the Strategic Level (Part 2)

• Are decisions made in a centralized or decentralized manner?
• Are your processes and procedures documented in such a way that they can be used or modified by the new operation in the target market?
• Is there a formal process in place to ensure that your company’s culture is transferred to the new organization?
• How does each department within your organization handle growth?
• How are budgets defined and agreed upon?
• How is strategic planning done in your organization?
• How are differences resolved when upper-level managers disagree on how to proceed?
• Do you have plans in place to deal with corruption, the protection of your intellectual property, etc.

Globalization Auditing at the Departmental Level

• The Executive Team
• Sales
• Marketing/Advertising
• Technical Support
• R&D/Engineering
• Operations (Manufacturing/IT/Finance/Legal/HR)
• Regulatory Compliance

Practical Application

• Participants will pair up to apply one area of the Globalization Audit to their own organizations. The objectives are (1) to identify the top two strengths/weaknesses and (2) to propose an action plan to fix the weaknesses. Target markets: China and the U.S.

Action Items to Delegate to Ensure a Smooth Globalization Audit

• Attend the workshop and find out!

The Signs That Your Organization Is Prepared for the Global Delivery of Its Products and Services

• How to assess your organization’s readiness
• Tips to follow if your organization is very process-oriented
• Tips to follow if your organization is more “intuitively”-oriented

The Top 5 Mistakes that many organizations make when they expand into new markets – and how to avoid them

• Attend the workshop and find out!

Case Studies and Wrap-up

• One company who “got it right,”
• One company who didn’t
• Wrap-up for the day