1)

Context

Nestl has operations in 190 countries, relies on 413 factories in 85 countries, manages more than 2,000 brands, and has 308,000 employees.

Likewise, the 340,000 employees of Toyota make vehicles in 67 factories spanning 29 countries and then sell them in more than 170 countries.

Similarly, Johnson & Johnson has more than 134,000 workers that staff some 260 operating units in 60 countries.

Successfully navigating different markets in different places with different outlooks calls upon managers in this sort of enterprise to insightfully interpret the implications of language and location, borders and boundaries, people and preferences in the quest to optimize decision making.

Now, in the case of Nestl, Toyota, Johnson & Johnson, each has been around for more than 100 years and fits our general expectation of the typical characteristics, circumstances, and context of the big companies whose operations span many markets worldwide.

More pointedly, each of those global enterprises is anchored in the "Then" terrestrial context of the 20th century--as seen in the infographic below, courtesy of a recent report, Digital Globalization: The New Era Of Global Flows (Links to an external site.), by McKinsey & Company. Terrestrial, by the way, simply refers to our historical understanding of geography, in terms of the borders and boundaries that demarcate nations, and its profound influences on managing languages, locations, peoples and preferences in the global enterprise.

Prompt

Now, yes, it is early in the class and these topics are still new. Nonetheless, here a chance to dive right into the material.

Given the context above and the profile reported in the infographic below, please identify a key challenge that you believe routinely face managers at Nestl, Toyota, Johnson & Johnson, and the many others with similar geographic, country-based profiles.

Then, in the spirit of making lemonade from lemons, please explain how you would, through innovative, insightful global management, convert that challenge into an opportunity.

2)

Context

Netflixs 8,600 employees provide video streaming service to more than 200 million customers in 190 countries.

Spotifys music streaming app is available in 92 countries, serving 250 million customers; the company employs 4,405 people in 48 offices worldwide.

Lastly, Zooms 2,700 employees provide ubiquitous video conferencing service in more than 45 countries

Although they have a tremendous global span, these sorts of companies dont fit our historic template for categorizing, classifying, and contextualizing a multinational enterprise. Rather, they have far fewer offices and people than one would find in say, Nestls, Toyota, or Johnson & Johnson.

Now, in the case of Netflix, Spotify, and Zoom, they and similar sorts of enterprises have been around for just a short time. They fit our general expectation of the characteristics, circumstances, and context of smaller companies that play big globally by working the digital context of globalization in the 21st centuryagain, profiled in the infographic below.

Effectively, each of those global enterprises in anchored in the "Now" digital context of the 21st century--as seen in the infographic below, courtesy of a recent report, Digital Globalization: The New Era Of Global Flows (Links to an external site.), by McKinsey & Company, namely.

Digital, by the way, simply refers to the emerging, endlessly expanding cyberspace, a.k.a, the Internet, and its influence on the managing a global enterprisedigitally, not terrestrially. Consequently, the standards of borders and boundaries, so critical to interpreting terrestrial globalization, are far less important to interpreting companies working cyberspace to create value. Successfully navigating the context of the Internet calls upon managers in the digital global enterprise to insightfully interpret the implications of algorithms, artificial intelligence, and automation in the quest to optimize system design.

Prompt

Given the context above and the profile reported in the infographic below, please identify a key global challenge that you believe routinely face managers at Netflix, Spotify, and Zoom, along with the many others with similar digital outlooks, orientations, and operations.

Then, please explain how you would, through innovative, insightful global management, convert that challenge into an opportunity.

3)

Context

Okay, given your responses to the preceding questions, you've engaged the terrestrial and digital contexts of globalization, at least from the eyes of a sharp-minded consultant at McKinsey & Company. Now, let's try to find a way to use your responses to meaningfully inform your interpretation of managing the global enterprise.

To begin, youre going to declare your preferred domain--either terrestrial or digital--that you believe best leverages the knowledge, skills, and abilities that make up your managerial perspective. Yes, there is a hybrid that integrates both perspectives.

Still, at this point in the class, my interest is pushing you to make an absolute choice. Put differently, do you see your managerial perspective more easily supporting superior performance at Nestl or Netflix?

Also, to sharpen this question, let me briefly expand the a bit of the managerial context of the preceding infographic.

Specifically, the terrestrial context of globalization fundamentally centers on people-centricity in a world marked by linguistics and locations, borders and boundaries.

Alternatively, the digital context globalization centers on the system-centricity of artificial intelligence, algorithms, and automation in a cyberspace world, that like the Internet, is boundaryless and borderfree.

Yes, this might sound a bit abstract, but, as you see in the image below, representing the gameboard of terrestrial globalization versus that of digital globalization adds some helpful context.

On the left-hand side, we have the traditional terrestrial map of nations demarcated by borders and boundaries-- this is the world that Nestl, Toyota, and Johnson & Johnson navigate. On the right-hand side, we have a map of the Interneteach dot represents an enterprise that works in the cyberspace of digital globalization. This is the world that Netflix, Spotify and Zoom navigate

Prompt

Please declare your preference to work in either the terrestrial or digital context. Then briefly explain two aspects of your managerial perspective that support your superior performance in your chosen context.