Guidelines for global enterprises

The principle is easy: centralise what is genuinely common, localise what is genuinely different. The hard part is telling them apart, and clients are bad at it for a reason that is not their fault — everyone believes their country is special. Every country team will tell you sincerely that their requirements are unique. Some are right. Most are describing a habit. So here is the test, and it is the most useful thing in this lesson. Ask for the actual local requirement in writing, with the legal or business reason attached. "We have always done it that way" is not a reason — it is a description of the current state, which is what you are replacing. "Our statute requires this field on this form" is a reason, and so is "our collective agreement specifies these grades". This is not about being difficult. The request-in-writing step does the filtering…

In this module: Module 3 · Enterprise Structures and the Global Model

1. 1Three structures, not one
2. 2The enterprise object
3. 3Modelling a global organisation
4. 4Guidelines for global enterprises
5. 5Geographies and the foundation layer
6. 6What breaks
7. 7Lab: model the enterprise, three ways