Adding Value Scorecard
Adding Value Scorecard
Contrary to popular opinion, the world is not flat. In fact, as this author writes, a company must understand that there are differences between and among countries. In this context, a manager will come to see globalization as an option to be considered rather than an imperative to be automatically taken up. The author offers the ADDING Value Scorecard, which managers can apply to assess the option.
Most managers - 88 percent in a recent online survey I conducted - think of global expansion as an imperative rather than an option to be evaluated. At one level, this can be seen as yet another outlet for expansionary energies once one starts to think of multiple markets rather than just a single one. But at another level, one can argue that expansionary excesses distinguish how most people think about global strategy - as strategy for a company operating in multiple countries - from how they think about corporate strategy for a company operating in multiple lines of business. Cross-border expansion commands wider support and is conceived as optimally proceeding farther than cross-business expansion. For example, 64 percent of the respondents in my survey agreed that "The truly global company should aim to compete in all major markets," whereas there is no comparable presumption in terms of competing in all major lines of business (not within most advanced, open economies, at least).1
The intent of this article is to counteract such biases, not only by pointing out the problems with them (the principal focus of the next section) but also but by providing an actionable alterative, namely a framework for valuing cross-border moves (the topic of the section on the ADDING Value Scorecard).
Global expansion: An imperative or an option?
Writers on the globalization of business rarely examine the question of why, if at all, so many follow the urge to globalize. Although there are several reasons for this, perhaps the most important is the widespread
Contrary to popular opinion, the world is not flat. In fact, as this author writes, a company must understand that there are differences between and among countries. In this context, a manager will come to see globalization as an option to be considered rather than an imperative to be automatically taken up. The author offers the ADDING Value Scorecard, which managers can apply to assess the option.
Most managers - 88 percent in a recent online survey I conducted - think of global expansion as an imperative rather than an option to be evaluated. At one level, this can be seen as yet another outlet for expansionary energies once one starts to think of multiple markets rather than just a single one. But at another level, one can argue that expansionary excesses distinguish how most people think about global strategy - as strategy for a company operating in multiple countries - from how they think about corporate strategy for a company operating in multiple lines of business. Cross-border expansion commands wider support and is conceived as optimally proceeding farther than cross-business expansion. For example, 64 percent of the respondents in my survey agreed that "The truly global company should aim to compete in all major markets," whereas there is no comparable presumption in terms of competing in all major lines of business (not within most advanced, open economies, at least).1
The intent of this article is to counteract such biases, not only by pointing out the problems with them (the principal focus of the next section) but also but by providing an actionable alterative, namely a framework for valuing cross-border moves (the topic of the section on the ADDING Value Scorecard).
Global expansion: An imperative or an option?
Writers on the globalization of business rarely examine the question of why, if at all, so many follow the urge to globalize. Although there are several reasons for this, perhaps the most important is the widespread