Imagine that a company’s success depends largely on a single individual. This person has unique connections, experience, and expertise, yet is unwilling to follow established procedures.
What matters more to the business—personal relationships or well-designed processes? What should a manager do when the company’s best employee generates millions in revenue but refuses to share their methods and know-how? Should the company adapt to this individual, or should it build a system that can operate effectively without them? And what role do cross-cultural differences play in this dilemma?
Key Players
Talal
Talal is 38 years old and was born in Lebanon. For many years, he has worked as a Marketing Manager for Betafilms in Dubai. His role is to organize the distribution of the company’s products throughout the Middle East.
He does this through an extensive network of contacts that he and his family have built up over many years. Whether he is in Damascus, Riyadh, Tehran, or Cairo, he works with local distributors and negotiates individual deals with each of them.
Talal is constantly traveling and returns to Dubai only about once a month to attend management committee meetings. He has a strong personality and prefers to do things his own way. Thanks in large part to his efforts, Betafilms has become one of the leading players in the Middle Eastern market.
Ben Matthews
Ben is 42 years old and a high-achieving graduate of a British university. He has an impressive résumé, having previously held senior marketing and sales positions at major international companies.
Ben Matthews has been appointed General Manager of Betafilms for the Middle East and Asia, based in Dubai. This is his first position in the film industry.
Betafilms is seeking to strengthen its position in the Middle East and expand into India’s vast but highly competitive film distribution market.
Ben has taken over an established international team of university graduates responsible for marketing, sales, and communications, as well as back-office functions such as invoicing, accounting, and other administrative processes.
The Challenge
Ben’s task is to build on the company’s existing success and expand the business into India.
He believes that Talal could play a key role in achieving this goal. However, Ben first needs to understand exactly how Talal operates and identify the business model behind the company’s success in the Middle East.
To help with this, Ben has already brought in a consultant named Rashid, who specializes in the Indian film distribution market.
The Situation
Ben asks Talal to return to the office. He introduces him to Rashid, and the three discuss the challenges and opportunities presented by the Indian market.
Talal is highly enthusiastic and says that he already has business contacts in Mumbai and Bangalore. He suggests traveling there as early as the following week to meet with them.
Ben tries to steer the conversation toward contracts, terms of cooperation, and the principles Talal intends to use when negotiating with local distributors.
Talal, however, remains rather vague, essentially saying only that everything will depend on the particular situation.
The meeting ends when Talal breaks off the conversation to take a phone call from one of his contacts in Saudi Arabia.
What the Key Players Are Thinking
Ben
“I can’t simply let Talal go off and start doing business in India. We need some kind of system that we can build on. India is a huge market. He won’t be able to handle everything on his own. I need to understand exactly what he has been doing over the past five years so that we can train other employees to do the same and provide him with the support he needs.”
Talal
“Ben is just another bureaucrat. He wants systems, numbers, and reports, but he doesn’t understand that our business is built on personal relationships. I haven’t told him this, but I’ve already received job offers from some of the major players in Delhi. If he doesn’t let me work my way, perhaps I’ll talk to one of them.”
Based on: : Jeremy Comfort & Peter Franklin. The Mindful International Manager: How to Work Effectively Across Cultures, 2nd Edition (2014), Publisher: Kogan Page