Welcome to the Flight Deck
The Human Dimension of Globalizing Mid-Caps - as Seen by their Leaders
This report is your personal invitation to enter the Flight Deck of today’s globalizing mid-caps. To hear what C-suite leaders are confidentially revealing - in their own words.
- It is a deep exploration of the world of globalizing mid-caps.
- Based on 83 in-person interviews with c-suite leaders from every continent, at top levels.
- Our focus - the human element
- Talent Management
- Culture and its implications for performance
- Board Governance
Selected Findings
Globalizing mid-caps…
- 1. Take an ambitious, long-term view. Growth and globalization are high on the agenda, fuelled by stretch targets, sheer determination and a sense of ‘no limits’.
- 2. 79% are studying the successes and failures of other companies Growth and globalization strategies, culture, human capital development, innovation and entrepreneurship. But 21% have no role model and several believe themselves to be unique.
- 3. May well have a successful international business. Yet only 9% feel truly ready for globalization.
- 4. Are critically concerned by managerial and cultural capacity for globalization. These closely follow concerns regarding global operations and production, market, economic and trading conditions.
- 5. Display 3 winning factors positioning them to win customers and talent:
- Freedom FREEDOM: key functions and talent are given space to shape the organization.
- Connectivity CONNECTIVITY: Boards have their finger on the pulse of the business, know the key market players and customers. Talent is involved in innovation, learning informally, moving across functions, divisions and geography.
- C-suite stewardship C-SUITE STEWARDSHIP: mid-cap leadership means proximity, articulating the mission in person. Many value their human touch: engaging in direct customer contact, directly stimulating innovation, entrepreneurship and talent development
- 6. Balance local autonomy and corporate influence. To reconcile consistency and agility, they are centralizing processes and functions, and decentralizing decisions, particularly to market-facing areas.
- 7. Have powerful employer branding factors for leadership talent. We see high-visibility, internal talent pools, mobility between functions, divisions or geographies, competitive financial incentives and world-class learning and development.
- 8. Are ideally positioned to be innovation and entrepreneurship champions. Manageable size plus global reach can enable broad-based innovation, spanning products, processes and markets; networks characterized by intensive cross-border information exchange, the freedom to experiment, fail and learn in local markets - and quickly transfer the learning.
- 9. Are busy tailoring their Boards for globalization and growth. CEOs and Boards manoeuver freely, while being positively challenged by objective, independent voices. Board composition is shifting to reflect globalization – via national, functional, and sectoral diversity.
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