How do you balance global and local strategies?

1 Align your vision and values

The first step to balance global and local strategies is to have a clear and consistent vision and values that guide your decision-making and actions. Your vision should articulate your purpose, goals, and competitive advantage, while your values should reflect your core beliefs, principles, and standards. These elements should be shared and communicated across your organization, regardless of location, function, or level. They should also be aligned with your stakeholders' expectations, such as customers, suppliers, regulators, and communities.

2 Assess your opportunities and risks

The next step is to conduct a thorough analysis of your external and internal environment, and identify the opportunities and risks that come with operating in different markets. You should consider factors such as market size, growth, demand, competition, regulation, culture, politics, and technology, and how they affect your business model, value proposition, and competitive position. You should also evaluate your internal capabilities, resources, and processes, and how they can support or hinder your global and local strategies.

4 Organize your structure and governance

Once you have chosen your degree of integration and differentiation, you should design your organizational structure and governance mechanisms to support your global and local strategies. Your structure should define how you allocate roles, responsibilities, and authority across your units, functions, and levels, and how you coordinate and communicate among them. Your governance should establish how you set goals, measure performance, reward results, and resolve conflicts. You should also consider how you foster collaboration, innovation, and learning across your organization.

5 Empower your people and culture

The final step to balance global and local strategies is to empower your people and culture to execute them effectively. Your people are your most valuable asset, and you should invest in their development, engagement, and diversity. You should also nurture a culture that supports your vision and values, and that encourages trust, respect, and openness. You should also promote a global mindset among your employees, which means being aware of and sensitive to the differences and similarities among markets and cultures, and being able to adapt and leverage them for mutual benefit.

Balancing global and local strategies is not easy, but it is essential for executive managers who want to succeed in today's dynamic and diverse world. By following these tips, you can create value for your customers, stakeholders, and organization, while respecting and embracing the diversity of each market and culture.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?