The CEO agenda for operations

Operations

How are you balancing your global capabilities with local opportunities?

US companies plan to step up cross-border transactions and alliances in pursuit of growth

How are you balancing local execution with global capabilities?

Being able to execute on a local growth strategy requires developing local capabilities across functions like manufacturing, R&D, and distribution, while maintaining the advantages of scale and consistency in operations around the world. Half of US CEOs wish they could devote more time to developing their overseas operations.

Those successfully balancing their global capabilities with local opportunities are showing a distinct shift in mindset and approach. Consider recent US-China cross-border deals: they combine US experience and expertise with attributes only local Chinese partners can offer, such as relationships to secure government support and distribution networks that penetrate inland regions.


Quotes

Michael Thaman
Chairman of the Board and CEO, Owens Corning
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"Much of our R&D efforts have been devoted to looking at core manufacturing processes, which we have developed over the last 70 years. We’re stepping back from those and rethinking. Where is the most productive capital in our processes? How do we re-engineer those processes to get more bang for the buck? How do we produce low-cost, high-quality products with smaller capital footprints and smaller footprints in the market? We’ve been quite successful at that, so we actually believe that our developing-country strategy is giving us manufacturing technologies and insights that we can then take back to our existing, bigger-scale facilities in developed markets in the Americas or Western Europe."
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The CEO agenda

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