Global Training at Google Case Questions:

1. Why did Google spend so much time and money for a global immersion field trip to Asia for its managers? What were the main objectives of the program?
2. Describe each one of the three stages of the global management developmental process (as illustrated in Exhibit 1.6, page 24)? Explain clearly how each stage is included in Google's training program? Justify your response by citing specific examples from the case for each stage?
3. If you were a participant in this program, what do you think you would learn that would make you a better global manager? If you were in charge of developing a company's global training program today, what might you do differently to improve the training effectiveness considering what you learned in this module from the textbook?

Use this Case study to answer the questions

Companies committed to expanding their global reachor just defending themselves from global competitorsface a common problem: How to train their employees to be better global managers. Historically, this was often accomplished through the extensive use of expatriates. However, this is often a high-cost, time-consuming option that does not always lead to success. Global firms often seek alternative strategies. This case presents two very different strategies. The first was developed by Google in its early years when the company needed aglobal reach but also faced an uncertain future. The second was developed by established electronics giant IBM to create its own cadre of global managers through in-house training.

Googles field training program

Structured in-house global training programs can be time-consuming and expensive, especially when a company is in its early stages of development. As a result, many of todays companies opt for relatively inexpensive, short-termand yet still very effectivestudy abroad program for their workforce. Four to six-week overseas assignments seem to be the most successful, so long as the experience includes pre-departure training, a high degree of personal challenge, strong immersion experiences with local cultures, coaching and reflection. As noted in the text, cross- cultural experiences have to be high challenge and high contact to trigger personaltransformation for the program to be successful.

So, what does such a program look like? Consider Google and its parent company Alphabet, one of the worlds most successful entrepreneurial ventures on record. From its inception, Google needed both seamless access to global markets and people capable of managing these markets. Today, Google has sufficient resources to develop any type of training program it wants, but in the beginning when resources were tight the company needed a relatively inexpensive global learning program for its new young employees that could be done not just effectively but also efficiently. It chose a simple strategy that met both criteria and proved to be a blueprint for later start-ups.

The example of Googles traveling managers illustrates how this company, and many others, search to find unique ways to educate their managers about both the global challenges facing them and the strategies that can help them succeed. To train a new generation of managers, in 2006 Google began sending its young brainiacs on a worldwide mission. One recent group of trainees began their journey in a small village outside Bangalore. There were no computers in the tiny village, only unpaved roads surrounded by open fields in which elephants roamed and trampled local crops at will. The visit was aimed at educating Google associate product managers about the humble, unwired ways of life experienced by billions of people around the world. Discussions with local villages began awkwardly, as the managers discover that the villagers had never heard of the company. As one young manager noted, the experience brought a whole new meaning to whats on the back of [my] shirt, referring to a T-shirt with the company logo in front and, on the back, the now classic phrase from the companys home page: Im feeling lucky.

On their first day in Bangalore the visitors went to the Commercial Street shopping district for a bartering competition. Each Google manager was given 500 rupees (about $13) to spend on items that dont suck, with a prize given to the one who attained the highest discount on the purchase. For most, it was the first time they had to bargain with street vendors. I usually shop at Neiman Marcus, observed one manager, after she bargained the price of a necklace down from 375 rupees to 250. It was one of her colleagues who won the competition, however, by purchasing a deep burgundy sherwani a traditional Indian outfit for one-third of the original asking price.

From India, the group traveled to Japan, to visit the companys Shibuya headquarters and network with fellow employees, learn about regional markets, and study the local culture. The visitors shared the product road map for the next year with their Japanese colleagues, answered questions, and then heard what the engineers and managers in each location were focusing on. They also got a sense of the local marketplace by talking to local Googlers, customers, and partners. In Tokyo, they learned that Yahoo! Japan was clobbering the competition its like Google and AOL and eBay rolled into one but that Google had captured the imagination of the Japanese people. It was the no. 2 brand in the country, behind Toyota.

Tokyos legendary electronics district, Akihabara, was chosen for another group competition, ostensibly to sharpen the product knowledge, business skills, and street smarts of the global travelers. They were divided into small teams and given $100 to buy the strangest gadgets they could find. Diving into stalls full of electronic gizmos, they found items such as a USB- powered smoke-removing ashtray and a stubby wand that, when waved back and forth, spells out words in LED lights.

Finally, the group traveled to China and came face to face with the realities of doing business there. They immediately recognized the conflict of balancing the companys freewheeling management style with Chinas rigid government rules and censorship. At Google headquarters in Beijing, the visiting managers interviewed local English-speaking consumers. Here they learned the stark realities of how effective the Chinese government can be at tilting the playing field to benefit the home team, Baidu.com, by occasionally blocking access to Googles site and by insinuating a nationalistic element into the choice. The lesson was clear to the visiting managers: Baidu knows more about China than Google. The journey continued, as did the learning.