Outsourcing: Vivek Chopra of Computer Sciences Corp. (Part 8)

By guest author Tony Scott

A Dialogue on Building a Global Culture

Tony: So, do you think that companies below the size of Infosys, Tata, CSC and others are really going to a multinational and global approach on their teams? I think if you go one level below, it’s very difficult or even impossible for many Indian and Chinese companies to do that. One of the things I see is that the boards and top leadership teams of the majority of the major Indian or Chinese companies are not very diverse.  There are few exceptions, but if you don’t have a multicultural profile at the top, then you aren’t likely to get that throughout the entire organization.

Vivek: You are conducting searches for senior management teams and boards around the world – are you seeing more movement toward building truly global leadership teams over the past few years?  I of course can only comment directly on my own experience, which has been with multinational companies.

Tony: I think that while many companies give some “lip service” to building culturally diverse teams, I think it’s very hard to do in reality.  Most companies don’t really know how to hire and integrate people from the outside into their organization, particularly anyone who doesn’t fit their typical profile.  Companies that are larger and that already have global operations find it’s a little bit easier to integrate people who don’t fit their traditional profile because one person isn’t going to be able to create a dramatic change to the culture of a company in the short term, even if that one person happens to be the CEO.

But for a company that is growing, it’s different. Silicon Valley start-ups are a perfect example of this. We have had many companies in Silicon Valley that became very successful in that area, but when they go outside of Silicon Valley they have a hard time succeeding, even in other parts of the United States, because they expect the culture to be replicated exactly. When they step outside the United States . . .

Vivek: It’s a totally different bargain.

Tony: Exactly. People go to the United Kingdom and think, “Oh, this is easy, we all speak English.” They go to Australia – again, it’s, “Oh they all speak English – but with a funny accent.”  Now Australia is closer in many ways to the United States than England in terms of business culture, but even there people coming from the United States are often shocked, simply shocked and amazed, that people don’t think and operate the same way as they do in the U.S.!  It is a very hard transition for companies to make. If you have built a strong culture around anything, whether it’s a culture of innovation, a culture that’s based on the national culture, a culture of language, a culture of service, whatever it is, it makes it more difficult in some ways to adapt – you have to build a culture of adaptation.

Vivek: If you look at it from a CSC perspective, having diverse leadership is not something that has been with us forever. It’s been this way since our new CEO took over two years ago; he is recognized for initiating this fundamental change within CSC.  It has to start at the top. From a gender and a race perspective, it is going to change fundamentally moving forward. If you are in business, 50% or 60% of your workforce is going to be outside of the United States.

Tony: Not just the workforce – your customers, too.

Vivek: That’s right.

Tony: This is one of the big shifts that American businesses have to recognize as well: that it is not enough to be the winner in the United States; you have to be able to operate and win on a global basis.  For companies that want to grow globally, they have to be able to sell to and integrate with their customers or clients on a global basis.  I think this is particularly critical for companies that are providing services, and it is not easy to do.

This segment is part 8 in the series : Outsourcing: Vivek Chopra of Computer Sciences Corp.
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