Eurochem Case Study

The resource case Is about Paul Pass, who was sent by Mr.

. Vandenberg (the marketing director of the head office in Belgium) from the Resource head office in Antwerp to the Chinese head office in order to adapt it to the rest of the world. For this reason Pass decided to change the marketing system to the European standards, which is already working well in Europe and the US. Three month later the Resource sales decreased and Lie tells Olsen about the emerging problems with the long-term costumers. Therefore Olsen calls Mr.

.

Vandenberg and later the President of Resource to discuss his worries about the new Marketing strategy and Paul with them. At the evening he even talks about the problem with his wife and decides to talk to Paul, Al, and Www the next morning separately. The mall actors In this case are Paul Pass, Mr.. Al, Olsen, Mr.

. Www and Mr.. Vandenberg. There also exist some other characters as the driver from the Resource office, Miss Wang, the Resource board, the International development director and Olsen wife, which are not so important for the case itself.

Part 2 (Analysis) Paul Pass, who is the expatriate in the marketing team, has worked in the European Resource head office In Antwerp for four years.

He has been one of the young ћhigh flyers” there, because he was very successful In the European market. His stake Is to adapt the Chinese had office to the European standards, because this Is the task he has been given from Mr.. Vandenberg. Mr..

I-I, the deputy manager doesn’t know what to think of his new boss Paul.

At the one side he knows that Paul knows the latest US marketing theories and he feels like the Chinese practices are a little bit old seasoned. On the other side he feels like Paul has an lack of respect for him because he treats him like an “older” and does not consider that Lie has to add something to the new marketing plan. Mr..

Lie material stakes are the money he earns from having his Job, but on the other hand his invisible stake is the company and the business he has built up with his good old business colleague Mr.. Olsen.

With the decrease of the sales he does not know what to do anymore, he follows Paula instructions, because Paul has an legitimate and expert power over him, but he feels quite uneasy with hem, because he does not really trust Paul and his new marketing strategies. For this reason Mr.

. Al talks to Olsen about his problems and the problems with the long- term-costumers, which Mr.. Al thinks occurred because of Paula new strategies. Olsen has the same stakes as Mr.

. Lie. His material stakes are the money he earns from his 100, out en NAS also ten Invisible stake to Keep up ten good client ease Ana ten Joint venture he has created together with Mr..

Www.

Olsen already introduced Paul to the Chinese market and told Paul to talk to Mr.. Lie and Www, in order to get more used to the Chinese habits and their culture. He wants to talk to the head office, about Paul and his changes at the Marketing strategy, but he is worried that Paula connection to the head office is much stronger than his one, because Paul have worked there for several years. So Olsen is not sure if it requires several month of repeated falling sales to convince the head office that the European standards do not fit into the Chinese market.

This fact makes Olsen very unhappy about the situation, so he called Mr.. Vandenberg, the director of the head office in Belgium, and discusses the problem with him. Mr.. Vandenberg invisible stake is that he was the one, who has chosen and send Paul so he has fully confidence and trust Paul and his methods.

Furthermore he is from Europe and is working day by day with the European standards. So he agrees with Olsen that the old marketing strategies were not guilty for the “bad” sales before, because now the sales have gone even worse, but he also could not help Olsen. Olsen also talked to Mr..

Www, who works at the Marketing apartment and is still less simplistic than Mr.

. Lie about the whole situation. He was the assistant of Olsen and created the good network together with him, so he has the same invisible stake as Olsen. Olsen told Paul to discuss any changes with Www before implementing them, but Paul has not listened to him. Moreover Www asked Paul to visit all the important costumers, because he considers that that is very important in China, but Paul has not found time yet to do it. This shows that Paul has Just not the right characteristics to be a good expatriate.

You should have two dimensions as a good expatriate: technical and cross-cultural skills, which must be as good or even better than the technical ones. So Paul has no drive to communicate, because he considers no one has to add something to his new marketing plan and he does not really talk with someone from China about it. Furthermore he has not a very broad-based sociability and not much cultural flexibility, because he tries to apply the head office practices in China without any modification or adoption to the local practice.

Additionally he has not really much of cosmopolitan orientation, because he does not value the Chinese culture and its tradition. Aside from that he has not a collaborative negotiation style, because he does not really treat the others like his colleagues, maybe he sees himself even above them, because he is the expert and the only one who knows what to do from his point of view. So a good expatriate should proceed within four steps.

Identification if the need, preparation, optimization of the mission and then repatriation. Already the first step – o identify the need for a change – was not really clear from the beginning.

This step is very important because a change will always make people wonder if we need to change or if it is better to remain the same. In this case Mr.. Lie and Www only follow Paula instructions, because he is their new boss and has legitimate power.

But this source AT power Is ten lowest one Ana Tanat Is ten reason winy teen ay not really trust Paul and accept him as a leader. Leadership is more like a process, you have to convince people that change is good for them and the organization. Therefore a agitation between the main actors starts, if adapting to the European standards and to change is the best for the Chinese office.

To solve this problem you should first fix your goals and objectives. Are they aiming for creating good relationships with companies, as Olsen said to Mr..

Vandenberg, who agreed? Or are they aiming for bringing the company systems in China in line with the rest of the world? They obviously tried to do both, but no one seems to realize what is the nature of the problem. Why are things not working, like they do in Europe and the US? The cultural preferences between the Chinese and the European culture are Just too huge, to use exactly the same company systems.

So an ethnocentric system with Just one right way to do things will not work, because it is not sensitive enough to the needs and expectations of the Chinese market. Much more relevant would be a system more like an polytechnic one, with an open-mind for the individuality of other cultures. To get more into detail personal contact, as visiting costumers at their company, instead of only calling or ask them to come to the Resource office is more important t the Chinese market then in the Europe one, because the put a lot of more emphasis on kindness.

Part 3 (Recommendations) All in all you can say the basically problem is the lack of adoption to the country, which comes from Paula lack of communication to the others and the lack of communication between the head office and the Chinese one. Moreover Paul seems to be an expert for technical skills, but as analyses above he has not enough cultural skills to be a good expatriate or leader. A short-term solution could be to fire Paul and to look for an new expatriate.

I think this solution is not even an option, because another expatriate will not necessarily be better than Paul. For a long-term solution they should definitely proceed as at the moment.

So either they could Just return to their old system, or what would be the better solution: to adapt the new system to the Chinese standards, because even Mr.. Lie thinks that the Chinese practices are a little bit old fashioned. So first they should offer cross-cultural training to Paul, which should contain the training of different skills.

He has to learn more about the Chinese culture and how to handle with it. These skills could be taught by the locals Lie and Www, which obviously know how business is running in China, because the already worked several years for Resource.

Furthermore Paul should learn how to become a good expatriate and leader. This could be more difficult, because first you have to find someone who has enough Knowledge auto auto learners Ana ten expatriate process to In ten relent way and second we do not know weather Paul is suitable to change and to finally become a good leader.