ABSTRACT
The last two decades have seen a ™urry of activity by large multinational corporations to build global operations that take advantage of the immense opportunities afforded by the emerging markets in the developing world. Many of these companies have included research and development operations as part of their globalization strategy (Kuemmerle 1999). GE has been a pioneer in this regard. GE’s Global Research organization has branched out over the last decade from its headquarters in Niskayuna, New York, adding three new sites around the world, including Bangalore, India; Shanghai, China; and Munich, Germany. Multiple motivations have prompted this global diversiˆcation, including access to top talent in technology spaces that is more readily available in some regions, as well as a desire to build technology teams with local awareness of important market trends. This chapter offers observations about how the local culture has in™uenced the maturation of the global sites in their role supporting the development of advanced technology for GE’s businesses, and provides insight into how some of the cultural
Preface .................................................................................................................... 123 Introduction ............................................................................................................124 Background: Cultural Attributes of Countries Hosting GE’s Global Sites ............ 127 Maturation of the Global Research Teams in Supporting Traditional Business Needs ...................................................................................................................... 128
Stage 1: Building Credibility ............................................................................ 128 Stage 2: Building Ownership ............................................................................ 129 Stage 3: Providing Thought Leadership ............................................................ 131
Global Research in ICFC and Reverse Innovation ................................................ 132 Conclusions ............................................................................................................ 134 References .............................................................................................................. 136
characteristics of these sites should be considered to accelerate the maturation. The chapter also offers thoughts on how the global sites will lead GE’s efforts to drive local innovation for the emerging markets in which they are immersed, and how they will further be instrumental to the company’s new drive for reverse innovation, where products designed and developed for emerging markets ˆnd new markets in the developed world.
