Do organisational reform measures impact on global mindset intensity of managers?. Empirical evidence from Indian and Chinese service industry managers
| Pages | 146-168 |
| Date | 22 June 2010 |
| Published date | 22 June 2010 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/17544401011052285 |
| Author | Subramaniam Ananthram,Cecil Pearson,Samir Chatterjee |
| Subject Matter | Economics |
JCEFTS
3,2
146
Journal of Chinese Economic and
Foreign Trade Studies
Vol. 3 No. 2, 2010
pp. 146-168
#Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1754-4408
DOI 10.1108/17544401011052285
Do organisational reform
measures impact on global
mindset intensity of managers?
Empirical evidence from Indian and Chinese
service industry managers
Subramaniam Ananthram, Cecil Pearson and Samir Chatterjee
School of Management, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the strength of organisational strategy,
technology intensity and entrepreneurial orientation as predictors of managerial global mindset
intensity in the Indian and Chinese service industry.
Design/methodology/approach – A pluralist research design that captured quantitative and
qualitative data from 239 Indian and 210 Chinese indigenous managers was evaluated to test the
hypothesised relationships of a conceptual model that was developed from the contemporary relevant
literature.
Findings – The results of the investigation demonstrate that technological intensity and
entrepreneurial orientation were significant determinants of managerial global mindset intensity.
Qualitative information that revealed technological intensity and entrepreneurial orientation were
dominant drivers from developing and nurturing managerial global mindset intensity.
Research limitations/implications – In spite of both study countries having large populations,
the evaluated sample sizes were of reasonable magnitude. The evidence of indicators that strongly
reform the domain of global managerial mindsets has considerable application for corporations
operating in the international marketplace.
Originality/value – The rising dominance of the service sector as well as the changing economic,
political and social landscape are compelling organisations to more fully understand the dynamics of
the dramatic shifts in managerial thinking.
Keywords China, India, Corporate strategy, Technology led strategy, Entrepreneurialism,
Globalization
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
While globalisation has extended the reach of organisations from the developed world,
the appearance of new players from India and China without the acc umulated legacies
of their rivals has changed the competitive dynamics of the global game (Athreye and
Kapur, 2009; Zhao, 2009). As barriers to cross-border commerce fall rapidly, creativity
in translating global ambitions to reality has become critical to organisations around
the world (Duysters et al., 2009; Warner, 2008). In this regard, the emphasis on skills,
capabilities and competencies of managers has been of most impor tance in order for
organisations to successfully extend their global reach. It can be argued that global
success and overcoming contextual challenges for global organisations depend on the
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The authors would like to thank Professor Anup Sinha, Indian Institute of Management,
Calcutta, India; Professor Wang Fuming, University of International Business and Economics,
Beijing, China; and Ms Monique Lin, Central Consulting Ltd, China for their support in
collecting data for this paper.
Global mindset
intensity of
managers
147
sensitivity of its managers, in identifying, observing, interpreting and exploiting the
various political, economic, socio-cultural and technological differences between
countries and regions. Many recent studies (Begley and Boyd, 2003; Gupta and
Govindarajan 2002; Jeanett, 2000; Beechler et al., 1999; Murtha et al., 1998; Rhinesmith,
1992, 1993, 1995; Bartlett and Ghoshal, 1989) have emphasised on the cultivation of a
global mindset with increasing importance on HRD, as one of the key elements in
creating an intelligent global organisation. For these reasons, global mindset
development is progressively and widely being recognised as a viable schema for
managers in contemporary global organisations where global mindset intensity is
being viewed as the capability that can strengthen organisational capabilities.
Moreover, Doz and Prahalad (1991) contend that global mindset can be viewed as the
cognitive capability in processing information emerging dynamically from their
competitive landscapes in terms of multiple organisational environments, structural
indeterminacy and cultural heterogeneity.
A strong interest in understanding the global mindset phenomenon is being driven
on two main fronts. First is the dominance of the important service industry, which has
had a remarkable influence on the growth of national economies and personal wealth in
the Asian continent (Nankervis, 2005). It was contended that managerial global
mindset is closely associated with the intensity of globalisation and the profitability of
the heightened organisational level importance fo r understanding linkages with these
desirable business achievements and managerial belief systems. Understandably the
second underpinning for appreciating the consciousness of the global managerial
mindset manifested as these levels of prosperity were undermined during the global
financial crisis of 2008. Indeed, the highly comp etitive global economic marketplace
challenges relevant stakeholders, particularly managers, to understand the concept of
global mindset when engaging in business encounters to be tter identify and exploit
opportunities for enhancing corp orate competitiveness. Since the global financial crisis
of 2008, the economic trajectory of India and China has attained a special significance
to all countries. Fresh thinking about how organisations in these two countries can
generate global confidence has been encouraging business rese archers.
Conceptualisation of global mindset highlights two critical elements. First, the
cultural and contextual diversity, and second, in terms of the ability to integrate
imperatives of local and global parameters specific to an industry (Chatterje e, 2005).
These conceptualisations lead to meta-competencies in the interpretive world of
managers in terms of abilities in developing and interpreting strategic opportunities
that transcend national borders. Empirical relationships between global mindset and
changing internal and external variables or their reverse impact in an Asian setting are
yet to emerge in the literature. Whether global mindset impacts strategy and structure
or structural and strategic reforms impact global min dset have not been widely
researched. In one of the studies in this area, it was suggested that global mindset was
an independent variable driving globalisation (Levy, 2005) while others hold that
global mindset is dependent on a firms’ attention to strategy, structure and other
imperatives (Murtha et al., 1998). In this paper, it is posited that the intensity of global
mindset is dependent on the strategic, technological and entrepreneurial reform
measures at the organisational level. These hypotheses are tested in the context of the
dynamic and burgeoning services industry in India and China. In the paper, it is
further argued that strategic integration is achieved through global-loca l balance;
entrepreneurial orientation is developed through economic and lear ning priorities
while technology intensity impacts directly in cultivating and nurtu ring a global
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