Intercultural management : EADS's merger

Résumé du document

Intercultural management is born from the process of expansion of business areas, or globalization. To expand business activities, companies can not only develop their industry on their own market, they also have to make strategic choices like joint venture, merger, acquisitions, alliances, and outsourcing in other countries. Nevertheless those choices are not easy to implement, companies that try to internationalize their activities have to face management issues, especially because of cultural differences. I have chosen to study the case of EADS because the merger involves three European companies. Even if the three companies are part of Europe, there are a lot of criteria to take into account. Through this document, we will analyze the organizational and managerial changes that occur during the merger of several culturally different companies. First we will take a look at the background of EADS, and then we will explain its cultural experience. We will also have an overview of main issues concerning the EADS merger. Afterwards we will make a statement of cultural differences between France, Germany and Spain and analyze them through the study of cultural differences and perception realized by EADS experts and Hofstede parameters. To conclude, we will try to make pertinent recommendations.

Extraits

[...] Management interculturel. Paris : Dunod. Web sites http://www.geert-hofstede.com http://www2.andrews.edu/~tidwell/bsad560/Hofstede.html Figures Figure Divisional Organization of EADS Figure EADS Workforce by nationalities Footnotes Translated from : Froehlicher Thomas, Walliser Björn (2003). La métamorphose des organisations. L'Harmattan. Study about cultural differences perception at EADS realized by Michel Barabel (IRG/ Dever Research), Hervé Borensztejn (EADS Senior Vice- president/ Head Corporate Business Academy), Nancy Groesh (EADS), Gael Le Boulch (CREPA/ DISTEC) and Olivier Meier (IRG/ Dever Research). [iii] From Internet Web site http://www.geert- hofstede.com/hofstede_germany.shtml; http://www.geert-hofstede.com/hofstede_france.shtml; http://www.geert-hofstede.com/hofstede_spain.shtml . [...]

[...] They have an mentality. On the contrary, the Spanish have a mentality, family has a big importance. They are collectivist. Decisions are based on what is the best for the entire group. They expect a lot from the company. They hope institutions and organizations will take care of individuals. Masculinity: Germany has a high masculinity index whereas France and Spain have quite the same index (38 and 37). So Germany has values like ambition, acquisition of wealth, and differentiated gender roles. [...]

[...] So managers have to adapt their management style. They have to pass over cultural differences and find a project which can allow everybody to share its knowledge without showing cultural differences. Technical projects are a good example because people involved in this kind of project need technical skills, proper vocabulary, pre-defined rules . They share technical knowledge together. It is an activity completely objective which do not depend on culture. It is a good way to federate employees of one company, develop collectivism and promote qualities of each culture. [...]

[...] How to develop management skills? . Training was elitist (less than 30 participants) with a broad content (24 seminars: intercultural training, negotiation, strategies ) CBA got a huge budget (21 million) and a big group of human resources employees for setting up those training sessions (25 members: instructors, project managers During the first second period, strategy was completely reviewed. There was less budget and expenses were more targeted in order to be more effective. Subjects developed were: change management, career development, management skills improvement, strategy towards globalization CBA main objective was to focus on content related to management and leadership. [...]

[...] In 1999, there were 7.430 employees. “Pour travailler ensemble, il faut se faire confiance et pour se faire confiance, il faut se comprendre” commented Philippe Camus, the chairman of the board of Aérospatiale-Matra (Philippe Camus, nd). He wanted to say that trust and understanding were two key elements of the success of this merger. EADS cultural experience EADS is a merger between three European companies specialized in the same business area. By agreeing with this merger, EADS managers knew they had to face cultural problems. [...]