Global Class Featured on Bill Gallagher’s Scaling Up Business Podcast

Bill Gallagher’s Scaling Up Business podcast is all about how a few companies make it...and why the rest don’t. They recently featured Global Class co-authors Aaron McDaniel and Klaus Wehage on their newest episode entitled, “Growing Your Company Globally.”

Here are the key takeaways:

[Min 10:23] “When Rakuten was expanding to international markets, one of their core values was speed. Part of their expansion strategy was to acquire a bunch of companies when it comes to the U.S where they plan to launch the product. 

Here in the US, we tend to have labels and product descriptions that are very long because Japanese people like a lot of information. That didn’t resonate with local US consumers, so that was something they had to change. 

When it came to management and acquiring a company in the UK, Rakuten had a hard time getting the company up and running there. They had to understand the local culture in terms of how they are managing that local entity and try to tie Rakuten's core values with that local entity.

Rakuten Co-founder and Chief Well-Being Officer Seichu Masatada Kobayashi had to learn about the culture at a local level and then he ran a workshop with a whiteboard where he wrote up all the core values from that local team to help bridge it to Rakuten’s core values. That’s a really useful insight to find out how your company values are expressed in a local environment.

[Min 12:53] Universalizing core values are one of the things we talk about in the book. For example, one of Walmart’s core values is respecting the individual, a very American concept.

When you go to other Asian countries, it's much more about the collective in the group. So Walmart’s core value wouldn't resonate in Asia. Companies need to think about how to create core values that are universal.

Another insight is about managing people. In Silicon Valley, for example, it’s very common to give transparent feedback between people as a business best practice. But when you go to Japan, that is not as common. So how do you tackle that? One company we interviewed conducted feedback through surveys first. They informed the local office that feedback is something not to be feared but a way to learn about how you're doing in the company. So they started with a survey first and then transitioned to in-person feedback. You have to be sensitive to culture and how to interact with local offices when you scale internationally.

[Min 15:23] “When DocuSign went to Japan, they could have done the “Company way” of doing things. For context, Hanko stamps are curved stamps that you use when signing documents. So what DocuSign did was they partnered with a local Hanko stamp maker called shatta to create an ‘e-Hanko’ stamp that scaled into Japan. Their strategy showed cultural sensitivity. They understood that there are certain business practices they have to adapt to in order to successfully scale.

Another strategy was that they showed a lot of commitment going into the Japanese market. They created a local Board of Advisors made up of influential Japanese executives. They really wanted to show they were in it for the long haul and that they will help the local market.”

All these insights don’t just come from Klaus’ and Aaron’s experiences. It stems from in-depth research and interviews with more than 400 international business leaders across 50 countries from more than 250 of the world’s fastest-growing companies, which include Google, Canva, Slack, Shopify, and Shipbob, among many others. 

They have developed a unique set of insights (supported by case studies) that can help organizations of all sizes, industries and growth stages build successful global businesses.

Want to learn how to apply the best practices of the Global Class? Consult with us.