Archive for the ‘Javidan, Mansour’ Category

What is the statistical benefit of an international business degree? New analysis of growing survey data at Thunderbird School of Global Management puts the value at roughly eight years abroad in four or more countries. “For the first time ever, we are able to show a return on investment for a global management degree,” said Garvin Distinguished Professor Mansour Javidan, Ph.D., director of Thunderbird’s Global Mindset® Institute in Glendale, Arizona. Javidan’s research team bases its conclusions on more than 10,000 survey results from the Global Mindset Inventory, a scientific self-assessment developed at Thunderbird to measure a manager’s capacity to thrive in unfamiliar environments with people from diverse backgrounds. Javidan said the 10,000 survey milestone — which Thunderbird passed on May 10, 2011 — means the sample size is large enough to identify trends, predict outcomes and make comparisons among subgroups.
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Companies that used to send untested expatriates overseas and hope for the best now have a reservoir of scientific data to rely upon when making assignments and preparing managers for success in complex global environments. The Global Mindset® Inventory, a scientific self-assessment developed at Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Arizona, takes much of the guesswork out of what skills and aptitudes a manager needs to thrive in unfamiliar markets with people from diverse backgrounds. In just three years, a research team at Thunderbird’s Global Mindset Institute has amassed 10,000 survey responses from dozens of companies all over the world.
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New corporate managers might not need global mindset science to succeed in their first assignment with a multinational team. Many are smart enough to figure things out on their own. “That is probably true,” Thunderbird Professor Mansour Javidan, Ph.D., acknowledges. “But there are two ways you can figure it out. There is a hard way and an easy way.” He says the hard way is to parachute managers into new global environments without any support and hope for the best. The easier way is for companies to take a proactive approach by helping them prepare for the cross-cultural situations they will encounter. Learn about Thunderbird’s Global Mindset® Institute in this Thunderbird Knowledge Network video series. | Video: Global Mindset Advantage (2:18) | Video: Global Mindset Development (2:35) | Video: Global Mindset Investment (2:49) | Video: Global Mindset Inventory (2:20) | Video: Global Mindset Origins (2:13) | Video: Globalization Benefits and Risks (2:41)
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Understanding cross-cultural differences shouldn’t be that difficult. After all, haven’t most global CEOs been there, done that? But the devil is in the details, as Mansour Javidan, Ph.D., Dean of Research and Garvin Distinguished Professor at Thunderbird School of Global Management, explains to Ernst & Young’s Billie Williamson, Americas Inclusiveness Officer. “If you’re a U.S. executive working in Russia or China, for example, you must think about what kind of leadership style you should use and how you must adjust your behavior,” Javidan said. He said some leadership attributes are universally desirable and others are universally undesirable, regardless of the country. But many other attributes are culturally specific. “For example, being cunning and self-protective is viewed negatively in the U.S. and Germany,” Javidan said. “But it seen as positive and effective in parts of the Middle East and some other countries.” Read the full question-and-answer session on the Ernst & Young site.

Thunderbird Professor Mansour Javidan, Ph.D., delivered this welcome address Aug. 11, 2010, for new students in the Global MBA for Latin American Managers program, a dual degree program at Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Arizona, and Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico.

By Mansour Javidan, Thunderbird Professor

Welcome home. We are delighted to be with you for the journey you are starting. During the next 22 months, you will participate in more than just an academic program offered by these two great institutions. You are coming home. That is one of the things special about this place: This is your home. The secret to Thunderbird’s success is that our students are special. When other business schools talk like this, they usually refer to their students’ impressive test scores, grade point averages and work experience. Thunderbird students have similar high credentials. But this is not what makes you special. When I call you special, I mean something different. | Podcast: Professor Javidan welcomes Global MBA students (28:27)
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Thunderbird graduates make significant gains in global business savvy and other key attributes that predict success overseas, new research from the school’s Global Mindset Institute shows. “We now have a scientific way to measure learning outcomes,” says Thunderbird Professor Mansour Javidan, Ph.D., the school’s dean of research and head of the institute. “We show a clear and significant improvement in the scores of our graduating students.”
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Saad Abdul-Latif calls himself “a guy from the neighborhood.” The CEO of PepsiCo’s Asia, Middle East and Africa Division oversees the company’s food and beverage operations in a territory that includes more than 100 countries and about two-thirds of the world’s population. Overall, the division generates nearly $6 billion in annual revenue through global brands such as Pepsi, Frito Lay, Tropicana, Gatorade and Quaker. Abdul-Latif has traveled far from his childhood home, where he grew up in occupied East Jerusalem surrounded by poverty and violence. But he remains mindful of his Palestinian heritage and his home in East Jerusalem, where his mother still lives. | Video: West Bank Childhood (1:44) | Video: Saad Abdul-Latif answers the Thunderbird Question (1:39) | Podcast: Global Citizenship at PepsiCo in Asia, Middle East and Africa (7:54)
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High-potential managers at Intel China have scientific proof that a 10-month Thunderbird Corporate Learning program in Shanghai has boosted their capacity to succeed as global leaders. Pre- and posttest results from the Global Mindset Inventory, a scientific self-assessment developed at Thunderbird, show dramatic improvements in the intellectual, psychological and social skills needed to thrive in complex global business environments. “We now have a scientific way to measure outcomes,” said Thunderbird Professor Mary Teagarden, Ph.D., academic director of the Intel China program and a researcher at Thunderbird’s Global Mindset Leadership Institute.
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By Mansour Javidan, Mary Teagarden and David Bowen

When Alan, a rising star at a U.S.-based manufacturer, arrived in Beijing to take a position as the general manager for consumer products in China, he was energized and excited. He’d been charged with leading the firm’s expansion in what his bosses kept telling him was the fastest-growing market in the world. He thought the assignment would be straightforward and easy, but roadblocks quickly appeared. Alan’s enthusiasm gave way to frustration, and his company eventually called him back to the States. As it turns out, Alan’s employers had sent him to Beijing for the wrong reason. They’d assumed that a good track record at home is a predictor of success in the global arena. But they failed to consider Alan’s “global mindset.” Our research at the Thunderbird Global Mindset Leadership Institute has allowed us to define global mindset, measure it, and identify ways to improve it. In the end, our research allows companies such as Alan’s to take the guesswork out of expatriate assignments. Read the full article in the April 2010 issue of Harvard Business Review.

After five years of research involving companies and executives from around the world, Thunderbird School of Global Management has developed the world’s first psychometric assessment tool to measure an individual’s, as well as an entire organization’s Global Mindset. This ground-breaking project from the world’s No. 1-ranked school of global management could significantly change the way global businesses compete. The research defines and assesses the individual attributes that make it possible for global managers to succeed in the global environment. These skills are essential to success in today’s fast-accelerating global marketplace, yet hard to find or properly identify among the existing and highly-competitive talent pool.
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