One of the great challenges for a multinational is learning how to build a productive global team
Willy Chiu was parked outside a Palo Alto (Calif.) convenience store early one evening in January with his notebook PC switched on. Suddenly he heard the ping of an instant message arriving. It was the Tokyo-based head of IBM's Asia operations with urgent news: A major competitor was homing in on a pivotal project IBM (IBM ) had been chasing. The job, to develop a new IT system for a Korean bank, could be worth up to $100 million. Chiu, who runs IBM's worldwide network of elite labs, was needed to help develop a pilot product.
That plea ignited a flurry of online, BlackBerry, and cell-phone conversations across four continents. Within minutes, Chiu had 18 chat windows open simultaneously on his laptop. "How do we mobilize resources worldwide?" he typed in one message to the head of worldwide operations in San Jose. "I'll take the lead," responded IBM's country manager in Seoul. Chiu dashed off a note asking a team in Beijing to free up staff and quickly received confirmation that they were on the case. Then a banking specialist from England chimed in: "Our team can provide reference cases from Spain." Chiu to his administrative assistant: "Stella, please change my flight to a later time tonight. Also, looks like I may go to Korea again in a few weeks." Chiu to his wife: "Will be working late."
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