If I had unlimited resources, time and access to information, I would like to find out, how international a so-called “global player” truly is. The problem I see is, that each large company counts on globalization effect and synergy between newly purchased companies in other countries as well as with the transparency effect of global ERP systems. On the other hand in such companies some people complain, they will never get the chance to work in a department abroad although the need for their expertise is there. At the same time the opposite opinion exist- people will be sent to the subsidiary abroad, which hate to be separated from their family and might even not speak English (we don’t talk about the native language of the new country).

I would start the SNA analysis with a department that exists all over the world in each significant location (means, a location with production + R&D). Independent if it would the Project management department, R&D, Supplier development, Quality or whatever.

I’d ask, how the international cooperation and information flow is executed in the daily life not considering the yearly manager conference in the headquarters. This would provide a picture of the current flow and social network connections we discussed in class. But additionally I would also ask, what people believe it would be beneficial for their work to get access to. This might be a specific position, department or person. This will give an idea, how the departments in the different countries could work closer together. For large companies, sometimes the internal employees in the more remote locations learn from their public website, what details of cost cut initiatives exist. Having direct access to the successful colleagues, this success could be repeated in this remote location. The same is valid for real-life work procedures (not the intranet-paper-version) or lessons learned from successful/failed R&D projects.

The SNA could identify key persons worldwide for specific tasks and it would be the first step to create a worldwide knowledge-map. The SNA would also point the gaps between the relevant persons (e.g. department manager or team leader) having the same projects or working on the same issues worldwide. Technical modifications happen on globalized technical products every day- in middle east (Dubai) due to high degree of salt in the air a much more sophisticated corrosion protection is needed. The production in a high-humidity area like Shanghai needs different conditions from the headquarters factory. To connect production manager at the Indian coast with the ones in Dubai would avoid problems from the beginning- but often enough both managers are just connected to the headquarters. Even better- the responsible person to ensure stable supply of cooling water, compressed air or steam in each factory should be connected to her peer worldwide. Together they could figure out the most suitable product, an innovative piping solution saving pipeline length or clear-space-problems in each factory.

The questions about “Which connection would be beneficial to your department” could also unveil surprises- e.g. the production manager of a new factory in Wulumuqi might be interested to talk to the quality department in Michigan to find out, how he can avoid quality problems from the beginning. Or the connection between production in an emerging country and R&D in headquarters to require a more robust design that is easy to assemble with untrained workers.

As mentioned before, such an analysis would show the upper management, if there are truly synergies exist and if the company is really globally connected or just use the same name in isolated locations. And it would show the real needs of the people working on the same issues, although they are far away and never met each other. This would give the chance to socially connect people with the same needs and issues to ensure the market leadership of the company and to be a source for innovation. It would not be difficult to gather the data, the complication lies in the worldwide follow-up to get the questionnaires filled.  The most important measure would be the connection itself- I expect to find a lot of gaps.