Wim Elfrink, SVP, Customer Advocacy at Cisco moved from San Jose to Bangalore , India with his wife, two sons and dog in February this year. Six other Cisco families moved with him to set up home and office in India .
There is nothing unusual about that — corporate expats have been working abroad to tap markets since the early days of multinationals. More recently, they have added globalization to their agendas — they are looking to tap the growing markets of the Eastern hemisphere and Latin America , sourcing products and services from there, and harnessing the local talent.
But, Elfrink's case is unusual for a number of reasons.
One, in addition to his customer advocacy title, Elfrink now bears the title of the world's first Chief Globalization Officer. The title is a very clear articulation of Cisco's commitment to globalize. While many companies are working hard to up their non U.S. presence by relocating senior people overseas (IBM relocated its Chief Procurement Officer to Shenzhen in China last year), Elfrink's title reinforces his company's globalization strategy.
Two, Elfrink will be physically present where the action is, and not control the company's globalization strategy remotely. This is a departure from the past when senior people have remotely managed overseas strategies from the comfort of their corner offices in corporate headquarters. Elfrink will be getting his hands dirty.
Three, the Chief Globalization Officer title represents a coming out of the closet. Companies have been reluctant to talk about their globalization efforts since often they have coincided with a loss of jobs at home. But Cisco's move implies a growing acceptance of the global marketplace.
Four, on a lighter note, Elfrink's title displays incredible marketing ingenuity — a growing number of companies have a commitment to leverage the global marketplace, but it is Cisco's title that has stolen the thunder.
What does all this mean for your globalization strategy? If you are serious about it perhaps you should consider getting your senior people to drive strategy from Mexico City , Moscow , Mumbai and Manila , and not just think of these cities as regional offices or sourcing destinations. And maybe top that with a title that resonates your globalization strategy — and attracts attention.
Elfrink's title attracted our attention enough to want to find out about Cisco's globalization strategy, and Balaka Baruah Aggarwal, our associate editor, went down to Bangalore and met Elfrink and his VP HR, Leo Scrivner. She came back and analyzed takeaways from Cisco's move in our this month's cover story titled The Quest for a Chief Globalization Officer.
What do you think of this new title? Would your company consider adopting it? Let's talk about it. Write to me at juhib@cybermedia.co.in
