Company XYZ in France Best in France Case Study September 2003 - May 2005

By: Mr. Eee, Ms. Xdy, and Mr. Ret

Executive Overview

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What's your business Company products and clients Why did you come to France Do company values fit the French culture?

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Constraints in France Adaptation to France Key Constraint Costs Key Benefit Numbers Essential Advice

Some Guidelines

Dear "Best in France" Participants This presentation is a sample for you to use as a guideline for your own case studies. It outlines some of the key points of the "Four Seasons goes to Paris" case study by Hallowell, Bowen, and Knoop.

While you will probably need to adapt some of these questions to your specific company try to cover about the same topics.

There is no need to attach a separate report but please explain each slide with enough depth to resolve any questions by using the "notes page" feature of Powerpoint. Please follow normal bibliographic rules by citing your references (books, company website pages, interview sources (name, function, contact details), articles, company reports, etc.) It imperative that you include the full contact details (title, address, phone, and email) of each manager that you interview.

Best Wishes Michael Segalla

The XYZ Company

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When did it come to France What's its business What are its key figures (world sales, French sales, profits, market share etc. etc.

Company products

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What products are produced in France?

Why are these products produced in France (and not elsewhere for example)?

Are there expansion/reduction plans for these product lines?

Company's clients

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Who are the company's clients?

What are their expectations?

How will a French presence help or hurt the company's ability to satisfy client demands?

Why it came to France

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Company approach to international growth Where else did it consider Why was France a key target location

Company values

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What are the core values of the company that may or may not fit with perceived French values?

How did company manage to instill its values in the French unit?

Constraints in France

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What are the principle constraints the company foresaw before coming to France?

Did they discover any others?

Which are the worst contraints? How do these constraints differ with their other locations?

Did the local subsidiary lose projects to other countries because of these constraints?

Adaptation to France

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What kinds of adaptations did/is the company making to its people management systems?

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Recruitment/Selection Compensation Management Development Workforce Planning Performance Appraisal Motivation Job Design, Job Assignment Communication Policies International Transfers, Use of Expatriats Training etc.

Key Constraint Costs

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What are the key costs to coming to France that are more or less than operating in other locations?

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Any or all HR type costs (hiring, paying, training, dismissing, etc.)

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Other organisation structure costs (real estate, travel, taxes, "cultural consultants", etc.)

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Communication constraints (language, infrastructure communication costs, etc.)

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Integration of French managers into global organisation (does it cost more to use French managers than managers from other cultures)

Key Benefit Numbers

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What are the key benefits of being in France?

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Product quality (defect rate, product cost, productivity, design, customer image, etc.)

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Revenue/profit (revenue/profit per French employee) Location benefits (transport, time zone, quality of life, employee satisfaction with France, etc.)

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Government assistance Market Potential (product penetration or growth potential, customer demands for cultural adaptation of product(s), launch platform for other European countries, etc.)

Essential Advice

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What advice do you offer to other companies in this sector concerning use of France as a location?

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Before coming to France

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Adaptation while in France

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Future investments in Europe

We Thank

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Manager 1: Name, Title, Address, Email, Telephone

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Manager 2: Name, Title, Address, Email, Telephone

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Manager 3: Name, Title, Address, Email, Telephone

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Etc.

Bibliography

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References Appendix (e.g., questionnaires)

Our Team

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Name, current address, permanent address

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Name, current address, permanent address

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Name, current address, permanent address

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etc.