IMD-4-0300 © 2008
Weeks, John
With the prospects of its electricity transformer company emerging as gloomy, the leaders of ABB Sécheron had three substitutes: First, they could seal their factory and discontinue their presence in the Geneva ended subsequent to over 100 years there; second, the plant could resist on as they were, shrinking and dropping prices as best as possible to at least remain open and avoid making an outright loss; third, ABB Sécheron could radically modify itself.
The first two alternatives, either burying their heads in the sand or giving up, would be simple ABB Sécheron's Jean-Luc Favre made it work and selected the third option. Learning objectives: How can firms administrating in high labour cost nations respond to globalization without giving up or offshoring? What are the shift direction skills required to bring the organization through the challenging transformation along with you?
Subjects: Leading change; Globalization
Settings: Switzerland; Heavy industrial; ABB Sécheron;112,000 employees; 1995-2007
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