The Russian Experience Management
Ted & Harry Russia's Success
The definition of success is associated with the effectiveness of the organization in attaining the goal. From this standpoint, we can say that Ted & Harry Russia was successful in its business experimentation in Russia. First, Ten & Harry's focus is social responsibility and not just to make profit for the business, although it is an important part of the organization's survival in the market. Second, the goal of the organization in launching a branch in Russia is based on the idea that “international peace could be promoted through cooperative business ventures.” Contemplating on these two criteria, Ted & Harry Russia was successful in promoting its social responsibility and it successfully cemented a relationship with Russian local partners. Although there were series of distrust during the course of the operation, in the end they were able to patch it up and part in good terms. Russian local partners were able to know about the ice cream industry as taught by Ted & Harry and the organization also learned better about Russian business culture.
Perhaps, an important part of success judgment of Ted & Harry Russia is the way it kept the corporate ethics despite of the challenges in the new business culture. As much as we see that Ten & Harry's culture cannot survive in Russia, we have seen that it can surpass it. This is an element that proves that Ted & Harry Russia remained successful in its business experimentation.
However, if we look at the efficiency of the management in running the business, we see the pitfalls and not its success. The company failed to use its resources efficiently to ensure low waste and high results or high attainment. It is impossible to ignore that large capital loss of the organization with the Russia venture. In this standpoint, Ted & Harry Russia failed to deliver its potential ROI.
Failure of Ted & Harry Russia
Ted & Harry US failed to acknowledge several factors that led to the downfall of the Russia venture. The following are some of the problems or mistakes:
Resistance to Change. Change is a very important part of the business, but the organization failed to be flexible. Instead of changing the nature of the ice cream products, from chunky to smooth, or changing the operations from single chunky to mixed chunky and smooth ice cream products, the Ted & Harry Russia management remained adamant in acknowledging that Russian loved smooth ice cream. Globalization is an important part of management and the Russia management failed to acknowledge the need to analyze the people and culture of their market.
Organizational Culture. I have noted above that Ted & Harry Russia kept the corporate's ethics, and I don't have any intent to change that point of importance. However, by choosing an American overall manager, Ted & Harry US failed to understand that locals can better run the business because they know the market. Although the overall decision-making was shared, but the organization was ripped between the Russian way and the American way. In fact, the political scenario proved to be more difficult to handle and additional expenses must be catered.
Partnership. Ted & Harry Russia could have won the hearts of Russians with the unique chunky ice cream, but the problem of low quality due to unreliable suppliers, low delivery due to transportation problem, and such factors caused tremendous drawback. It could have been that Ted & Harry Russia partnered with suppliers, transportation provider, and such other related services. It is easier for the company to foster results among local distributors than to play risks with suppliers and transportation services. For a very unstable market and environment, Ted & Harry Russia failed to secure the most vital aspects of the operation.
Possible Recommendations for Ted & Harry Russia
There are several areas and actions that could have been considered by Ted & Harry Russia to avoid the pitfalls and problems encountered. Here are some of the most important ones:
- Choose partners with core competencies that can be used as assets than liabilities. As much as Ted & Harry US can remain as the strategic manager of the business, it is necessary to find people who can serve as operational and tactical managers. These are people who must understand the market environment for they will be the ones to execute the plan of the organization. Ted & Harry chose people who only have the minds and don't have the skill and experience. Ted & Harry US already have the minds after successful venture in the US, what the company needed are people who can translate those strategies into actions, who knows the ins and outs of Russia business culture. As noted in above section, it could have been the Ted & Harry chose suppliers and transportation providers as partners.
- Change in culture and attitude. When the organization fails to understand the market, it fails on all. After the initial try of using the resources to produce chunky ice cream, Ted & Harry could have changed to work on “customer service” satisfaction. An organization should always keep in mind what customers want and not what the organization wants to force. It is not an easy to introduce new products and change the culture of the market, but Ted & Harry could have done it gradually. By producing smooth ice cream as it creates hype on chunky ice cream, Ted & Harry could have ensure steady revenue to finance its chunky ice cream operations. Moreover, the attitude of not hearing any suggestion for growth strategy left the company stuck with its former glories. Rather than change and maintain growth, the company remained the same and failed.
- Strategic acknowledgment could have been changed. Two years of market experiment is too much, even a year of failure is more than enough. But Ted & Harry endured this, rather than moving on and finding ways. When an organization fails to see itself in transformation within the shortest time, it fails. In essence, the management of the organization fails to do its part to ensure growth within time frame.
