IBM前CEO彭明盛：一家真正的全球化企业是如何练就的

    2011年，IBM计划庆祝其诞生100周年之际，我忽然想到，该公司在过去一个世纪的改变与同期全球经济的变化极为相似。两者都受益于经济增长，以及人类历史上前所未见的生活水平的大幅提高。而这一进步主要得益于全球社会融合以及信息技术的普及。

    如今，全球经济一体化为企业和社会的未来带来巨大机遇。对企业而言，在全球市场上买卖商品和服务，可节约成本、增加收入，同时还能将全球的人才及其见解收为己用。社会也将受益匪浅：人们将得以提高自身生活水平；政府将找到新的合作途径。虽然很多人指出一体化存在风险，但更迫切、更务实的问题是：我们如何面对未来？我们是欣然迎接未来？还是执着于过去？

    上述问题对于美国乃至全球的企业都相当重要。我们正处在人类历史上首个真正的全球化时代，在全球流转的信息、人员、产品、服务以及理念，其数量之大、速度之快都前所未有。在这个时代，企业面临着新的挑战。优质服务将通过云式平台交付，而股东回报是必须的。这个新时代需要新的商业模式、新的企业结构、新的投资者参与以及新思维。

    全球整合企业（globally integrated enterprise, GIE）在这个全球化时代必不可少，同时，此类企业特别适合从全球化时代中受益。我所说的全球整合企业，是指其管理和经营实现真正全球化（而不仅仅是“跨国”）的企业。在该模式中，工作的组织方式完全不同。这要求减少层级，同时需要技能和行为多元化，增加合作和透明度，财务管理更加严格，且更加注重文化差异的多样性。

    举例来说，决定在何处进行经营，将取决于如何使客户、员工以及生意伙伴实现价值最大化。人不再跟着工作走，相反，工作将跟人走。因此，不同的市场不会有独立的供应链，而是只有一条全球化的供应链，不仅对产品是如此，对服务、资本、创意和知识产权而言都是如此。

    同样，考虑人力资本时，不再囿于国家、地区和业务部门的限制，而是考虑如何将其作为全球性资产来管理和部署。我在IBM担任首席执行官时发现，IBM的未来将专注于创新，这意味着我们未来不是资本密集型企业，而会是人力资本密集型企业，提供软件和服务。因此，雇佣和留住最优秀的人才，比以往任何时候都更重要。但是，与从前不同的是，这些人才身在何处、来自何方并不重要，我们只希望他们在IBM工作出色，而且我们希望尽我们所能，帮助他们脱颖而出。

    In 2011, as IBM was planning to commemorate its 100th anniversary, it struck me that there were dramatic parallels between the company’s transformation over 10 decades and the way in which the global economy had been transformed over the same period. Both had benefited from an expansion of economic growth, and an increase in living standards, that was without precedent in human history. This progress had been greatly enabled by the integration of global society, and through the power and prevalence of information technology.

    Today, global economic integration presents enormous opportunity for the future of business and society. For business, buying and selling goods and services in a global market can lead to cost savings and increased revenue, but also the ability to draw on the talents and insights of a global workforce. Society can also benefit in a myriad of ways, from individuals realizing higher living standards to governments realizing new avenues for cooperation. And while many point to the risks of integration, the more pressing and more pragmatic questions are the following: How do we deal with the future? Do we embrace it? Or do we cling to the past?

    These questions are particularly important for companies in the United States and throughout the world. They face new challenges as they navigate what is the first truly global era in human history – an era in which the volume and speed of information, people, products, services and ideas being circulated around the world is greater than ever before. Where quality services will be delivered via cloud-like platforms and consistency of shareholder returns will be mandatory. This new era calls for new business models, new corporate structures, new investor engagement and new thinking.

    Fundamental to the global era, and uniquely suited to benefit from it, is what I call the globally integrated enterprise (GIE), which refers to companies that are truly global (as opposed to “multinational”) in their management and their operations. In this model, work is organized in fundamentally different ways. It calls for different skills and behaviors, more collaboration and transparency, more disciplined financial management, greater focus on a multiplicity of cultural differences, and less hierarchy.

    As an example, decisions about where to locate operations are based on how to maximize value for customers, employees, and business partners. Instead of taking people to where the work is, you take work to where the people are. Thus, rather than maintaining separate supply chains in different markets, there is one supply chain, and it’s global — not just for products, but also services, capital, ideas, and intellectual property.

    Similarly, human capital is thought of not in terms of countries and regions and business units, but rather how to manage and deploy it as one global asset. While CEO, I saw that IBM’s IBM -0.02% future was going to be focused on innovation, which meant that rather than being capital-intensive, we were going to be human capital-intensive – delivering software and services. So it was even more important than in the past that we hired and retained the best people. But unlike earlier eras, it didn’t really matter where these people were or where they came from – we simply wanted them to excel in their work at IBM and we wanted to do what we could to help them excel.