Case Study Silvio Napoli at Schindler India (a)
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Did Schindler make the right choice in assigning Silvio as general manager of India?
I do not believe Schindler made the right choice in assigning Silvio as the general manager of India. Silvio had little to no “real world” international experience. Silvio had much success in Sweden but there are several factors that limited his success in India. Silvio had high “warrior” and low “monk” attributes. Silvio was a task oriented individual. This management style is not well received in India. The General Manager needed to be a person that can change their behavior when dealing with different cultures. Before making their selection Schindler should have required Silvio to take a Global Mentality Test. This test would have told Schindler if Silvio was open to accepting other cultures. If the test showed positive attributes, Schindler could have provided Silvio with the training required to prepare him for this new assignment. The problem with this training option is the time required. Given that Schindler was expecting large growth in a short period of time (sell 50 units in first year and have 20% of the market share within 5 years), they should have hired a General Manager that was more experienced with business in India and had Silvio report directly to that person.
As Luc. Bonnard, how would you evaluate Silvios first seven months on the job?
Silvios performance has both positive and negative attributes. Silvios method for selecting the management team was extremely positive. His choices of a management team seemed to be very logical and well thought out. It was obvious from the case that Silvio knew he was not in a comfortable environment. The selection of experienced managers with a background in India was extremely needed. Another positive attribute was his desire to get buy-in, from the management team, to his business model from the start.
From a negative standpoint, Silvio should have either done more upfront work prior to relocating his family to India or have relocated his family prior to starting to develop the company infrastructure. Silvio spent weeks trying to juggle the relocation of his family and setting up the company infrastructure. As a result of the juggling, neither goal was executed well. Silvio needs to become more accepting of alterations to his business plan. Silvio was determined to follow his business plan even if the market revealed better alternatives. A good example of this was the decision to strictly offer a standard product line with no customization. Customers were pretty clear that the standard product line would not be acceptable for the first two orders that Schindler India received.
I would advise Silvio to sit down with his management team and reevaluate their business plan. After the re-evaluation Silvio needs to gain the respect of the team. In Sweden Silvio was given respect due to his position. In India Silvio would need to earn the respect of his management team. The “warrior” management style that Silvio was familiar to did more harm than good at earning their respect.
What advice would you give Silvio regarding his decision on the nonstandard glass wall elevator that has been ordered?
Even though the company would loose money by accepting this order Silvio should accept it. Unfortunately, you sometimes need to accept loss to gain acceptance in a