Last summer, I spent two months at several Boeing Co. sites as a Welliver Faculty Fellow. Since my purpose was to learn how Boeing does engineering in today's economy, I couldn't help noticing how the company conducts business in hundreds of different geographical locations. I sat in on routine meetings in which employees and customers phoned in from 10-20 sites around the world to solve problems they all were working on. They also convinced me that if other businesses don't learn to do the same, they will be squeezed out of today's global marketplace.
Globalization is a fact.
Few industries are immune to the influence of foreign competition, suppliers and customers, regulatory decisions in distant countries, and economic forces originating beyond national borders. Of course, the larger the company the more likely it is to have strong interest and interaction with companies in other countries. For some, however, working effectively with others they've never met can be a difficult experience. But if a business is willing to experiment with different communications technologies and methods of working, it can be done. Most people find that collaborating with geographically dispersed colleagues involves a new kind of work dynamic and communication flow.