Transporting the chickens by plane would work, but the freight bill would push the price of a three-piece dinner into the realm of surf and turf. From the corporate headquarters, Youstin can quickly access the company's experts and key decision makers to craft a timely fix. We have centralized the information base. We can't just jump on a plane every time we need something somewhere. Only a few years ago, almost all U.S.-based franchising chains and other multinational businesses opted to send American managers to oversee their foreign offices.
Relocation abroad is harder for the growing ranks of two-career couples.
At the same time, technologies for videoconferencing, Web conferencing and intranet sites have improved in quality and price and have spread around the world. They have made virtual management not only possible but preferable for many companies. A higher proportion of firms took the more traditional route of sending their managers to live in foreign countries. But looking forward, most companies said they expected to adopt the virtual approach at a much faster rate. He also advises other companies on virtual-boss setups.