Outlining the implications of empowerment

Multinational companies have to take into account differences of local contents where each operation is set up in different countries. It is considered dangerous to directly apply practices or systems that work well in one country to another without in-depth understanding of the local distinctive environment. For example, from a financial point of view, taxation of the same subject such as the value-added-tax of one country can be much different from another one. The main concept can be similar but in details, special treatment of a transaction can be totally different. 
No matter what functions, it is important to consider how much empowerment of employees can be made so that the highest performance can be rendered by the local people. With proper empowerment, the management can expect some benefits as follows:
Faster response to the market : Local team members who have authority to make decisions without delay can move faster in adapting the strategies that will effectively respond to the market competition. This can reduce damages that might be caused by the lengthy process of approval and agreement from the head quarter. 
More knowledge about culture and tradition: It is important to avoid mistakes caused by lacking knowledge of either acceptable or unacceptable cultures. Local culture needs to be taken into account in many aspects such as the product design, the marketing campaign, the service providing and so on. 
Better serving of target customer: Introduction of different service and product may be inevitable. However, local people tend to be more effective in dealing with customers due to better understanding of the language, the attitude and the taste of target markets. 
More flexibility in managing change : With proper delegation of duties, the local management can be in the better position to introduce changes within the organization. This seems to be critical especially when the market is in the downturn and drastic change may be needed. 
It has been a big challenge for business leaders to introduce the right management strategies for people from different cultures. However it has been proved in several cases that empowerment can be a good idea in managing business from overseas head office. It may be worth considering how to grow the business under proper control and delegation of authority through the trust system. Thus empowering people can be one of important strategies for successful multinational companies. 

Yanyong Thammatucharee,
the author, is senior vice president/finance & accounting at Central Marketing Group. He can be reached at [email protected]