Kimberly Clark-Case Analysis
Kimberly-Clark Andean Region: Case Analysis
July 25, 2011
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Kimberly Clark (K-C), the consumer products company, has become a market leader in the majority of Latin American markets. Its dominance is attributed to the fact that, unlike its competitors, the company is organized regionally, which allows responsiveness to its customers and more empowerment to the regional teams, giving K-C advantage over its competition. (Anderson) K-C's Andean region stands out among the Latin American regions because of its performance as well as because of the leadership and management style of Sergio Nacach and the culture that he has put in place in the Andean region. The culture that exists within the Andean region and Sergio Nacach’s leadership and management styles have caused K-C Latin America to request this assessment and set of recommendations to try to address the challenges that the other regions might face in trying to replicate the Andean region's and Sergio Nacach’s successes and to ensure the continued success of the Andean region, especially if Sergio Nacach were not there, due to promotion or getting a better offer from a competitor. There are several key issues that will face K-C as they assess the strengths and weaknesses of both Sergio Nacach and the culture that he has put into place. The issues that will be analyzed are: what elements of the culture, if any, are transferable to other regions within the company; how much of the culture is country specific and how much of it has been built based on organizational norms which are most likely to be transferable; what are the elements that need to be focused upon when looking at building cultures in different regions; what unifying set of company values need to be present in all of those regional cultures.
This assessment recommends that K-C implement a hybrid approach, blending Sergio's transferable knowledge with country culture specific practices.
PROBLEM
July 25, 2011
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Kimberly Clark (K-C), the consumer products company, has become a market leader in the majority of Latin American markets. Its dominance is attributed to the fact that, unlike its competitors, the company is organized regionally, which allows responsiveness to its customers and more empowerment to the regional teams, giving K-C advantage over its competition. (Anderson) K-C's Andean region stands out among the Latin American regions because of its performance as well as because of the leadership and management style of Sergio Nacach and the culture that he has put in place in the Andean region. The culture that exists within the Andean region and Sergio Nacach’s leadership and management styles have caused K-C Latin America to request this assessment and set of recommendations to try to address the challenges that the other regions might face in trying to replicate the Andean region's and Sergio Nacach’s successes and to ensure the continued success of the Andean region, especially if Sergio Nacach were not there, due to promotion or getting a better offer from a competitor. There are several key issues that will face K-C as they assess the strengths and weaknesses of both Sergio Nacach and the culture that he has put into place. The issues that will be analyzed are: what elements of the culture, if any, are transferable to other regions within the company; how much of the culture is country specific and how much of it has been built based on organizational norms which are most likely to be transferable; what are the elements that need to be focused upon when looking at building cultures in different regions; what unifying set of company values need to be present in all of those regional cultures.
This assessment recommends that K-C implement a hybrid approach, blending Sergio's transferable knowledge with country culture specific practices.
PROBLEM
References: 1. Megan Anderson, 2009, Kimberly-Clark Andean region: Creating a winning culture 2 3. Ibarra, 1996 National cultures and work-related values, HBS Note 4 5. Bartlett & Ghoshal, 1987, Managing across borders, Sloan Management Review 6 7. Robert Simons, 2009, Control in an Age of Empowerment APPENDICES