Kirsti Clapsadle 1. SAS could integrate into Brazil, but not without changes.

Brazil is a country that requires organization and regulation which SAS does not have a lot of. If SAS is to expand to Brazil, they will need to lay out further regulations and rules. As Goodnight is not great at setting rules and boundaries, I would suggest hiring an individual who can align with SASs culture while creating structure for the Brazil branch of the company. If the company did it in Australia, Belgium, Germany and France, I believe it can also expand to Brazil Power Distance: Brazils power distance is higher than SASs seems to be. SAS has few tiers of power where there are very powerful leaders and low level workers, so SASs power distance is low. Workers are expected to complete assignments on their own without being given strict rules and regulations. The organization would have to change to fit in with Brazils. I would suggest having more levels of power to regulate workers and creating some standards for Individualism: Brazils individualism is low which works well with SASs goals. SAS inspires its workers toward a common goal by treating them well. A golden rule expectation is implemented and it is assumed that if employees are treated with respect that they will return the favor to the company. Masculinity: SAS has a feminine culture and is driven more by community than competition. There is no numeric monetary goal, just a goal to profit. There is an annual raise and bonus, but not many achievement based awards. If the company was more masculine, it would have high, specific

Kirsti Clapsadle goals for itself and employees would be driven more by bonuses and salary raises. This is in alignment with Brazils masculinity, which is also low. Uncertainty Avoidance: Brazils uncertainty avoidance is high, while SASs is midrange. Not many changes would be necessary here, because SAS is an ethical company that follows laws and regulations. Similar to the differences in power distance, however, Brazilians prefer more structure than SAS provides, so this change would be necessary. Employees would need more regulation for SAS to function well in Brazil. Long Term Orientation: The long term orientation of Brazil is high, but SASs is higher. Because SAS is a private company, it can get away with not having massive quarterly earnings. Similar to how SAS does not match up exactly with the United States Five Dimension Model, we can assume that not all Brazilian companies match up with Brazils Five Dimension Model. SAS being a technologybased company has to be conducted based on long term thinking so there should be no issue with the slight difference in levels of long term orientation. I compared the five dimensions of Australia, Belgium, Germany and France with SAS and none of them aligned exactly (see graph). As the company has done well there, we can assume they can do well in Brazil also. After comparing the five dimensions of Brazil with SAS, I suggest that the company expands to Brazil, but prepare by hiring an outsider to organize the expansion. SAS should find an individual who can follow the culture of the company while setting boundaries for potential Brazilian employees.

Kirsti Clapsadle
100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 PDI IDV MAS UAI LTO Brazil Australia Germany Belgium France US

I have no exact numbers for SAS, because I have no equation for finding them, but I estimate PDI to be between 35 and 45, IDV to be about 40, masculinity to be about 35, UAI under 45, and LTO at least 70.

Kirsti Clapsadle

2. Does the overall management of Lincoln Electric function well? What works well and what doesnt work well? This is an important question to ask because it addresses the fact that high profits do not mean good management. It also is a question whose answer affects all aspects of the company including functionality, employee happiness, and future growth. In a large company like Lincoln Electric it is important to know what is working well and where changes are necessary. Lincoln Electric has been running on basically the same management style it began with in 1895 and the world has clearly changed since then, so it is a relevant question to address, whether Lincoln Electric should make changes or not. Overall, Lincoln Electric has a functional management style, but could function better with some changes. The company is extremely competition based, which provides employees with fair salaries and pushes them to work harder, but it also leads to individualism that can create a hostile work environment. Management is primarily based at the top, with little to no tasks delegated, showing a lack of trust in employees and creating unnecessary stress to executives who could be focusing their energy elsewhere. These factors create more stress than is necessary on all who work for Lincoln Electric. Lincoln Electric runs on competition based motivation. Workers receive compensation for the work theyve done and bonuses are basically guaranteed for anyone who does at least the minimum. Employees work individually as often as possible to ensure they are being recognized

Kirsti Clapsadle for their contribution. They are recognized on a point based system, which creates further competition and hostility among co-workers. If a worker who receives 83 sees that another employee received 110, the worker could easily become angry and feel under-recognized. The competition-based motivation works well in getting results from employees, but it can cause hostile relationships among co-workers. If Lincoln Electric fostered more cooperative relationships and encouraged its workers by inspiring a more intrinsic motivation, the company would have happier workers. They could do this by holding social events to allow employees to get to know each other better and feel a personal stake in the company and each other as individuals. If Lincoln Electric took the service profit chain into account and worked first on internal service quality before jumping to profitability, the in-between steps would flow more naturally and require less management. Over-management is a recurring theme in the Lincoln Electric case. The company does a poor job in inspiring a shared vision for the company and therefore the higher ups feel they must complete even the smallest tasks, rather than delegate them to a more appropriate candidate. Executives do too much controlling in Lincoln Electric. If they inspired the employees by giving them a greater number of important tasks and enabled others to act by putting more trust in the employees, the result would be a more productive and efficient organization. Lincoln Electric functions well and gets results, but not all employees are happy. If the company instilled a less competitive and more cooperative atmosphere, and allowed more employees to complete important tasks, the employees would feel a deeper importance and a greater stake in the company. While the company wont fail if it doesnt make these changes, it could flourish even greater if it does.