This document discusses the challenges faced by Novo Nordisk, a Danish pharmaceutical company, in establishing operations in Mexico. It summarizes the cultural differences between Denmark and Mexico and how these impacted Novo Nordisk's human resources policies and employee engagement strategies. It describes how Novo Nordisk addressed issues like recruitment, training, performance reviews, and rewards to adapt the company's culture while maintaining its core "Novo Nordisk Way of Management". Change management theories like Lewin's 3-step model were also utilized to help shift Mexico's traditionally collective, hierarchical culture towards Novo Nordisk's goals of participation and shared values. Recommendations focused on combining economic and organizational priorities through top-down direction with bottom-up engagement.

1. Aideen Turley, Deborah Mireles, Ramoji Alla, Oisín Molloy, Niall Burke.
Mexican Experiences from a Danish
Firm: “Changing” Mexican Culture

2. Novo Nordisk
Cultural disparity
 Employee
Recruitment and
HR Policy
Employee
Engagement
Change process
and
Recommendations
O
V
E
R
V
I
E
W

3. Novo Nordisk
 Global company and world leader in diabetes care.
 75 countries, 41,450 employees and products
marketed in 180 countries.
 Set up a commercialisation and distribution site in
Mexico.
 HRM policies and cultural barriers
Novo Nordisk
Way of
Management
Triple Bottom
Line

4. Novo Nordisk Way of Management
What makes up the DNA
of the company.
The 10 essentials
NNWoM is not culturally
specific to ensure ease of
implementation.

5. Triple Bottom Line
Decisions based on three questions
1. How do we benefit people? ---
2. How to minimise our impact on
the environment?
3. How can we balance these
concerns against economic costs or gains?
Transparency leads to market trust.

6. Cultural disparity

7. Source: House et al, 2004

8. In-Group Collectivism
Individualistic nation
Individuals view
themselves as
independent of the group
Tend to be more group-
orientated when it comes
to decision making
Collectivistic nation
Loyalty and pride in
organisations and families
Benevolent paternalistic
leadership style
Avoid confrontations and
conflicts
Denmark Mexico

9. Power Distance
 Do not give importance
to rank and status
Equal respect for
everybody
Flat organisations
 Highly hierarchical
society
Mexican people value
status
Titles are very important
Denmark Mexico

10. Uncertainty-avoidance
 High level
Preference to rely on
formalized procedures and
policies
Excellent welfare state
 Medium level
Great deal of uncertainty on
Mexican economic
environment
Preference for bureaucratic
procedures to minimize
unpredictability in the process
Denmark Mexico

11. Employee Recruitment and HR
Policy of Novo Nordisk Mexico

12. McKinsey 7S Framework model
Source: http://www.strategicmanagementinsight.com

13. Staff
Challenges Solutions
Recruitment Channels
Skilled Executives
Cultural Behaviours
Corporate Competition
Word of mouth
Rewarding System &
Trust and Honesty
Open Organization and No
discrimination
Employee Benefits and
Retention

14. Skills
Challenges Solutions
 Training and
Development
 Change in way of
thinking
Balanced Scorecard
Approach
Learning Culture
No Double Standards

15. Employee Engagement
‘Workplace approach designed to ensure that employees
are committed & motivated to contribute to organisational
success and at the same time enhance their sense of
wellbeing’ (Federman, 2009)

16. Appraisal System
 Power Distance

 Balance Scorecard
(Kaplan & Norton, 1990)

17. Reward System
Trust Hierarchy

18. Non-Monetary Benefits

19. Mexican Experiences from a
Danish firm: ‘Changing’
Mexican Culture

20. Change Strategies
Theory E
 Maximise
Shareholder value
 Top down
Theory O
 Develop Organisational
Capability
 Participation

21. Combined Theory of E and O
 Embrace the paradox
between Economic value
and organisational
capability
 Direct from the top
engage people from
below
 Hard and soft
‘ The Novo Way of
Management is a system
that combines modern
value based management
with traditional control’

22. Kurt Lewin’s 3 step Model for
Organisational Change
Unfreezing Changing Refreezing

23. References
Beer, Michael, and Nitin Nohria. "Cracking the code of
change." If you read nothing else on change, read
thesebest-selling articles. (2000): 15.
Burnes, Bernard. "Kurt Lewin and the planned
approach to change: a re‐appraisal." Journal of
Management studies 41.6 (2004): 977-1002.
 Federman, B. Employee Engagement: A Roadmap for
Creating Profits (2009)