BHP Revitalizes Its Global Management
Summary of the article by David Forman "BHP REVITALISES ITS GLOBAL MANAGEMENT,"
Business Review Weekly, April 17 1995, page 24-26.
BHP is setting up the required management to handle a rapid global expansion.
They have done this by appointing a network of regional corporate
representatives and a corporate general manager, international.
Representing BHP across the world, these managers will facilitate new
developments, and assist global expansion. This overseas focus of expansion
requires new systems and processes, to take on projects in different countries
around the world.
BHP has taken advice from other companies, that have expanded outside their home
countries, also background advice from consulting firms. BHP have taken this
advice, and created a management model to suit their operations.
By providing regional representatives to deal with governments, bureaucracies
and coordinators of cross divisional activities, this model expects BHP to be
able to find expansion opportunities. Particularly where opportunities exist
that involve more than one divisional group.
An example of this is BHP Power, which develops power stations using the most
appropriate energy source for the circumstances. Power is an independent group,
drawing on the skills of the Mining and Petroleum divisions where necessary.
The company is looking at other possible new businesses, that are natural
developments of the company's existing businesses, in the same way Power has
evolved from Petroleum and Mining. One of these is Manufacturing, using the
skills developed in the Steel division.
In 15 years BHP has gone from being a dom ...