Making It as a Multinational University: Be Prepared for a Bumpy Ride

"If your destination is to go international in a big way, business officers who are taking the trip have some news for you: Be prepared for a bumpy ride." The authors of this article, Hal Irvin and Robert Thompson, have been deeply involved with the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta's major overseas initiatives and provide some thoughtful lessons learned, shared as lists of bulleted "Key questions"—each followed by a narrative "Key thought." For example:

LEADERSHIP. You will have to think carefully about the characteristics that will be most important for leadership success in a start-up operation.

Key questions

• Is the champion leading the charge on campus the right person to take the leadership role in your new location?
• If you have no one on your campus to assume a leadership role and have to hire someone from outside permanently for your new effort, how will you ensure that the new person translates your organizational culture to the new setting?
• How long do you expect the leader to serve overseas?
• Will you need to provide the leader a better incentive package than the rest of the team at the new location?
• Key thought

The ability to connect to local business and government leaders is paramount. The ideal candidate would combine excellent people skills, a strong drive to excel, the adaptability to look for a solution from multiple angles, some experience in leading a team, and a thorough understanding of the culture where he or she will work (including fluency in the local language). Because we are a research institution, we prefer a leader with a strong research portfolio. If the individual is not from the country where we wish to locate, he or she must be well connected in some way—preferably through collaborative research efforts in the proposed location. The candidate's chances for success, as well as yours, increase to the extent that the individual already possesses strong relationships in your new locale.