Coats Indonesia: Leadership challenges in an unfamiliar culture (70%) (1-
page limit):
Anurag Bhatt (AB), Managing Director of Coats Indonesia, was on a flight from Bangalore to
Singapore on his way to Jakarta after a vacation. On the flight, he was reflecting on an issue that
he had encountered just before the vacation but not yet addressed. It would definitively be one of
the first issues he would have to handle on his return. An effort to fill a senior position, Head of
the Procurement, currently occupied by an expatriate, had not been received with enthusiasm by
those who seemed to have the potential to take the role. One-on-one conversations with the
potential candidates had not helped as each one suggested the name of another person as more
suitable for the role. He had faced similar difficulties in recruiting Indonesians to occupy other
senior roles. Nothing in his past experience helped him understand how these people were
unwilling to accept an opportunity for career growth. One of the goals that had been assigned to
him as he accepted his current role was to reduce the number of expatriates in senior ranks in
Coats Indonesia. This was not feasible unless local managers were willing to rise to the occasion.
He needed a way to address the lack of enthusiasm among managers in Coats Indonesia to take
on positions with greater responsibility. He had some ideas, based on the short experience in the
country, but was willing to get inputs from anyone who might have a better understanding of the
drivers of behavior of Indonesians in general and managers in particular.
Please read the following documents before continuing with the questions:
· Study case: "Coats Indonesia: Leadership challenges in an unfamiliar culture" (part of
Harvard Publishing cases you had to acquire for the course)
· Meyer (2017) Leading teams: Being the boss in Brussels, Boston, and Beijing (available in
the folder "Exam" in Canvas)
· Irawanto et al. (2011) Challenge of leading in Javanese culture. Asian Ethnicity (available in
the folder "Exam" in Canvas)
After reading the three documents above and based on the course lectures, please respond to the
following questions:
1. How is the national culture in Indonesia? How such culture is inhibiting the Indonesian
managers from enthusiastically making a strong case for their own candidacy for the position
of Head of Procurement and encouraging them to suggest the suitability of other candidates?
(35%)
2. Based on your response to question 1 above, What should Anurag Bhatt do to get out of this
impasse? (35%)
