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Case Study

Global growth at Irdeto (A): Overcoming the mothership syndrome

By Cyril Bouquet, Aimee DuBrule and Julian Birkinshaw

9 pages

April 2010

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Reference: IMD-3-2089

Graham Kill, CEO of Irdeto, reflected on the 11 years he had spent in The Netherlands since first joining Irdeto, a medium-sized player in media content security. He felt proud of the company’s accomplishments: In a market dominated by large, integrated competitors and specialized local companies, Irdeto had become the world’s third-largest independent provider of conditional access (CA) solutions, with a presence in over 60 countries by the end of 2006. Graham’s thoughts shifted to the conclusions of a recent strategic planning session conducted with the rest of his team. He was concerned that the company’s Holland-based headquarters was reinforcing a European perspective that limited its ability to act locally. The company’s “center of gravity” was too far removed from key growth regions to make swift, informed decisions. It was time to make some significant changes in the organization.

Learning Objective

Discuss different strategic approaches to globalization, how management innovators can differentiate a company in new and unique ways, and how to introduce fundamental changes in a company’s sturcture and mindset to ensure long term success in the global industry.

Keywords

Globalization, Strategy, Change, Management Innovation, General Management

Settings

China
2006-2009

Available Languages

English

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This case study is part of a series

Global growth at Irdeto (A): Overcoming the mothership syndrome
Global growth at Irdeto (B): A dual HQ strategy

This case study is part of a series

Global growth at Irdeto (A): Overcoming the mothership syndrome
Global growth at Irdeto (B): A dual HQ strategy

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