TOPdesk: The struggles of cross-cultural leadership

Vesna Frings, Tristan Bonafous, Florence Den Hartog, Marijne Ruijters

Research output: Memorandum/expositionTeaching caseAcademic

Abstract

This case illustrates the challenges of cross-cultural leadership when a company opens a new subsidiary in a foreign country. Students are confronted with the example of a Dutch company, TOPdesk - a service management developer. The case is situated when they are in the process of opening an office in Sao Paula, Brazil and consequently having difficulty in acquiring personnel. The situation highlights a clash between corporate and country culture and students are motivated to think about the interaction between national and corporate culture, and the implications of differences therein. Possible solutions are looked in to from a Human Resource perspective, but the case is also useful for leadership students.
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages13
Project No. 421-0008-1
Publication statusPublished - 2021
Externally publishedYes

Publication series

SeriesRSM Case Development Centre
Number 421-0008-1

Bibliographical note

Based on field research
Follow the 'handle' link to access the Case Study on RePub.
For EUR staff members: the Teaching Note is available on request, you can contact us at rsm.nl/cdc/contact/
For external users: follow the link to purchase the Case Study and the Teaching Note.

Series

  • RSM Case Development Centre

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'TOPdesk: The struggles of cross-cultural leadership'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this