【彭蒙惠英语】“通用磨坊”迈向全球化(1/2)
General Mills Goes Global(1/2)
General Mills'employees are making moves from one country to another
The kids were scrambling. The bags were still being packed. The Martinezes looked like a typical family about to go on vacation. Only this time, the trip was not all play. Ivan Martinez had taken a new job with General Mills that required his family to move to Mexico City, trading Minnesota for the Zona Rosa so he can market breakfast cereal throughout Latin America. The family's new adventure is part of the company's rising use of an international sales force to find growth in the global economy, pushing breakfast cereal out to the markets where Wheaties are a foreign food.
It's a lucrative bet---about 20 percent of the company's sales in its most recent year were from markets outside of the United States---and one that should get better with time.
More employees going international
General Mills' international focus has sharpened in recent months. New CEO Ken Powell spent most of his career outside the United States. At least half of his senior team have international management experience. And right there in the annual report this year was the company's new mantra: "We are a global consumer foods company."
The company anticipates that within five years, a majority of its employees will be foreign nationals, up from just 4 percent six years ago. This year had a 46 percent rise over the previous year in the number of employees making moves from one country to another.
The moves are occurring in all directions. Far every Ivan Martinez, there's someone Iike Juliana Chugg, who performed so well for the company in her native Australia that she was awarded a prestigious job at the Golden Valley, Minnesota, headquarters: president of Pillsbury USA. There are even folks such as Colombian Luis Gabriel Merizalde, a rising star in Latin America, recently promoted to manage the Company's Australia and New Zealand business.
Vocabulary Focus
scramble (v)--- to move quickly, but with difficulty
push (v)--- to advertise something repeatedly in order to increase its sales
lucrative (adj)--- producing a lot of money, especially in a business or job
foreign national (n phr)--- any person living in a county who is a citizen or does not currently have the right to live as a permanent resident in that country
rising star (n phr)--- a person who is likely to become successful
