Corning Glass Works International has seen a major rise since its birth. It expanded from strength to strength over the decades, providing products in the United States and later to all over the world. The pioneer products were entirely glass-made but, diversification made it possible for other products to be manufactured here. All through, as indicated in the case study, it has faced many challenges mainly in the management and coordination areas. According to the president of the company, coordination of the parent company and the oversea divisions has faced a lot of huddlers throughout the history. Due to this, the business has not yet achieved its maximum potential in the global operations.

For 125 years, the company has been in operation but changed only owing to the expansion of the business. The president and the chairman are the two highest ranked personalities in it and have implemented a number of modifications to the management, but with little successes to it. Parent company, Corning Glass Works (CGW), had an international organization, which gained legal entity in 1971. It changed to Corning Intentional Corporation that was meant to facilitate international divisional managers with equal responsibilities as parent company divisional managers. Senior managers at home and the international corporation managers never got to enjoy the similar importance regarding the operations of this trade. Lack of proper communication between the two made it even harder for the business making it a bigger problem. These two levels needed to be well stipulated to ensure each had similar responsibilities that geared towards a single goal.

In facilitating a well-managed business, all the staff, managers and members, must know what they are hired to do. In Corning Company, regional companies had their managers who were required to coordinate and report to the president in the United States. This was a wise move by the business management and facilitated coordination between the two. Product divisional managers in the parent company had the same mandate but enjoyed more responsibilities and successes than the CIC managers. CIC was implemented to ensure that international managers used their positions fully to maximize the potential of the company. A separate legal entity was meant to facilitate this, but limited powers, lack of expertise and responsibilities made it unachievable. Moreover, lack of proper channels and levels of communication made coordination with CIC more difficult since area managers infrequently contacted divisional managers. Later modifications as indicated in the case study did the company no good and a new strategy is needed to revive the company’s management and coordination.

A successful international business must ensure that coordination between all the branches is harmonized. In Corning case, this was a major problem since the various regions are not well coordinated. Managers in CICs had problems in assuming similar responsibilities to the CGW divisional managers. Problems like this can be attributed to many issues ranging from personal in- competencies to other technical matters. According to O’Rourke (285), most managers fail in their duties due to international duties due to lack of foreign style of thinking rather than technical incompetence. In Corning case, the president should have ensured that all the CIC managers had what it took to be managers in international business. Enough exposure and experience in international business should be paramount in appointing any manager to undertake a position in an oversea office as a manager.

A well-laid communication channel and levels are also considered as a prime thing in ensuring the company is well coordinated. Thill and Bovee (34), in their book stressed the need of effective communication channels and abilities in an international setting. The flow information in any business is core to making sure it survives or fails. In Corning, information flow was clumsy with CIC managers being not in a position to air their views to the regional managers effectively for considerations. As to the case study, most of the communication happened below or above manager’s level. This can be detrimental in information flow in any business considering the importance of a manager in any business. Protocols and the right channels must be in place to stipulate who reports to whom, which makes information flow freely and to the right personnel within the required time.

A well spelled out structure and responsibilities is also important in making sure that coordination is at its highest level in the company. According to Harzing and Anne (40), a defined structure and each post responsibilities are a boost in enhancing job specialty that in turn makes management easier. Corning company lacked a clear guideline on its structure and the responsibilities of each. In the management specifically, after the first modification failure, a new strategy employed after brought in Business managers who had no clear responsibilities.

Ferner (531) stipulates that, a clear, centralized command also works wonders in maintaining the coordination of any business. Corning company had a centralized management but with not well spelled and maintained. CIC managers were supposed to report to the regional managers prior to communicating to the president. In big companies, this tends to bring in bureaucracy and clumsiness, which hinders the operations of any business. A simple, centralized command area would be more preferred where local managers report to regional managers who then inform the president of the parent company.

In conclusion, Corning Company should implement a managerial strategy that ensures that all the managers are well educated and have enough expertise in the world business. Also, structures and responsibilities should be clearly stated to ensure harmonization in all the activities of the business.