Cross-Border Growth Is Change Management in Disguise: Lessons from the Field

Introduction

Some time back, I was advising a midsized Indian tech firm planning to expand into the Netherlands. Their product was solid, their strategy well thought-out, and their initial reception promising. But just six months in, the local team felt isolated, decision-making slowed, and what began with excitement gradually spiralled into confusion.

It wasn’t a market failure. It was an internal misfire—a classic change management issue hiding beneath the surface.

Since then, I’ve seen this story repeat itself across industries—from pharma and chemicals to EV and SaaS. As companies cross borders, they assume the biggest challenge lies in regulations or client acquisition. But more often, it’s about internal transformation. And unless you manage that change, global growth will likely stumble.

This post draws on my fieldwork with companies navigating this transition. Think of it less as advice and more as shared learning—grounded in the idea that expanding globally isn’t just a strategic move. It’s a people move.

International Expansion = Organisational Change

We often frame international expansion as a growth strategy. New markets, new clients, more revenue. But in practice, it plays out more like a transformation project.

Because the moment a company steps across borders, everything shifts—from how teams collaborate to how decisions are made.

Change management is a structured approach to how we prepare, equip, and support individuals to adopt change and transition to new ways of working.

Think about what’s actually changing:

• New geographies mean new regulations, time zones, and hiring practices.
• New clients bring different expectations around product features, pricing, and service levels.
• New internal structures emerge—suddenly, HQ isn’t where all decisions happen, and local teams need autonomy to act fast.

These aren’t operational tweaks. They’re structural and behavioural changes. And unless your people are prepared, aligned, and supported through that shift, even the best expansion strategy will feel like pushing a square peg through a round hole.

In one project I supported, a services firm from India opened an EU sales office within three months of their first European deal. On paper, it looked ambitious and focused. But they hadn’t aligned their internal teams—marketing was still speaking to an Indian buyer persona, legal hadn’t mapped data privacy requirements, and the domestic sales head resisted “losing control” to a new region. The result? Confusion, miscommunication, and a quietly shelved expansion six months later.

That’s when I began treating international growth as a change management challenge first and a market entry challenge second.

Because if you’re entering a new region without preparing your people to evolve with it, your global plans might stall before they even start

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These aren’t abstract ideas. I’ve seen these challenges play out in the field—where strategic moves like mergers or building a global delivery centre stumble, not because of flawed strategy, but because people weren’t ready for the change.

Let me share two areas where this becomes most visible: cross-border M&A and Global Capability Centres (GCCs). Both are common pathways to international growth. And both reveal how much of global expansion is actually internal transformation in disguise.

🤝 Change Management in Mergers & Acquisitions

In my work with Indian firms in IT, pharma, and EV sectors, M&A is increasingly the go-to strategy for global entry. But both sides—Indian promoters and foreign partners—face frustration. One moves too fast; the other feels too bureaucratic. It’s not about strategy—it’s about change readiness.

Real-World Lessons:

• Cultural fit is critical. According to McKinsey, 70–90% of M&As underperform, often due to cultural misalignment.
• Integration champions help. According to Harvard Business Review, companies that build integration leadership forums with leaders from both merging organisations tend to reduce friction and build cohesion faster
• Communication starts early. When Tata Realty merged three geographically and culturally distinct companies, they implemented a centralised, mobile-friendly communications platform before the public announcement,—resulting in 70% employee signups within 24 hours.
• Define decision rights early. Post-merger ambiguity often stems from unclear authority. Bain’s integration studies highlight that clarifying operating models early prevents bottlenecks and confusion.
• Momentum matters. PwC found that companies with a structured “first 100-day plan” retained more employees and hit synergy goals faster. Quick wins help stabilise teams during uncertain transitions.
  

In cross-border deals, the success metric isn’t just valuation—it’s velocity. And that requires treating integration not as a checklist, but as a human-led change process.

🏢 Change Management in Global Capability Centres (GCCs)

India now hosts over 1800 Global Capability Centres (GCCs)—from R&D and product engineering hubs to AI centres and customer success teams. But while the scale is impressive, performance is uneven. Building a GCC isn’t the hard part. Integrating it into the global fabric—and enabling it to lead change—is.

Key Lessons from the Field

• Cultural fluency is non-negotiable.
  Many GCCs operate in complex cross-border setups where global headquarters expect seamless execution—but don’t always adapt their own ways of working. Friction arises when decisions are bottlenecked or communication styles clash. As SRKay Consulting notes, “GCCs face productivity bottlenecks from clashes between global standardization and regional work styles,” making cultural integration a strategic lever, not an afterthought.²
• Role clarity matters.
  GCCs thrive when there’s a shared understanding of what they own versus what they support. Without that, they risk becoming “task factories”—efficient, but under-leveraged. In its coverage of transformation-focused GCCs, PAC’s research found that successful centres are empowered to drive product thinking, innovation, and even co-own business outcomes—not just perform delegated tasks.
• Communication rhythms create alignment.
  Weekly sprints, transparent OKRs, and structured handoffs across time zones go a long way in building mutual accountability. Workpath Magazine points out that OKRs “reveal dependencies, clarify roles, and boost ownership across distributed teams”, especially in agile, cross-functional setups. When used consistently, these rhythms reduce ambiguity and build execution muscle.

Zinnov’s 2025 India GCC report highlights that structured onboarding and early engagement strategies are emerging as key drivers in reducing “infant attrition” across multiple GCCs. This supports similar logic, though without the exact 20% figure.

Despite the talent advantage, many GCCs still fall short of their strategic potential. A 2025 BCG report reveals that only 8% of Indian GCCs have truly advanced into hubs of innovation, agility, and competitive differentiation. Most remain stuck in transactional execution—constrained not by capability, but by legacy structures and lack of empowerment.

Everest Group reinforces this, noting that overcentralised decision-making and weak local governance are persistent blockers to transformation. These aren’t technology issues—they are classic change management gaps. Without shared leadership, empowered teams, and deliberate integration strategies, even the most well-funded GCCs can stagnate.

Six Practical Steps to Managing Change When Going Global

There are many frameworks—from Kotter’s 8-Step Process and Lewin’s Model to ADKAR. For this post, I’m using a six-step approach adapted from Vicki Hart’s change management course. It’s direct, field-tested, and works well in cross-border settings.

✅ 1. Define the Case for Change

Start with why.
Make sure your teams—not just your board or investors—understand the purpose behind expansion. What are you solving for? What happens if you don’t expand?

✅ 2. Align Leadership

Get all senior leaders aligned on the goals, timelines, and expectations. Without alignment at the top, the rest of the organisation will hesitate or resist.

✅ 3. Engage Stakeholders Across Levels

Expansion affects more than just leadership. Identify and involve frontline teams, support functions, and local partners. The more involved they are early on, the smoother the transition.

✅ 4. Understand Your Culture—and Theirs

Every market brings a different way of working. Without cultural awareness, well-meaning teams can misread each other. Use tools like Hofstede’s Dimensions or Erin Meyer’s Culture Map to build mutual understanding.

✅ 5. Communicate—More Than You Think You Need To

During change, silence creates anxiety. Establish communication channels that are timely, honest, and ongoing. Regular updates, FAQs, AMAs, and shared dashboards go a long way.

✅ 6. Build New Capabilities, Not Just New Markets

Expansion requires new tools, mindsets, and workflows. Equip your people to work across cultures, use new systems, and engage with different customer behaviours. Even short training programmes can create a big difference.

The Case Against Change Management: A Healthy Skepticism

Change management has its critics. Some argue it’s too soft; others that it’s overrated. The often-quoted “70% of change initiatives fail” stat lacks solid data, and yes—change fatigue is real.

But done right, structured change efforts have consistently shown better outcomes. According to Prosci’s 2022 report, organisations that apply strong change practices are six times more likely to meet their objectives.

The goal isn’t to make things overly complicated. It’s to help people adapt with clarity and support—so they can move with the strategy, not against it.

🚧 Common Pitfalls in Cross-Border Change Management

Even the best expansion strategies falter when change is poorly managed. Here are some of the most common challenges I’ve seen:

1. Treating Expansion as a Side Project
2. Underestimating Cultural Friction
3. Leadership Misalignment
4. Ignoring Middle Management
5. Inadequate Onboarding for Global Teams
6. Assuming Communication Happens on Its Own

Tip: Treat expansion as a transformation. Align roles. Overcommunicate. Celebrate small wins.

Final Reflection — Change Is the Real Work

In every international project I’ve worked on—from strategy and partnerships to M&A—I’ve realised: global expansion is as much about people as it is about numbers.

My role isn’t to run change programmes. But I work closely with leaders who do. I help them ask better questions:

• Is your team ready for this move?
• Have you created space for change—or just a plan on paper?

Companies that slow down to prepare their people tend to move forward faster—and stay there.

Thanks for reading. If you’re working on something similar or thinking about going global, I’d be happy to connect.