The company had more than 800 subsidiaries and affiliates, and although we did the same thing in our respective countries, there was little synergy between our information systems.

I mentioned this to the CIO and asked him if I could lead an effort to bring these groups together in a non-threatening way. Previously, turf battles had prevented any substantial results.

He agreed, and I started off by hiring a well-connected agitator from the overseas headquarters of our parent company.

We had meetings several times a year, agreeing on many issues of mutual benefit. In particular, we re-negotiated contracts so they would apply to all of the companies together. The increased buying power resulted in tremendous cost savings.

Another benefit was networking -- we linked our email and web systems together to foster communications.

The parent company has noticed the success of this "everyone wins" approach and may expand it worldwide.

Technical exchange in progress.