Anybody with some management experience will tell you that chasing the lead and being the leader are two quite different things, and staying ahead often means that the strategies you used to get there, no longer work.
Driving the BMW Malaysia charge is Managing Director, Alan Harris. A BMW veteran with extensive time in Asia, Harris is more than aware of the challenges of being market leader having served as President of BMW Japan in his previous posting. We were able to catch up with him on the sides of the recently concluded BMW World event in Kuala Lumpur.
In this short interview, Harris gave us his point of view on BMW’s new trajectory and why he feels confident that the brand will be able to hold its own. He was also candid (as candid as a foreign CEO can be) about what Malaysia could do to “improve” the automotive industry.