Foundations Of Global Business

In the past three decades a number of important changes have made international business more complex and exciting. The rapid and continuous changes in information and communications technology (ITC), reduced trade barriers among countries, and regionalization have increased the links and dependency among firms from various countries. This has created opportunities for increasing expansion to new markets and increasing global integration while simultaneously posing many challenges. This book views international business as a complex and integrated system and takes a systems approach to study and analyze the changes thus enabling readers to assess global business opportunities and risk in a comprehensive and integral manner. The topics presented in this book allow practitioners, scholars, and students of international business to have a broad understanding of the most relevant issues in a changing international environment.

Verbeke provides a new perspective on international business strategy by combining analytical rigour and true managerial insight on the functioning of large multinational enterprises (MNEs). With unique commentary on 48 seminal articles published in the Harvard Business Review, the Sloan Management Review and the California Management Review over the past three decades, Verbeke shows how these can be applied to real businesses engaged in international expansion programmes, especially as they venture into high-distance markets. The second edition has been thoroughly updated and features greater coverage of emerging markets with a new chapter and seven new cases. Suited for advanced undergraduates and graduate courses, students will benefit from updated case studies and improved learning features, including 'management takeaways', key lessons that can be applied to MNEs and a wide range of online resources.

A thoroughly revised and updated edition of a textbook for graduate students in finance, with new coverage of global financial institutions. This thoroughly revised and updated edition of a widely used textbook for graduate students in finance now provides expanded coverage of global financial institutions, with detailed comparisons of U.S. systems with non-U.S. systems. A focus on the actual practices of financial institutions prepares students for real-world problems. After an introduction to financial markets and market participants, including asset management firms, credit rating agencies, and investment banking firms, the book covers risks and asset pricing, with a new overview of risk; the structure of interest rates and interest rate and credit risks; the fundamentals of primary and secondary markets; government debt markets, with new material on non-U.S. sovereign debt markets; corporate funding markets, with new coverage of small and medium enterprises and entrepreneurial ventures; residential and commercial real estate markets; collective investment vehicles, in a chapter new to this edition; and financial derivatives, including financial futures and options, interest rate derivatives, foreign exchange derivatives, and credit risk transfer vehicles such as credit default swaps. Each chapter begins with learning objectives and ends with bullet point takeaways and questions.

The globalization of the competitive landscape has forced companies to fundamentally rethink their strategies. Whereas once only a few industries such as oil could be labeled truly global, today many-from pharmaceuticals to aircraft to computers-have become global in scale and scope. As a consequence, creating a global competitive advantage has become a key strategic issue for many companies. Crafting a global strategy requires making decisions about which strategy elements can and should be globalized and to what extent.

The principal message of this book is that international financial enterprises must be reoriented towards funding productive activities rather than potentially destabilizing speculation. The effects of financial sector operations are addressed with serious warnings that the dangers of speculative destabilization are increasing as regulatory and market discipline gradually weakens. The Structural Foundations of International Finance examines the ways in which national economies, especially those of industrialized countries, are affected by the operations of international financial markets. Although these markets provide productive funding, there is also much speculative trading in stocks and currencies which can cause booms, slumps and hinder recovery. The authors advocate entrepreneurial coordination by productive enterprises for balanced and stable growth, with reduced risks of financial crises and recessions.

Political and Economic Foundations in Global Studies provides an innovative introductory examination of the global forces shaping the world today, seen through political and economic lenses. Along with its companion, Social and Cultural Foundations in Global Studies, the book exposes students to the historical contours of, and the key concepts and processes that underlie, the interconnections among individuals, societies, organizations, and governments. As in the rest of Routledge’s Global Studies series, the Foundations books employ a two-part strategy: conceptual underpinnings explored in the first part are enlivened by case studies in the second. Special features magnify the utility of the text: • Text boxes are employed to expand and emphasize specific material: they are used to open up the coverage to related topics or to call attention to especially critical material, such as historical milestones or key vocabulary. • Resource boxes offer links that point readers to sources—mostly online—on the topics discussed and establish a rich archive of additional material for readers to draw on. • At the same time, back-of-chapter References and Further Research lists help students to trace the material used by authors or to follow more general leads relating to the topics covered in the chapters. • Images highlight specific details of the case studies, helping to bring the subjects alive.