International Business Strategy And Cross Cultural Management

This comprehensive yet accessible textbook provides readers with an advanced and applied approach to traditional international business that integrates key cross-cultural management topics. Its ten chapters give profound insights into analysing, selecting and entering international markets, strategic partnerships, strategic positioning, global value chains, organizational designs, intercultural interaction, leadership and motivation and international human resources management. For each of these topics, advanced and contemporary theoretical and analytical frameworks are discussed and translated into toolsets that will assist readers in solving practical challenges.

All cultures appear to share the belief that they do things ‘correctly’, while others, until proven otherwise, are assumed to be ignorant or barbaric. When people from different cultures work together and cannot take shared meanings for granted, managers face serious challenges. An individual’s parsing of an experience and its meaning may vary according to several cultural scales – national, professional, industrial and local. Awareness of cultural differences and the willingness to view them as a positive are therefore crucial assets. This edited textbook sets itself apart from existing cross-cultural management texts by highlighting to the reader the need to avoid both ethnocentrism and the belief in the universality of his or her own values and ways of thinking: the success of international negotiations and intercultural management depends on such openness and acceptance of real differences. It encourages the development of ‘nomadic intelligence’ and the creative use of a culture’s resources, according to a symbolic anthropology perspective. Through the essays and case studies in the chapters, readers will become aware of the intercultural dimension of business activities and better understand how they affect work. Cross-Cultural Management will help interested parties – students of business management, international relations and other disciplines, and business managers and other professionals – develop their ability to interact, take action and give direction in an intercultural context.

McFarlin and Sweeney provide students with an accessible, application-oriented approach to international management, focusing on key challenges including motivation, leadership, and communication across cultural boundaries. The book gives students a global perspective on the process of hiring, training, and developing employees, as well as strategic decision making in relation to foreign markets. Questions, case studies, examples of creative problem solving, and testimonials from real-world managers operating in the international arena are just a few of the tactics McFarlin and Sweeney use to help students begin to think about applied theory on a global level. All chapters have been updated with recent articles from leading business sources and academic journals, and new case studies have been incorporated.

ÔPrimecz, Romani, and Sackmann provide managers and educators with a powerful framework that goes beyond simple categorization of national and cultural differences in business. Their framework of negotiated meaning systems, and the rich cases that illustrate the Òin-the-momentÓ experiences of global managers as they conduct business in culturally unfamiliar milieus provide managers and educators with a powerful tool for developing global managerial skills. This is a book every global manager and cross-cultural educator should have on his or her bookshelf.Õ Ð Mark E. Mendenhall, University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, US ÔThis is a unique, alternative view of culture that has both practical and theoretical significance. The creative analysis of cases from around the world moves the field beyond the sophisticated stereotyping that can result from relying solely on cultural value dimensions to decode interactions. The cases address significant cross-cultural issues, providing useful lessons and richer perspectives on culture.Õ Ð Joyce Osland, San JosŽ State University, US ÔThis book is an excellent collection of practical and useful cases in cross-cultural management, with some that are very different from what we would call ÒtraditionalÓ cases in cross-cultural management. They are excellent teaching material with an introduction and a conclusion that show students and practitioners how meanings are negotiated in diverse and complex cross-cultural situations.Õ Ð Marie-Therese Claes, Louvain School of Management, Belgium ÔA fascinating book for both the diversity of cultures that are touched upon (from Asia and Africa to Europe and America) and the cultural analyses that are made of various management situations resulting from the transfer of management techniques across countries or the encountering of those embedded in different cultures.Õ Ð Philippe dÕIribarne, CNRS, France ÔA group of multidisciplinary authors from various countries and cultures bring rich experience to this volume. The focus on real-life situations offers a fresh perspective on culture in organizations and management through in-depth case studies including both academic and pedagogical sides. It addresses multi-level cross-cultural issues of international strategic importance for globalizing workplaces. This insightful book is excellent reading for practitioners as well as scholars and students interested in applications in the field of cross-cultural management.Õ Ð Cordula Barzantny, Toulouse Business School, France ÔThis volume offers an insightful introduction to qualitative field research aiming to understand the dynamics in intercultural business interactions. Based on the findings provided in ten rich cases from Asia, Europe, North Africa, USA and Latin America, the editors also propose strategies for more effective collaboration in challenging multiple-cultures contexts. The authors and editors have succeeded in transforming the field studies into cases that are stimulating and thought provoking readings, both for practitioners and students of cross-cultural management.Õ Ð Anne-Marie S¿derberg, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark Based on the view that culture is dynamic and negotiated between actors, this groundbreaking book contains a collection of ten cases on cross-cultural management in practice. The cases draw on field research revealing challenges and insights from working across nations and cultures. Each case provides recommendations for practitioners that are developed into a framework for effective intercultural interactions as well as offering illustrations and insights on how to handle actual cross-cultural issues. This enriching book covers various topics including international collaborations across and within multinational companies, organizational culture in international joint ventures and knowledge transfer. Based on empirical fieldwork and qualitative analyses, this path-breaking book will appeal to graduate and postgraduate students in international management as well as practitioners.

This new eighth edition provides a leading edge text that provides insight for interacting with other cultures, working on cross-cultural teams and provides a framework for building long-lasting relationships in a diverse global business environment.

This book interweaves the concepts of the guidance on globalization, international management, and the intricacies of international business that many books on the market treat independently. It clarifies and explains culture, cultural misunderstandings, and cross-cultural interactions. Adekola and Sergi's text is unique in that it offers both the management perspective and the cultural perspective. It is for managers seeking to thrive in the global economy. This book focuses on managing global organizations, providing a basis for understanding the influence of culture on international management, and the key roles that international managers play. It clearly shows how to develop the cross-cultural expertise essential to succeed in a world of rapid and profound economic, political and cultural changes.

Breakthrough findings and approaches on how to successfully execute global corporate alliances across cultural differences. Based on an innovative 5-year research at The Wharton School, combining academic rigor and the pragmatic insight from recognized industry leaders around the world.