Culture and International Business


Book Description

Management strategies to help you profit in the international realm! What is the most effective way to help an expatriate employee learn to function in the host country? How well do we understand the formation and performance of multinational alliances? Should you threaten to sue your Chinese distributor, or is friendliness a better tactic? These questions are among the issues tackled in Culture and International Business, a practical look at a complex topic. Increasingly, corporations and businesses are transnational or multinational in scope and culture in a way that was unimaginable a generation ago. Employees may be assigned to work overseas or deal with customers, suppliers, distributors, or factories across the globe. Even in domestic offices, employees from several different countries may work side by side. If you want your business to prosper in this new global economy, you must understand the effects of cultural differences on business practices or else risk making costly, potentially disastrous errors. Culture and International Business offers practical ideas and tested research on such vital topics of concern as: defining the moral, ethical, and legal implications of multicultural management attracting and retaining key personnel persuading employees in the host country to mentor an expatriate overcoming divisive cultural differences working within the guanxi relationship networks of China creating sustainable development strategies becoming aware of different attitudes toward change, gender, and risk-taking A genuinely multinational effort, the seven chapters of Culture and International Business were written by authors representing five nations on three continents. This important book is designed to help you understand a wide range of issues from several geographic areas that affect everyone doing business in the new global economy.




Cultural Spaces in International Business


Book Description

Culture studies in international business are passing through difficult times of scrutiny and critique. This is due to the fact that the paradigms, approaches, and methods used so far to study culture have been limited in their scope. For several decades now, approaches that consider national cultures and geo-ethnic origins of interacting individuals have dominated management literature. This book distinguishes itself from other books on Culture in International Business (CIB) studies in two important ways. First, it illustrates how Mary Douglas’s Cultural Theory framework (referred to commonly as DCF) can be used to explore different aspects of international business. This sets the stage for future scholars to consider DCF as an alternative tool of cultural sense-making as opposed to limiting themselves to categorical frameworks grounded in static notions of national and/or corporate culture. The second unique feature is that it focuses on the complexities of the applied side of culture (i.e., it takes a culture-in-practice perspective), while simultaneously emphasizing the dynamicity and diversity of culture. The book concludes by offering suggestions for the future of CIB studies. This domain, it predicts, may witness significant changes in the way culture is seen as influencing workplace relations. It also identifies other areas on which CIB scholars may need to focus attention in the future: culture in an increasingly digitalized world, culture and the organization as a system, and culture and the intelligent/knowledgeable organization. It will be of interest to researchers, academics, and students in the fields of cross-cultural management, international business, human resource management.




Transnational Business Cultures


Book Description

This volume explores how the idea of 'culture' is used and exploited by transnational managers to further their own ambitions and their companies' strategies for expansion. It thus provides a more complex picture of culture than has previously been presented in business studies, in that it deals with the strategic value of culture within organizations rather than viewing it as a neutral concept and, through using qualitative methodologies, gives us a full picture of the lived experience of culture in a multinational corporation. It also considers the impact of global corporate activity on both national and organizational cultures, as well as looking specifically at the ways in which communications technology is used as a site of conflict and negotiation in business. This book will be an invaluable resource for both researchers and professionals, yielding important new insights into the roles of local and global cultures in the operation of transnational corporations.




International Business and Culture


Book Description

International Business and Culture: Challenges in Cross-Cultural Marketing and Management explores the intricate relationship between culture and business, offering valuable insights for both practitioners and scholars. The authors delve into the profound impact of cultural dimensions on various aspects of international business, marketing, human resource management, and organisational structure. They examine the theoretical frameworks underpinning these studies through a meticulous narrative literature review and case studies. The significance of understanding cultural influences on business decisions becomes paramount in an increasingly interconnected world. The book addresses challenges faced by companies operating across diverse cultures, emphasising the need for adaptation in international marketing and management. Based on practical examples, the research focuses on identifying the most culturally sensitive areas in international business and explores the crucial cultural determinants influencing engagement with foreign markets. The book's theoretical background spans international business, marketing, and management, and it is intertwined with cultural concepts from Hofstede and Hall. It consists of 16 chapters covering marketing and communication strategies across cultures, cultural aspects of international business and cross-cultural management based on practical examples of Duracell, Inc., PepsiCo, Volkswagen, VELUX Group, and Amica Group, among others. The book highlights the undeniable interconnectedness of culture and business. As businesses expand internationally, the symbiotic relationship between culture and business remains a pivotal factor influencing success and growth.




The Culture Map


Book Description

An international business expert helps you understand and navigate cultural differences in this insightful and practical guide, perfect for both your work and personal life. Americans precede anything negative with three nice comments; French, Dutch, Israelis, and Germans get straight to the point; Latin Americans and Asians are steeped in hierarchy; Scandinavians think the best boss is just one of the crowd. It's no surprise that when they try and talk to each other, chaos breaks out. In The Culture Map, INSEAD professor Erin Meyer is your guide through this subtle, sometimes treacherous terrain in which people from starkly different backgrounds are expected to work harmoniously together. She provides a field-tested model for decoding how cultural differences impact international business, and combines a smart analytical framework with practical, actionable advice.




Managing Cultural Differences


Book Description

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.




The Global Business Culture Guide


Book Description

The book explains fundamental aspects of global business interactions and discusses cultural influences on values, attitudes, expectations and practices. Most importantly, it gives country-specific advice on what to do, expect, and avoid in order to conduct business successfully in any of 50 countries around the world.




Cultural Aspects of International Business


Book Description

The main objective of this textbook is to show cultural aspects and their influence of conducting business internationally. The authors aimed at providing information which can be useful in the process of making business decisions by taking into consideration the existing cultural diversification. This is why the theoretical discourse is accompanied by numerous examples, bringing to the book also a practical dimension. The book is addressed to a wide circle of readers – those interested in the phenomena occurring in the world economy and the dimensions of contemporary culture, as well as students of international business relations. It may also interest entrepreneurs, both those already present in international markets, and those who are at the planning stage of such future activities.




Global Business Management


Book Description

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.




Human Rights in Transnational Business


Book Description

This book investigates how human rights law can be applied to corporate entities. To date there have been insufficient international legal mechanisms to bring corporations to justice for their misconduct abroad. The book argues that rather than trying to solve the problem locally, an international approach to corporate human rights compliance needs to be sought to prevent future corporate human rights abuses. Implementing effective and enforceable human rights compliance policies at corporate level allows businesses to prevent negative human rights impacts such as loss of revenue, high litigation costs and damage to reputation. By considering human rights to be an inherent part of their business strategy, corporations will be well equipped to meet national and regional business and human rights standards, which will inevitably be implemented in the next few years. This approach, in turn, also furthers the fundamental aim of international human rights law.