The ability of organisations to cyberconnect is becoming increasingly important for superior performance. Cyberconnecting: The Three Lenses of Diversity by Dr Priya E. Abraham explains how to establish connections across technological, cultural and social boundaries, mirrored in organisations succeeding in today's hybrid business world. Some companies create and innovate technology; others use and adopt it; but in the cyberage, both must closely interconnect tech with human behaviour. Face-to-face and cyber-interactions are at the heart of effective work-based relationships, which in turn increase organisational performance. To build these effective business relations, organisations must foster the discovery muscle - curiosity combined with skills - in individuals. Priya E. Abraham shows how seemingly opposing domains (technology, business anthropology and diversity) best leverage interactions for the benefit of organisation development, using findings from practitioner-focused research conducted when leading complex cross-boundary projects in the telecommunications and mobile learning industries. Tools from business anthropology help uncover people's diverse needs and expectations in a cyberconnected world. Identity portfolios need reflection in development solutions of face-to-face and mobile applications. Solutions uncovered by qualitative research methods help close the gap between human behaviour and tech to engage internal and external stakeholders. The book presents a much-needed strategic framework required for cyberconnecting: 'The Three Lenses of Diversity', designed to organise thinking in the navigation of technological, cultural, and social boundaries.

Family businesses constitute some of the most unique, complex, and dynamic systems in modern society. The blending of the performance-based world of business and the emotion-based domain of the family creates a system potentially fraught with confusion and conflict. The significant rise in immigrant family businesses adds a further level of complexity to this mix. Research into immigrant family businesses has been based on traditional, limited views of entrepreneurship largely ignoring the ethnic and family contexts that create the culture from which entrepreneurship emerges, making it impossible to understand the complex and interdependent relationships between an owning family, its firm, its governance and the community context in which the firm operates. These firms possess features that make their governance a challenging task. They depict a complex stakeholder structure, whereby the ownership stakes are passed from one generation to the next. The owning family's members usually play multiple roles, thereby blurring governance relationships. Governance in Immigrant Family Businesses explores the relationship between ethnic cultural influence in family businesses and its impact on corporate governance, addressing the intertwined influences of contractual, relational and cultural governance mechanisms and sets out a comprehensive theoretical model which clarifies the complexities involved in business planning, family harmony, and ethnic cultural variables. The authors specifically identify the implications for research, education, and practice. Application of their model will be of value to policy makers, consultants, business researchers and educators.

As the era of ever expanding markets and ample resources ends, governments and business will have to behave differently. The world is facing weak economic growth, limits to affordable resources and increasing concerns about environmental consequences. During the boom times, governments championed de-regulation and business responded by adopting an anything-goes attitude. In these straitened times, strategic analysis has to engage with the challenges that society faces to create resilient corporations fit for the 21st century. In Corporate Strategy in the Age of Responsibility, Peter McManners, who has for nine years run strategy workshops on the Henley MBA focusing on the global business environment, sets about providing a strategic framework for navigating the new economic environment. Chief Sustainability Officers (CSOs) now exist, but they struggle to find the strategic rationale for the improvements they champion. The author argues that their good intentions often lack traction, partly because others in management don't get it, but also because they are not ambitious enough. The book is not about preaching semi-charitable behaviour or how to enhance the reputation of the corporation instead it is about surviving and thriving in a challenging and changing environment. A corporate audience familiar with strategy books will relate to this book, but will find it steers them towards radically new strategic thinking suitable for a turbulent period of transition.

Latin America represents one of the most dynamic business regions in the world. Innovation Support in Latin America and Europe explores the need for training innovation professionals, identifies appropriate strategies and best practice for ensuring its delivery, and reflects the outcomes of a major innovation and knowledge transfer project. Academics, business professionals, policy makers, and trade representatives, all contribute to review the literature and existing practices of innovation, and explore the often misunderstood and contested terrain that surrounds innovation theory, policy and practice. In this book you will find a comparative insight into Latin American and European approaches to innovation management and innovation in practice, and an examination of how innovative ideas are exploited for a specifically Latin American context. With chapters which offer insights from both academics and practitioners, the text offers a refreshing, contemporary and trans-national perspective and a clear, concise and enriching discussion on the interplay between research, policy and practice. Innovation Support in Latin America and Europe will appeal to academics and researchers, higher level students, policy makers and business leaders, particularly those with any interest in Latin America.

This book explores the question as to whether the way in which Chinese management handles conflict is fundamentally different from elsewhere or much the same. It does so by examining in detail an international joint venture construction project, where managers rooted in contrasting business systems were brought together, and by showing how the project progressed over time, how various conflict situations arose, and how they were handled. In addition the book provides an in-depth account of the inner workings of the Chinese business world, touching on issues such as: differing international standards and management procedures the peculiarities of Chinese red tape paternalism and nepotism the limits on contract in contemporary China the involvement of local officials. Of interest to scholars and managers alike, this study benefits from the unparalleled access the author secured to all the parties involved. Working alongside managers as a participant observer, Jia Tang uses the fine detail of ethnography to convey a vivid impression the lives of managers in China today and the forces with which they have to contend.

Business firms from the emerging markets of Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe and Latin America are becoming increasingly important players in the global economy. Owned and controlled by indigenous nations these emerging transnational corporations are greatly influenced by the social and institutional contexts of their home countries. As a result of the process of globalization, these corporations are engaged in a diverse range of international operations including the establishment of wholly-owned foreign subsidiaries, to joint ventures and strategic alliances. This authoritative collection sheds new light on the global and regional operations of business firms from emerging markets and shows how the pressures of the competitive global economy help shape the management and organisation of these firms. The Globalization of Business Firms from Emerging Economies presents a comprehensive and authoritative selection of the most important articles and papers on this subject published during the last twenty five years. Drawing on a wide range of sources, it will improve access to an important literature which is crucial to the understanding of a significant new area of international business. The collection will be of particular interest to students, researchers, scholars and practitioners involved in international business, industrial economics and economic geography.

Over the past two decades, the role of business in global governance has become increasingly topical. Transnational business associations are progressively more visible in international policy debates and in intergovernmental institutions, and there is a heightened attention given to global policy-making in national and international business communities.

This text examines and explains the multiple modes of engagement between business and global governance; it presents a variety of theoretical approaches which can be used to analyse them, along with empirical illustrations. Featuring a range of leading US and European scholars, it is divided into three parts that summarize different modes of engagement. Each section is illustrated by two or three studies that represent a distinct theoretical take on the issue with empirical illustrations. The book examines:

• Business as master and purpose of global governance
• Business as subject and opponent to global governance
• Business as partner and facilitator of global governance

This book will be of interest to students and scholars of Business Studies, International Relations, International Politics and International Political Economy, as well as for practitioners ? in the public and private sector.

This book considers the issue of biodiversity in developing countries in relation to intellectual-property rights, community rights and human rights. Drawing together a number of case studies of developing countries rich in biological and genetic resources including India, South Africa and Brazil, the book examines the access to PGRs and their utilizations in the contexts of scientific and commercial oriented activities pursued both in the source and user countries. Exploring how community rights are protected in national biodiversity-related regulations and some international legal instruments, Marcelin Tonye Mahop also discusses the relationship between community rights and human rights in the context of biodiversity. The book looks at the issue of bio-piracy, asking whether this phenomenon should only be seen as a North South clash, whereby biodiversity rich countries of the Southern Hemisphere blame developed countries and their actors as its principal perpetrators. While recognizing that developing countries' actors play a role in this bio-piracy phenomenon, the book goes on to suggest alternative measures for the legal protection of community rights at the national level with the possibility of national and international enforceability.

Essential reading for students and scholars of intellectual-property rights, biodiversity regulations and human rights, this book will also be of great value to researchers and members of professional organizations working in these subject areas. National and regional negotiators in the international processes dealing with the issues covered in the book will find it a useful tool that can help them to understand various facets of these processes.

China leads the world when it comes to investment and influence on the African continent. The extent of Chinese investment in Africa is well known and much has been written about China's foray into Africa. However, most of the available material has approached this issue by looking at China as the 'New Colonialist' - more interested in Africa's vast natural resources than working in partnership for sustained development. Whilst China's interest in Africa's resources is evident, it is just half of the story. China's foray into Africa goes beyond its appetite for natural resources and into the realm of geo-politics and international political economics. For example, China is all too aware of how it can cultivate Africa's support on global issues at the United Nations and at other international fora. Breaking free from the binary arguments and analysis which characterize this topic, Professor Abdulai presents a refreshing perspective that China's foray into Africa can produce win-win outcomes for China and Africa - if Africans really know what they want from China. Hitherto, each African country has tended to engage China with an individual bucket list; acting in isolation and not as part of a wider continent (indeed Africa and the African Union does not yet have a coordinated policy towards China). For Africa to be able to do that it needs to know where China is coming from, the factors that contributed to its awakening and success, and the benefits and possible pitfalls of this foray, in order to better position itself for a win-win engagement with China. This book will be a valuable read for policy makers, think-tanks and students of Africa-China studies programmes alike.

China is one of the fastest developing emerging economies in the world today. The country has a huge influence on a global level, both politically and economically. Despite this, very few books cover both the full range of management functions, and the key issues facing managers in this unique business environment.

The Changing Face of Management in China explores the key challenges facing businesses and managers in China, across management functions, as well as across a range of sectors and organization types. Written by prominent scholars with direct experience in this market, this book adds to the existing body of knowledge by examining a range of areas of Chinese management in the context of local political, economic and social traditions, and the global economy.

Part of the successful Working in Asia series, this book includes case studies that allow the voices of local managers to be heard, as well as extensive bibliographies pointing students and researchers to the most up-to-date sources of information in this important area.

China is one of the fastest developing emerging economies in the world today. The country has a huge influence on a global level, both politically and economically. Despite this, very few books cover both the full range of management functions, and the key issues facing managers in this unique business environment.

The Changing Face of Management in China explores the key challenges facing businesses and managers in China, across management functions, as well as across a range of sectors and organization types. Written by prominent scholars with direct experience in this market, this book adds to the existing body of knowledge by examining a range of areas of Chinese management in the context of local political, economic and social traditions, and the global economy.

Part of the successful Working in Asia series, this book includes case studies that allow the voices of local managers to be heard, as well as extensive bibliographies pointing students and researchers to the most up-to-date sources of information in this important area.

Title first publishedin 2003. This comprehensive book focuses on the prevailing conditions in Asia and Africa under various macroeconomic and sectoral themes in order to provide in depth explanations for the divergent development experiences of the two regions. Seeking to go further than the simple comparison of policies, the book carefully examines the institutional context for policy implementation within which growth and development have proceeded in the regions.

Published in 1998. Rapidly advancing information technology plays an important role in the formation of new corporate organizations. Some people say, in fact, that the Internet itself may well suggest a future corporate organization. Under these circumstances, how is the corporate culture, which is integral to the organization, to be duly taken? What is an appropriate culture to the would-be future business organization, which will necessarily be all the more supported and strengthened by information technology? In the author's view, the cultures fit in well with the structure of enterprise competitiveness can readily evolve into the 21st century organization. Such a culture would, with no difficulty, find an arena of its own in the future organization and eventually become integral to the company.

First published in 1997, this volume emerged in the wake of China's Open Door policy. Qu and Green focus on the spatial aspects of foreign direct investment within China. They aim to locate FDI within a subnational context, with particular reference to the Chinese experience between 1979 and 1993. Issues explored include the philosophy, objectives and process of inducing FDI, the choice of cities and the country of origin effect. Issues explored include the philosophy, objectives and process of inducing FDI, the choice of cities and the country of origin effect.

Global economic growth, recently fuelled by Asia's emerging economies, has greatly accelerated the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and boosted demand for scarce natural resources, including energy, food and mineral raw materials. These developments are pushing the planet close to its ecological boundaries. Transforming the world economy towards sustainability, while ensuring decent levels of resource use for all global citizens, is the greatest challenge of our time. This book explores how innovation systems need to be adapted to successfully confront these challenges. The first chapter introduces the concept of sustainability-oriented innovation systems which highlights the systematic differences between systems that have developed along current resource-intensive technological trajectories and those that address the impending environmental mega-problems. The subsequent articles present case studies of sustainability-oriented innovations in a number of policy areas, including energy efficiency, electric mobility and generation of renewable energy, in China and India. These case studies confirm the specificities of innovation systems geared towards a green techno-economic paradigm. This book was originally published as a special issue of Innovation and Development.

Over the last few decades, the field of management enlarged its boundaries, especially in international terms, in a very rapid fashion-mainly because of the arrival of the so-called era of globalization. Many renowned scholars have criticized the universal approach given to 'management' in the United States and its subsequent automatic conversion into 'international management, ' but their arguments too can fall into the trap of universalism at times. This book has a more specific concern: to challenge the conversion of 'management' into 'international management' from a Latin American perspective. This challenge might be taken as a first step toward the construction of a Latin American perspective in International Management and a potential contribution to the development of this field in other parts of the world.

Drawing upon such critical standpoint, several authors in the book converge upon the idea that researchers, practitioners and authorities in Latin America should challenge the US dominance in International Management and foster interdisciplinary developments within International Relations. The critical perspective provided in this book challenges the US's narrow viewpoint on management as it clearly does not fit the governance features of 'international management' in Latin America. So far, we have not observed the constitution of sub-areas such as international management of international organizations, international management of transnational institutions, international management of public-private networks, international management of public companies, and international public administration or international public management, all of which would be extremely important in Latin America.

This book remains the sole export-import textbook aimed squarely at the academic audience. Discussing theoretical issues in depth, while maintaining a practical approach, it offers a comprehensive exploration of import procedures and export regulations. In addition to updated cases, this new edition includes: New major developments in bilateral and regional trade agreements Changes to INCOTERMS 2010 Coverage of the role of e-commerce Expanded updates on methods of payment, export pricing, and government export finance This clearly written and comprehensive textbook will ground students in theory and prepare them for the realities of a career in this fast-moving field. Suitable for upper-level undergraduates and postgraduates of international trade, the book stands alone in its blend of conceptual frameworks and cogent analysis. A related website, filled with export-import resources, opinion pieces, cases, and the latest news is located at: www.export-importtradecenter.com.

Convergenomics is about the megatrends that are shaping how people behave and organizations work. In this insightful analysis, Sang Lee and David Olson describe how globalization, digitization, changing demographics, changing industry mix, deregulation and privatization, commoditization of processes, new value chains, emerging new economies, deteriorating environment, and cultural conflicts have led to what they define as a convergence revolution. Lee and Olson discuss this convergence revolution from the perspectives of technology, industry, knowledge, open-source networking and bio-artificial convergence, and they explain how human systems are transformed by what they have named convergenomics. Understanding convergenomics can lead to innovative strategic approaches and, the authors contend, more agile businesses are already employing these approaches to become and remain competitive and to generate greater value in a world radically changed by e-commerce. Business leaders and 'students' of strategy at all levels will learn from this book how revolutionary developments can be embraced rather than feared, and how technology that is potentially frightening in its complexity can be harnessed and used to enable productive collaboration and gain competitive advantage.

How do business leaders think as a result of their national culture? This book provides a discussion and comparative analysis of five major cultures - American, Arab, Chinese, Japanese and Scandinavian - and how they reveal themselves in business practice. The author begins by introducing the concept of culture and why it is important, addressing issues such as values, beliefs and assumptions and the consequences of these. Bjorn Bjerke then goes on to address corporate culture and business strategy as well as some myths associated with national cultures. Looking at the five specific cultures he addresses cultural themes and presents a typified picture of the business leader in each of these. He concludes that there are five different capitalist systems governing these cultures, and that the business leader plays a different role in each. Extending this discussion, the author questions whether the culture-free business leader exists and, if so, what the characteristics of such a person might be. Business Leadership and Culture will enlighten students, scholars and business people about the consequences of culture for international business and management.

According to a recent study by the ILO (2001), women's share of the labour force is increasing worldwide. Today, women's participation rate in the labour force is over 40 per cent of the global workforce. Higher educational levels and falling fertility rates have contributed to this increased participation. There is also some evidence that women in some Asian countries may be less marginalised in their advancement into top managerial positions than their counterparts elsewhere. As women become more educated and qualified for managerial positions, the number of Asian women managers and executives is predicted to rise over the next decade. This book examines the opportunities and barriers for women managers in Asia and presents an update on their progress in management. This book was previously published as a special issue of the Asian Pacific Business Review.

Over the past ten years, the corporate governance environment in East Asia has undergone a significant transformation. The Asian Financial crisis, together with Japan's long economic malaise, undermined confidence in the corporate structures, governance practices, and regulatory oversight of firms in the region. Since that time, each of the countries in the region has been a hotbed of legislative, judicial, and market activity in the realm of corporate governance. This book takes stock of the most important recent corporate governance changes in the region and the challenges still to be overcome. The contributors pursue this objective, not by describing laundry lists of legal reforms and problems, but by focused in-depth legal analysis on specific issues facing the separate systems in the wake of - sometimes in spite of - the voluminous reforms and market changes of the past decade. Written by the leading corporate law scholars and policy advisors in East Asia and some of the most renowned scholars of comparative corporate governance in the United States, the papers are methodologically united in their careful attention to the impact, and limitations, of legal reforms on corporate governance in East Asia today.

This is an international business study of Theravada Buddhist Southeast Asia. Using a cross-disciplinary approach, the book examines business practices within a political, cultural, economic and religious context. It highlights those cultural and historical ties of the region which are shared because of a common religion. In analysing business environments, economics and government practices across the region, the book provides a deeper understanding of the influence of cultural values on work practices in Southeast Asia. The author first offers an overview of the history of the region and the nature and guiding principles of Theravada Buddhism. The next sections of the book present the history and the business and economic environment of the four countries in Southeast Asia, along with some relevant case studies of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar/Burma and Thailand. The book analyses business strategies and practices, management and marketing issues as well as the characteristics of companies. The last part considers the political environment of the four countries and hints at future trends and developments. The book offers a framework for working in the region, and provides valuable insights into this unique business environment, which is significantly different from the Western context. Filling a gap in existing literature, this book provides an accessible study of actual business practices in Southeast Asia.

The disintegration of Indonesia's New Order regime in 1998 and the fall of Soeharto put an end to the crude forms of centralised authoritarianism and economic protectionism that allowed large Chinese conglomerates to dom- inate Indonesia's private sector. Contrary to all expectations, most of the major capitalist groups, though damaged considerably by the Asian Crisis, managed to cope with the ensuing monumental political and economic changes, and now thrive again albeit within a new democratic environment. In this book Christian Chua assesses the state of capital before, during, and after the financial and political crisis of 1997/1998 and analyses the changing relationships between business and the state in Indonesia. Using a distinct perspective that combines cultural and structural approaches on Chinese big business with exclusive material derived from interviews with some of IndonesiaaEURO (TM)s major business leaders, Chua identifies the strategies employed by tycoons to adapt their corporations to the post-authoritarian regime and provides a unique insight into how state-business relationships in Indonesia have evolved since the crisis. Chinese Big Business in Indonesia is the first major analysis of capital in Indonesia since the fall of Soeharto, and will be of interest to graduate students and scholars of political economy, political sociology, economics and business administration as well as to practitioners having to do with Southeast Asian business and politics.

The emergence of China as a future major participant in international aviation raises some interesting questions, especially from a strategic policy perspective. The progressive shift from a command to a mixed market economy under the central leadership of the Beijing administration now finds itself faced with the needs to balance a strategic duality in the context of the role of China's civil aviation industry. In a very real sense this situation requires the design and accommodation of a growing role for China's mainstream carriers within the operational context of the need to meet the complex challenges from increasing international market competition. In parallel with such major external pressures, central government must also accommodate domestic priorities with regard to internal economic development. The fruits of economic progress as a function of market reform are commonly understood to have positively reshaped the live of only a proportion of the national population to date. The need to create greater access to economic growth for the more remote western and northern provinces has required that the rapid development of airports become a factor in the planning and allocation of developmental priorities. To complicate matters further, prevailing requirements of airspace defence remain a major parameter within the larger context of national aviation policy. This book explores the political, economic and strategic issues raised by the inevitable tension between the domestic and international aspects of Beijing's current civil aviation strategy. It also seeks to identify some of the problems that face the industry as a key sector in the larger context of macroeconomic reform and the further pressures now being exerted by China's membership of the WTO.

Recent institutional changes have seen the increasing dominance of globalization and neoliberalism in the world economy. As markets have been deregulated, privatization and unproductive government spending have been promoted. Yet the greater volatility of capitals, the emergence of many financial crises, a decline in trust, and environmental problems have cast doubt on the effectiveness of neoliberal globalization. This book studies the impact of neoliberal globalization on growth and development in the world economy. It scrutinizes whether new social structures of accumulation or modes of regulation have emerged to promote long-term socioeconomic performance in the global economy during the early years of the twenty-first century. Special reference is given to the specific performance of neoliberal governance; transnational corporations; global institutions of money, trade and production; international relations of war and terrorism; financial institutions; and the family-community environment. It is a comprehensive analysis of the degree to which institutional development has managed to promote socioeconomic performance in the global economy. It also presents a thorough policy program of action for long wave upswing in the world economy. It will be especially useful for those scholars and students concerned with issues of governance, global political economy, institutions and macroeconomics