This volume continues this series of international business issues with an exploration of the development and growing complexity of the global marketplace. One section should be of particular interest to those involved in European business. Entitled "Enlarging the European Perspective," it deals with marketing strategy in post-Cold War Eastern Europe and European integration and banking in Greece. The international theme is further developed with chapters on Mexico, the US and Japan.

Both quantitative and qualitative analysis is used to review China's stock market in a book containing the latest research on China's IPO market, the 2006-07 market bubble, the development of institutional investors, the stock index futures market, stock sector performance, corporate governance of listed firms and China's growth enterprise market.

This book presents new ideas and tools across a wide range of marketing activities, from product and market selection and definition, to pricing, promotion and distribution. All companies and all managers can and should apply some of the practical advice presented in this fundamental text. You'll be surprised at how this book can help change the way you sell your products.

This significant new book addresses the important issue of diversification in an age where it is vital to reduce volatility on investments. Properly applied portfolio management can lead to greater gains. The expert authors guide investors through international portfolio diversification, make clear how to help improve the efficiency of their investments, and explain how international diversification reduces the risk of an investment portfolio. This key book educates investors about how international mutual finds enhance the performance of their portfolio. The authors analyze which factors are most essential to investors, and find that both financial factors and behavioural arguments must be considered. This book is a crucial tool for any investor looking to improve the profit gain from their investment.

The only up-to-date introduction to international sport business Explores the organisational and policy environment for international sport and international business, as well as the day-to-day realities of successful sport business Strong focus on new, transformative technologies and data analytics Every chapter contains real world case studies and data Every chapter includes interviews with leading sport business practitioners, examples of best practice, and discussions of key pieces of research Includes additional on-line learning resources

Written by an internationally renowned team of experts and underpinned by cutting-edge research, International Human Resource Management tackles a broad range of controversial and often marginalised issues associated with globalisation and its impact on multinational companies and employees. Updated throughout with brand-new case studies, reflective questions and recommended reading, the second edition includes coverage of: * International assignments and worker mobility * The development of new technology and its impact on work * International HRM and the platform economy * The nature of organisational change * The role of sustainability and social responsibility within the firm This innovative and thought-provoking textbook is suitable for students of International Human Resource Management and Employment Relations. Lecturers can visit study.sagepub.com/martinezluciomackenzie to access PowerPoint slides and additional case study material. Miguel Martinez Lucio is a Professor at the University of Manchester (Alliance Manchester Business School), UK. Robert MacKenzie is Professor of Working Life Science at Karlstad Business School, Karlstad University, Sweden.

The globalization of financial markets worldwide has progressively pushed toward simultaneous globalization of accounting information. Thus, during the last 50 years, categories of preparers, users, and regulators have devoted their efforts to support the global comparability of financial reporting aiming at favoring the comparison of corporates' financial performances at a cross-country level. In the same vein, IASB, national standard setters, and jurisdictions have participated in and given momentum to this process. At the same time, academic research has followed this process and tried to build a theoretical framework to address the related issues, to assess the impact on preparers, users, and regulators, while defining hindrances and obstacles to the comparability of financial reporting especially in an IFRS environment. In this context, this book reviews research studies on the comparability of financial reporting at a global level as well as highlights empirical analyses that demonstrate the extent to which global comparability has been achieved, and how it enhances value relevance of earnings across countries. It also looks at the cross-country investors' perspectives by shaping the empirical analysis to provide further insights on the role of the "Big Four" auditing services in enhancing the comparability of earnings. The book provides an original contribution to the current debate about the comparability of financial reporting under IFRS and will be useful for researchers in the field.

The growth of the multinational enterprise (MNE) has led to an increasing interest in international business strategy from scholars, professionals, and policy makers alike. MNEs must contend with challenges in both their home and host international markets, and increasingly uncertain conditions in the international business environment demand superior firm-level capabilities for multinational firms to achieve and maintain competitive advantages in the long-run. This Handbook explores the progress made in international business strategy theory and practice in the last few decades. Written by an international team of leading experts, it captures the differences in motivations and decision-making processes between smaller and larger firms, private, family, and state owned firms, and emerging or developed market multinationals. It elaborates on the links between international strategy and the social responsibilities of the firm in its various host market contexts, including the deployment of effective and ethical human resource practices in international markets. Most importantly, it lays out how the classic principles of international competitive strategy are transformed in today's markets, in great part due to digitalization, and provides suggestions on how MNEs can develop international business strategies to respond to these transformations. The implications of these discussions for strategy and practice are becoming ever more profound. This Handbook will prove a valuable resource for both international business scholars and practitioners.

This innovative book analyses the geographical patterns in foreign direct investment flows by combining elements from the theory of international production and the theory of economic geography. It develops a model for explaining why foreign direct investment is attracted to certain locations. The book examines foreign direct investment from a spatial perspective and considers how knowledge, regional synergies, economic integration, corporate strategies and networking affect patterns of investment. Using a model, Robert Morsink derives sets of determinants for different foreign direct investment patterns of multinationals and evaluates the corporate strategy behind these flows. First, he analyses investment flows within the European Union. Then, he goes into investments originating from the United States, Japan, Germany and the Netherlands and destined for Western Europe, South and Southeast Asia and North and South America. These analyses enable him to make suggestions for government policy at both the national and international level to attract foreign investment. Foreign Direct Investment and Corporate Networking will be of interest to economists working in the areas of international trade and investment, economic geographers and corporate strategy advisors as well as to policymakers from government and non-governmental organizations.

Innovation Spaces in Asia provides insight into how and why Asia is poised to impact global innovation. Asia is undergoing rapid developments in markets, sources of technology and user preferences. This book provides an empirical understanding and initial conceptualization of these dynamic processes, including the role of multinational enterprises, entrepreneurship and public policy.The accomplished contributors explore case studies of entrepreneurs and large companies in Asia in order to discuss the ways in which customers, institutions and firms, both domestic and foreign, are interacting to affect global processes of innovation and production. Innovation spaces are analyzed within Asian countries and firms, from Asia to the world, and from the world to Asian countries. Students and researchers pursuing innovation, international business and entrepreneurship will find this to be a useful read. This book will also be of interest to innovation managers and public policy practitioners looking for a thorough guide on the topic. Contributors: S. Bagchi-Sen, E. Bourelos, X. Chen, G. Cheng, E. Deiaco, P. Fan, E. Gifford, S.J. Haakonsson, M. Holgersson, C. Jeding, J. Jin, P. Kedron, K. Lagerstroem, A.H. Lassen, R. Lema, X. Liu, M. McKelvey, T.A. Meraxa, T. Schunder, R. Schweizer, D. Slepniov, Y. Wang, O. Zaring, Z. Zhang

In their foreign markets, MNCs interact not only with customers and suppliers but also with governments and bureaucrats. The book is an outcome of several years of research on MNCs market activities in developing and industrialized countries. Different from the earlier studies this book addresses how interactions not only with business partners, but also with the vast variety of governmental and legislative organizations, affect local firms and MNCs??? businesses. Based on the business network theory, the book develops a new model for the exchange relationship between local customers and MNCs and investigates the effect of different political organizations and other business firms. It examines relationship using several dimensions, business, social and political, through multiple cases from a developing country (DC) and industrialized countries. The comparison provides deepened knowledge on strength and longevity of business relationship in these two different business worlds. The outcomes reveal new insights with the claim for general appliance for DCs. The book supports the management of MNCs in their understanding of local firms??? behavior in such markets and to retain appropriate measure in their globalization efforts. The book also enables governments in DCs to realize consequences of their political actions for both local firms and MNCs and thereby industrialization of the country.

How do boundary-spanning organizations use their choices for leadership positions? How could hybrid organizations and leaders improve the effectiveness of those organizations in order to increase the chances of success for their business organizations in East Asia? How can we observe the best practices that could guide foreign managers to adjust in host business environment in East Asia?To answer these questions, the author presents a theoretical framework and investigates the preferences and networkability in the corporate, market and living environment of expatriated managers in China and Japan.

The tremendous expansion of American overseas business in the postwar era has evoked a mixed public response. The author scrutinizes carefully each of the aspects of international business which has caught the public eye, summarizing the charges which have been leveled, stating the facts that bear on them, and drawing justifiable conclusions.

Unlike other economies, family businesses in China are greatly affected by the derived Confucian culture, excessive marketization, as well as the seemingly endless institutional supervision by a transitional Chinese government. China has a strong historical legacy, devoted to patriarchal values and strong family-centered traditions. This volume discusses the current status, upcoming challenges, and future prospects for family businesses in China. It explores unique organizational characteristics that are associated with Chinese family firms, such as being entrepreneurial, having concentrated power in the hands of the family business owners, and extensive family and semi-family involvement in the business. It also discusses shared features of strategic actions among Chinese family firms that include technology innovations, diversification, and internationalization, as well as the political connections that Chinese family firms often have. This book offers researchers a comprehensive overview of small family firms that are likely to be home-based microenterprises as well as large publicly traded business groups that are frequently owned by business families.

This book focuses on social perspectives of women's entrepreneurship, in the context of work-life balance and crowd-based business modelling, and economic perspectives associated with quality-of-life expectations. It focuses on the convergence of business perspectives and the social values and lifestyle of women entrepreneurs. The attributes of women entrepreneurship in developing economies have been discussed with focus on new entrepreneurial trends, changing organizational design and workplace environment, frugal innovation and technology, and shifts in market behavior. The book presents a six-box strategy including learned knowledge, scope of enterprise, innovation and technology, social values, design-development, and entrepreneurial business modeling. The core argument underlies in critically examining the practical, tacit, and intuited strategies to redesign entrepreneurial business models against conventional social values of women entrepreneurs. The author analyzes positivist, constructivist, pragmatist, interpretivist, and phenomenological perspectives to explain entrepreneurial behavior of women and derive cognitive synthesis to enhance business performance, entrepreneurial mindset, and perceptual schema.

As the business world becomes increasingly global, so increases the need to understand differences and similarities in work behaviour. This volume offers frameworks for analysis which will be needed to understand the dynamics of organizational behaviour in the international arena.

Recently there has been a growing demand for mutual funds and how their performance compares to other funds on an international level. This significant new book focuses on the changes in some countries regarding the new paradigm of international investing through mutual funds. This is an indispensable collection of original papers on the mutual fund industry focusing on various European countries, the U.S. and New Zealand. Performance is assessed using a fresh approach, innovative techniques and various models. This book will allow the reader and practitioner to gain a perspective and understanding of mutual funds on an international level.

Being socially responsible on the part of corporate entities is now no longer an option, it is part of their normal business obligations to all their stakeholders regardless of whether these are primary or secondary stakeholders. Modern societies around the world now expect corporate entities of all shapes and forms to be socially responsible in whatever they do; the Global Practices of Corporate Social Responsibility is a first attempt at bringing together in one book experts' accounts of how corporate entities in twenty independent nations around the world are dealing with the issue of CSR. The world today faces diverse social problems. These become apparent as one moves from one country to the next, interestingly, society now expects corporations to help in finding solutions to these problems. The problem of global warming affects us all; modern corporations can no longer continue to assume that the problem will go away, if nothing is done by them. We can all make a little difference by our actions."

This book provides an insightful and challenging view of board functioning, governance application and top director interaction with business and the state. Scrutiny of board practice in countries as China, Russia, Turkey and Kazakhstan establishes as many realities concerning governance and boards as there are nations, cultures, boards and directors.

Asia currently accounts for a quarter of the world economy and half of the world's population. Few international companies can afford to ignore a market of such size and importance. Yet despite the centrality of Asia as a market, there exists a remarkable dearth of marketing theory specific to Asia.

Cultural differences strongly influence consumer behavior. In the West, an effective brand name will be short, distinctive, memorable, and indicative of the product's functions. In Asia, however, a strong belief in luck and fate means that additional qualities, such as whether the characters which make up a product name are "lucky" ones, has a significant effect on brand attitude. Successful sales and marketing strategies in Asia must be rooted in an understanding of the cultural differences which affect Asian consumers' buying patterns.

Consumer Behavior in Asia provides an invaluable guide to Western companies seeking to maximize their marketing success in Asia. Drawing on illustrations from a variety of Asian markets, the volume outlines the differences between Asian and Western cultures along cultural dimensions such as religion, tradition, and philosophy, explaining the effect such differences have on communication styles, brand loyalty, perceptions of products offered, and effective advertising methods.

This book focuses on developing a systematic approach to understanding the transformations in Africa's public sector social media landscape. Looking at the use of social media from the African public sector perspective, the authors present a comprehensive understanding of social media practices and how these could be integrated into African public sector institutions' operational activities in order to deliver greater value for African citizens and consumers of public goods and services. Chapters explore how social media in Africa differs from traditional media use, their application in the public sector, objectives for government using social media, and how social media plays an interactive role in e-government services. Providings practical guidance on the use of social media in Africa's public sector and governmental spaces, the book also serves as a teaching text in governance and public sector communication efforts within the African context for both undergraduate and graduate programmes.

Forging business alliances can vitalize corporate strategies. This book is a road map to the concepts and theories underlying successful business alliances in four critical industries: automobile manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, airlines, and telecommunications. Dr. Culpan offers the essentials of global partnering as seen from a strategic management viewpoint. He examines joint ventures, non-equity alliances, and business options designed to give a competitive edge over other allied firms. New conceptual models help to clarify various strategies and collaborative processes.

By comparing the four major industries--and specific companies in each--this study explores not only the uniqueness of its subjects, but also the common grounds of various multinationals. Through key insights and ideas, the possibilities and realities of corporate alliances begin to emerge. Attention is also paid to the decision-making process as it relates cooperative ventures, as well as to the inevitable managerial challenges of forming, and managing, strategic alliances. The result is an astute analysis ideal for teachers, students, and strategists seeking fresh insights into the workings and benefits of corporate alliance.

Styles of effective leadership in the much-admired research arm of Japanese organizations are examined for the first time in this scientifically validated study of research and development units. Creative R & D Leadership provides new data about how and why certain types of leaders are more successful than others and offers insightful social and cultural explanations for that success. Bess shows that it is the unique blending of personalities among leaders and subordinates that results in creative and innovative teams -- hallmarks not only for good R & D performance, but organizational effectiveness as well. Bess' findings and interpretations will have significant implications for policymakers throughout the world, including the United States, as new ways for American management to restructure organizational techniques and strategies to enhance competitiveness worldwide are revealed. A major contribution to the literature on organizational behavior and development, leadership studies, R & D management, and cross-cultural understanding.

The book's foundations informing its content are anchored to evidence-based primary data, which was collected in the Thailand context utilising interview and case study techniques. The data has been internationally scrutinized by our peers to validate its truthfulness and integrity. In this way, our book sheds reliable and valid new understandings on the complex relationship between performance management and the effects of culture. The book transcends beyond conceptual discussions as it is anchored to evidence-based data to inform the direct or obvious cultural value differences exploring the very concept of efficacy and how culture impacts on the way in which we perceive what constitutes the pursuit of efficacious outcomes in managing employees. Therefore, this novel research design offers integrated insights from practitioners, and academics, in the field of management within organisations from various Thai industry contexts.

This book criticizes the widespread view that the 1997 Asian crisis was due to 'crony capitalism' and puts the blame instead on misguided liberalization. It analyzes the case of Korea's business conglomerates, the chaebol, with particular attention to the car industry, to show how liberalization contributed to the crisis even at the level of the firm. It shows how those firms that had developed innovative capabilities survived the crisis much better than those that had merely expanded into markets opened up by liberalization. MARKET 1: Lecturers, Researchers, Libraries, etc. in Universities and Business and Management Schools, especially in International Business and Asian Management; Practitioners interested in doing business with East Asia MARKET 2: Supplementary reading on postgraduate courses in International Business and East Asia Studies