International growth is one of the most important challenges facing companies today. For companies of all sizes and in almost all industries, building a strong international position isn't an option - it's a necessity.

Accelerating International Growth is designed to help you - the practising manager - navigate your company's international growth. It takes a practical and direct approach to identifying challenges and recommending action.

Based on a successful executive programme at IMD, Accelerating International Growth brings together four experts in international management: Philip Rosenzweig, Xavier Gilbert, Thomas Malnight and Vladimir Pucik. Together, they explain five capabilities your company needs for successful international growth:

• Global strategic thinking: a process we call 'grasping the globe'
• Effective international partnerships: managing alliances and acquisitions
• Rapid staffing: expatriation and localization
• Global learning: using the world as your classroom
• Organizational adaptation: changing organizational forms

Conquering Global Markets offers assessments of the issues, statistics, cases, and best practices of mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and alliances throughout the world. Using information gleaned interviews with CEOs, the book provides insights into making global M&As successful.

Firms in the clothing industry engage in global sourcing and operate in global markets. Their global production networks have often been subject to scrutiny as the power relationships between buyer firms in developed countries and supplier firms in developing countries raise issues concerned with "fast fashion," the role of brands, labor standards in developing countries, job losses among the most vulnerable workers in Europe and the US, and the growing differentiation within the bloc of developing countries between the least developed and fast developers, such as China and India.
This book analyses the way British, American and German firms in the clothing industry (manufacturing and retail) co-ordinate and govern their global production networks/value chains. It offers a multi-level study, concerned with processes of economic interaction between international, regional, and national economic institutions and actors. This combines an analysis of international/regional regulatory systems, global markets and conditions in the developing countries where suppliers are found, with a focus on the recent development of the clothing industry in three western countries. The analysis of firms' global networks focuses on the power relationships between western producers and retailers on the one hand and between buyer firms in developed and supplier firms in developing countries on the other, as well as their impact on labour.
Utilising over one hundred interviews in six countries on three continents, it follows the value chain from developed to developing countries and studies the many issues which confront students of globalization at the current time. The study combines theoretical perspectives from economic sociology, political economy and management and seeks to utilise the complementary strengths of the Varieties of Capitalism approach and that of Global Production Networks/Value Chains. It will appeal to advanced students and academics interested in processes of economic globalization and the way firms manage them, as well as to those looking for a study of the clothing industry which combines theoretical depth with broad empirical coverage.

Reflecting on the evolving organisation of multinational enterprises (MNEs) and their growing presence in international business, this book focuses on value creation by subsidiaries in transition economies, and uses Poland as an example. Drawing on internalisation and business network theory, the author analyses the role of the subsidiary with the aim of explaining the mechanisms of subsidiary functional specialisation and its operationalisation. The book presents an innovative model illustrating the determinants of the functional responsibilities of subsidiaries, whilst providing an empirical analysis of foreign subsidiaries in Poland. Addressing a vital topic in international business and management studies, this Palgrave Pivot will be useful for researchers, students and practitioners.

It may not surprise you to learn that seventy percent of cross-border joint ventures fail within the first three years. But did you know that the reason most commonly cited by transnational executives for this phenomenal failure rate isn’t geopolitics, global competition, or economic volatility, but culture clash? As one frustrated transnational manager quipped, "How are you supposed to get all your ducks in a row when half of them think they’re turtles?"

Why, despite the vast sums spent each year on cross-cultural executive training, do so many well-laid business plans continue to fall apart under the strain of cultural differences? Author Sheida Hodge finds the answer in the training itself, which typically focuses on "the ten percent of the iceberg above the surface—how to bow or shake hands, whether to cross your legs, what gestures to use." Much more dangerous is "the ninety percent of the iceberg that is under water"—the deep-seated cultural values on which unsuspecting executives routinely founder.

In this book, as in her world-renowned training courses and seminars, Hodge departs from the common practice of drilling readers in the do’s and don’ts of doing business in various cultures. She concentrates instead on helping you build cross-cultural competence by acquainting you with the basic values, beliefs, and biases that inform the business styles in most Asian, Latin American, and European cultures. Rather than simply offering tips on how to eat and what colors to wear—which do appear, in abundance, throughout the book—she coaches you in a proven set of strategies and skills that will enable you to successfully navigate the people dimension of doing business virtually anywhere in the world.

For Hodge, learning to see past one’s own cultural hobbyhorses—while avoiding getting trampled by everyone else’s—is the first big step toward succeeding in global business. Thus, most of her discussions of specific cultural differences start by exploring values and business practices that seem "natural" to North Americans, and go on to show how they differ from values and practices in other cultures. To better illustrate her points, she has included anecdotes throughout told by managers from North America and around the world that provide vivid, sometimes hilarious, object lessons in how minor cultural frictions and misunderstandings can mushroom into major business disasters.

A complete guide to building solid cross-border business relationships, Global Smarts is must reading for all managers and entrepreneurs in today’s global business world.

Proven strategies for breaking down cultural barriers and building prosperous business relationships anywhere in the world

American executives need to know how to communicate effectively with their associates around the world to remain competitive. In Global Smarts, Sheida Hodge, a successful international entrepreneur and one of the most sought-after cross-cultural business trainers, shares her proven strategies for successfully dealing with such issues as language barriers, culture shock, international negotiation tactics, and how to establish trust on a cross-cultural basis.

Unlike other authors who merely list the various do’s and don’ts of doing business in specific regions, Hodge helps you to develop a high degree of cross-cultural competency that translates into an unbeatable competitive edge, virtually anywhere in the world. Packed with practical insider tips and eye-opening anecdotes from cross-cultural managers from the United States and other countries, this thoroughly engaging guide is an indispensable resource for anyone doing business in today’s global business world.

The rise of the Japanese multinational company (JMNC) marked, from the 1980s onwards, an historic change in the structure and in the dynamics of the international economy. For the first time, businesses from a non-Western nation established a competitive global presence, and they did so by bringing their advanced products and management systems to the developed economies of Europe and North America. In the last 30 years, our interpretations of JMNCs have undergone a series of revisions. Korean firms followed JMNCs in the 1990s and the Chinese likewise in the 2000s. A seeming decline in JMNC competitiveness and developments in the structure of the international economy challenged a business model of parental company direction, control and capabilities. Both trends asked questions about how Japanese subsidiaries should operate in global production chains increasingly reliant on contracting out and off-shoring, and how JMNCs might engage more in strategic cooperation and empower subsidiary decision-making. The contributors to this volume consider a wide range of relevant issues: they demonstrate the long-term evolution of JMNCs; they compare the experience of JMNCs with firms from the other two major Asia Pacific economies, Korea and China; they evaluate the applicability of established foreign direct investment (FDI) theory to MNCs from Japan and the Asia Pacific; and they reflect on the internal organization of JMNCs at the global, national and subnational level. This book was originally published as a special issue of Asia Pacific Business Review.

First Published in 1998. This book examines the transferability of Japanese organizational practices to Japanese owned industrial transplants in the United States, and demonstrates that relations of power and conflict on the corporate structural level are equally as significant as the social and cultural differences between American and Japanese practices in the workplace. The research is based upon extensive ethnographic fieldwork at automotive transplants in the Midwest and high-tech transplants in California, as well as a case study company in New Mexico, and focuses primarily on their adaptation to the US industrial environment. Extensive interviews demonstrate that organizational practices of Japanese transplants are significantly different from either their Japanese or American counterparts. Relations of power at the case study company are examined in depth and reveal two contrasting forms of control. American managers tend to exert hierarchical control in the manufacturing department using a top down approach and clear distinctions between work and private lives. In contrast, the Japanese managers utilize what the author calls "poka-yoke" (fail-proof) control over the repair department. Poka-yoke control is characterized by strict attendance and dress codes, emphasizing loyalty and dedication to work. At the same time, the US. headquarters in New York and the parent company in Japan impose remote control, thus limiting the autonomy of local managers.

First Published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Hitherto, the organization of international business has been studied mostly from a managerial point of view or by examining the relationship between firms and the economy. Yet, the development of the modern, multinational firm - the most important type of business organisation - has been strongly influenced by the conflicts that bedeviled the twentieth century. The volatile macroeconomic and political environments experienced by international business point to how important it is to study political risk. Consequently, Multinational Enterprise, Political Risk and Organisational Change: From Total War to Cold War breaks new ground: it argues that non-market elements and historical context are key to understanding the way international business has been organised. This edited volume offers an historical approach to analysing how multinational enterprise has developed over time and around the world, through a series of well-crafted chapters, on important topics in international economic and business history, written by authorities in their respective fields of study and research. The study is based on the underlying premise that the coming of the two World Wars, the devastating and long-term consequences of such total wars, and the ideological challenge of the Cold War acted as a pivot points in shaping the nature and character of multinational firms. By examining such phenomena, this study offers insights to anyone who has an interest in business, economic or political history, management and business studies, or international relations.

Despite the current crisis, Asian economies remain an important market for firms around the world and continue to be stiff competitors in world business. One reason for the region's strength, and a predictor of Asia's endurance, are its business networks-- DEGREESIkeiretsus DEGREESR in Japan, DEGREESIchaebols DEGREESR in Korea, and other forms that connect single firms, entire industries, and which interlink the region as a whole. Richter and his contributors examine the origins of business networks, their effects on the economies, and the implications of their presence and growth in Asian economies. Corporate strategic planners, marketing executives, and other decision makers will find here an important contribution to their understanding of why Asia's economies will pick up again and how they will continue to grow.

The book examines the promises of business networks and the role of transaction costs, interdependence, and membership commitment. The contributors do not automatically assume that past successes of these networks will mean future successes; rather, they define the outlines of new and innovative forms of networks, and see in their configurations an even better platform for further economic development in Asia and for the globalization of Asian multinationals. Contributors offer a critical approach to theory and practice of Asian networking, and because of their national diversity are able to provide a variety of viewpoints on them. Research-based and presenting the thinking of scholars and practitioners alike, the book supplies expert knowledge and a basis for academic discourse on managerial policy not easily found elsewhere.

The global business area has witnessed a remarkable radical change. The recent spectacular rise of emerging economy multinationals sets numerous questions requiring explanation and understanding. Successes and Challenges of Emerging Economy Multinationals investigates a broad variety of cases presenting clear evidence of fast successful internationalization of emerging economy multinationals originating not only from big economic players such as China, India and Russia but also from other successfully internationalizing emerging countries, namely South Africa and Poland. In terms of size, the firms vary from huge multinational firms such as Huawei, Tata and Gazprom, to really small high technology firms. The in-depth analysis conducted in this book leads to the indication of numerous novel directions for further theoretical expansion and new empirical research.

Cost accounting traditions differ across countries, especially between Germany and the US/UK. Consequently, multinational companies often face cross-national differences in the design of their subunits' cost accounting systems. To improve comparability and facilitate control, multinational companies seek to globally align these systems. In this respect, they have to balance the needs of the headquarters and the subunits. By the means of a mixed-method approach, this study analyses the design of cost accounting systems from both perspectives. It finds empirical evidence for cross-case and cross-country differences in the complexity and standardization of cost accounting systems in subunits of German multinational companies and identifies important determinants and success factors. The findings have implications for researchers and practitioners in the field of management accounting.

This book, first published in 1988, examines the impact of multinational companies on the British economy and the British government's policy responses. It assesses the effects of multinationals both on the national economy and on different regions and evaluates the benefits and problems brought by overseas companies. It looks at how government has attempted to entice multinationals to invest, and the UK government's success in these attraction efforts as compared with other countries. Regulatory aspects of policy are also reviewed and evaluated, and consideration is given to possible new policy approaches. This title will be of interest to students of business studies.

This book, first published in 1987, outlines the motives and methods of overseas operations by international contractors. Drawing on an economic analysis of the industry and on elements of international investment and production theory the book discusses the problems of both individual enterprises and the major nationality groups in the industry

Multinational corporate managers, financial analysts, and accountants disagree on what constitutes the appropriate process of translating and consolidating foreign financial statements into US financial statements. In this book, first published in 1993, the author examines financial accounting regarding foreign currency translation for and by multinational corporations by developing: (a) an historical background for the topic, (b) a comparative analysis of two foreign currency translation accounting standards, (c) a topical review of relevant prior research, and (d) a study of multinational corporate managers' actions when they face a choice between two accounting standards. This title will be of interest to students of business studies.

One of the reasons for the success of multinational enterprises in their ability to create in their supranational organisations "internal markets" which eliminate the imperfections of external world markets caused by tariffs on trade, restrictions on the flow of capital, information costs and so on. The method multinationals use to create and sustain internal markets is transfer pricing. Multinationals use to their advantage the difference between nominal accounting and real transfers from their head offices to a subsidiary in different countries to overcome transaction costs and restrictions on trade and capital flows. This book, first published in 1985, examines these and other aspects of multinationals' use of transfer pricing. It puts forward original thinking and research findings by leading experts in this area. Empirical results are related to the activities of multinationals in less developed countries. This volume covers the economic theories of transfer pricing, accounting and fiscal practices and implications for government policies and regulations, and will be of interest to students of economics and business studies.

Multinational Enterprise and Transnational Regions offers an innovative approach to the study of the history of transnational economic regions. The Rhine valley is such a region comprising the cities and areas along the Rhine river and its tributaries. The transition from coal to oil that unfolded between 1945 and 1973 rapidly transformed the region, shattering some of the old river-based connections and creating new ones with the introduction of large-scale cross-border oil pipelines. Multinational enterprises shaped these new regional connections but divergent national government responses gave rise to differentiated development in different parts of the Rhine valley. Multinational Enterprise and Transnational Regions argues that processes of regional change should be understood from transnational interconnections rather than from local or national perspectives. This book uses a transnational business history methodology to tease out the region's transformation and to circumvent the national bias in public sources. It will be of relevance to academics and researchers with an interest in regional and transnational European history, international business, environmental history, and business history, as well as practitioners interested in the oil industry, energy and energy history, business history and international business, and associated disciplines.

This edited book addresses two critical issues in international management: building trust and managing boundary spanning activities between international business partners. The duel-process of internationalization of multinational corporations (MNCs), through globalisation and regionalisation, has helped MNCs to increase their market expansion and improve the capabilities of innovation and learning. By creating various forms of international strategic alliances (ISAs), MNCs have become structurally more complex and geographically more dispersed. As a result, MNCs in general and ISAs in particular face the challenges of discerning blurred organisational boundaries, reconfiguring the control mechanisms, integrating diversified resources, and coordinating distributed activities in time and space. Research in organisation behaviour indicates that boundary spanners play critical yet unspecified roles and functions in managing cross-boundary relationships. A core boundary spanning function is to build trust relationships. When organisations engage in business transactions, members of the organisations are concerned with not only the outcomes of economic transactions but also the processes of social exchanges. Boundary spanners may succeed in building interpersonal trust in a partnership, nonetheless their effort may not lead to inter-partner trust without an effective implementation of the institutionalisation process. Whereas trustworthiness is the antecedent to trust providing the basis for trust to develop, distrust manifests itself as a separate and linked concept to trust. These dynamic features of trust, trustworthiness, and distrust are critically elaborated. Trust Building and Boundary Spanning in Cross-Border Management is dedicated to explicating these under-researched themes and contributing to the emerging streams of research in micro foundations and micro-structural approaches. It illustrates the latest research on the topic and will be of interest to both students at an advanced level, academics and reflective practitioners in the fields of organisational behaviour and theory, strategic management, international strategy and strategic alliances.

For many years, vertical integration characterized the international oil industry, with the same company controlling the entire process from crude exploration and production to the retailing. This structure was radically transformed in the 1970s and this book, originally published in 1984, examines whether the dis-integration which resulted was a long-term trend or a temporary phase. It examines the attitude of the major international oil companies, discusses the policies adopted by oil producing and oil importing countries, and the limits of 'government to government' deals underlined. The political and strategic implications of re-integration are explored, and relations between oil exporters and importers, and between the USA, Europe and the Arab world discussed.

Branded a "cultural Chernobyl" and the "tragic kingdom," the Euro Disney Resort has been on its own thrill ride since opening in 1992. The much publicized version of the Magic Kingdom gave Europeans alcohol-free "mocktails," surly employees, even colors too muted for the Disney image. Facing financial disaster, was it any wonder that Disney execs found themselves wishing upon a star for answers?

After so many knee-jerk criticisms of Euro Disney, this book combines firsthand experience and research to shed new light on claims that the park is nothing more than a form of American cultural imperialism. Andrew Lainsbury, a former Euro Disney employee who knows what the park meant to its visitors, goes beyond media bites and academic scorn to examine Europe's love/hate relationship with Euro Disneyland and some of the undiscussed issues surrounding it.

"Once Upon an American Dream" is a story of global capitalism on a grand scale. Lainsbury has plumbed company archives and interviewed key players to give readers the real view from Le Chateau de la Belle au Bois Dormant (Sleeping Beauty's Castle). He cracks open the Euro Disney controversy to reveal the park not as a tragic experiment in exporting American culture but the result of European efforts to import a popular form of American entertainment.

Lainsbury tells how the Walt Disney Company came to build a European park and locate it in France, how political negotiations affected its design and development, how it was promoted to continental audiences, and what caused its widely publicized financial woes before being rescued by a real prince from Saudi Arabia. He reveals what it took to win back the hearts of skeptical Europeans-such as serving wine, selling flashy merchandise, and placating disgruntled workers. Finally, he looks into the magic mirror to speculate on the role of Euro Disney and the Walt Disney Company in the twenty-first century.

Ultimately, Lainsbury shows that cultural imperialism is not an exclusively American phenomenon but a global corporate strategy--and that global corporatism, by needing to be responsive to consumers, is so complex that it may not be as monolithic as feared. "Once Upon an American Dream" is a fairy tale for our times, reminding us that, for all the critical huffing and puffing, the creation and marketing of pleasure is what Euro Disneyland is all about.

This book gives students a new perspective on entrepreneurial venturing in an international context. By analyzing the dynamics in international companies, they will be armed with the skills they need to build successful strategies for entering new international markets. Williams presents a framework built around four contexts for international venturing: headquarters-driven through internal capabilities; subsidiary-driven through peripheral capabilities; headquarters-driven through external capabilities; and subsidiary-driven though external capabilities. Through this, students gain insight into the conditions that enable venturing in different types of MNEs, the mechanisms by which MNEs pursue international opportunities, and the leadership and managerial challenges of developing entrepreneurial capabilities across borders. Following a definition and analysis of each context, the book synthesizes the outcomes in an integrative way, providing implications for strategic leaders in international firms as well as for researchers and students. These contexts are used to frame the literature and engage with eight topical cases, which are also published in full in the Appendix of the book. With case studies from around the world that focus both on smaller and larger enterprises, Venturing in International Firms will give students of international entrepreneurship, corporate entrepreneurship and international business an edge when venturing internationally in the real world.

The McDonald's Corporation is not only the largest system-wide sales service in the world, it is a phenomenon in its own right, and is now recognized as the most famous brand in the world. By providing a detailed analysis of the extent to which the McDonald's Corporation adapts or imposes its labour relations policies in Europe, this volume represents a real life case study revealing the interaction between a global multi-national enterprise and the regulatory systems of a number of different European countries. Key features include:

* an overview of the McDonald's Corporation's development and structure
* an analysis of its corporate culture and the issues of franchising
* an examination of key union strategies, including systems of co-determination, consultation and collective-bargaining
* a chapter dealing specifically with European legislation, in particular the McDonald's European Works Council
The author systematically analyzes the conflict between the McDonald's Corporation and the industrial relations systems of the European countries within which it operates, and exposes this conflict as an 'unequal struggle' between economic liberalism and collectivism.

Based on a six-year project at INSEAD, top scholars put these developments into perspective. Written for general managers as well as personnel executives and students of management, this book breaks new ground in helping them to address the emerging challenges of international human resource management.