In today's multipolar world economy, strategic alignment is a key determinant of competitive advantage. Coca-Cola, Danone, Diageo, DuPont, Lufthansa and Tata are some of the companies that strive for a pragmatic approach to balancing competitive strategies with political and social obligations. Aligning for Advantage argues that to build and sustain corporate success, companies must synchronize business objectives and market positions with political and regulatory activism and social and environmental engagement. Moreover, to be credible and realizable, these external market and nonmarket strategies need to be equally attuned with corporate vision, values, and culture. The book advances a managerial process and conceptual framework for aligning corporate strategy. In some cases alignment may mean deep, strategically embedded partnerships with governments, NGOs, or other stakeholders. In others, alignment may take the form of looser, temporary collaborations with outside organizations. No matter the approach, the relationship between nonmarket and market strategies should be deliberate and genuine, not accidental or artificial. Truly aligned strategies should reconcile and modulate sometimes conflicting external demands in a way that is appropriate for the corporation's geographic and market positions. In the end, companies must leverage their overall nonmarket strategy as a source of competitive advantage.

This is the first book to comprehensively examine NGOs as institutional players in the formulation of public policy and the implementation of corporate strategy. The delicate balance between governments and the private sector in managing globalization and influencing broader societal interests is also explored.

Globalization has seismically shifted the relative balance of power between governments and corporations. The influence of NGOs--nongovernmental organizations--on business, government, and society has increased dramatically in recent years, yet their role in the process and outcome of the globalization debate calls for further examination. This is the first book to comprehensively examine NGOs as institutional players in the formulation of public policy and the implementation of corporate strategy. The delicate balance between governments and the private sector in managing globalization and influencing broader societal interests is also explored.

In today's multipolar world economy, strategic alignment is a key determinant of competitive advantage. Coca-Cola, Danone, Diageo, DuPont, Lufthansa and Tata are some of the companies that strive for a pragmatic approach to balancing competitive strategies with political and social obligations. Aligning for Advantage argues that to build and sustain corporate success, companies must synchronize business objectives and market positions with political and regulatory activism and social and environmental engagement. Moreover, to be credible and realizable, these external market and nonmarket strategies need to be equally attuned with corporate vision, values, and culture. The book advances a managerial process and conceptual framework for aligning corporate strategy. In some cases alignment may mean deep, strategically embedded partnerships with governments, NGOs, or other stakeholders. In others, alignment may take the form of looser, temporary collaborations with outside organizations. No matter the approach, the relationship between nonmarket and market strategies should be deliberate and genuine, not accidental or artificial. Truly aligned strategies should reconcile and modulate sometimes conflicting external demands in a way that is appropriate for the corporation's geographic and market positions. In the end, companies must leverage their overall nonmarket strategy as a source of competitive advantage.

This book offers a fresh perspective on the role of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in development. Alan M. Rugman and Jonathan P. Doh challenge traditional assumptions about economic development and address the controversies that surround MNEs. For example, how do foreign multinationals affect overall economic growth in emerging economies, and how does this process lead to the subsequent rise of new emerging-economy MNEs? The authors focus on the mechanisms by which MNEs influence economic development. They evaluate the impact of MNEs on the processes and outcomes of development, as well as the influence of civil society, NGOs, and government policies on multinationals, especially in Asia. And they discuss the rise of emerging-economy MNEs from Asian economies, especially "yang" MNEs from China and Korea. Arriving at a far more nuanced understanding of MNEs today, the authors also offer observations about the role of multinationals in the future.