International Management: A Strategic Perspective - Hardcover

Sanyal, Rajib N.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0201471531 ISBN 13: 9780201471533

Publisher: Prentice Hall, 2001

Synopsis

This comprehensive book uses a conversational writing style to focus on managing business in a global environment, and how management is affected by key environmental factors—such as international politics, cultural differences, and the expectation of corporate social responsibility. It provides readers with up-to-date coverage of contemporary managerial issues, a look at different types of international business activities, and an understanding of how international firms are organized to achieve their strategic goals. A seamless transition between theory and practice is achieved with the use of academic research and real-life business applications throughout the book. Chapter topics include cultural variables; management of political risk; strategy formulation and implementation; exporting and importing; licensing and franchising; strategic alliances and equity investments; operations management and logistics; organizational design and control; human resource management; and managing ethics and social responsibility. For the managers and senior managers in consulting firms.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

PREFACE

International Management: A Strategic Perspective is designed to be used as a textbook I for a one-semester or one-quarter undergraduate course or as an introductory or background reading in graduate programs. The book consists of 12 chapters, but the coverage of topics is extensive with many student-centered exercises. These features provide the flexibility that an instructor needs to adapt the textbook content to fit the class schedule of either a semester or a quarter. Most students studying international management would have taken a prior course in management such as Principles of Management or Management of Organizational Behavior. This prerequisite is relevant as this textbook is written for the well-prepared student. The focus is on management and, even though it is acknowledged that in international business, finance and economics play critical roles, the treatment of these subjects is less detailed but nevertheless adequate for the reader to recognize and relate their relevance.

International Management: A Strategic Perspective is about how managers in firms, big or small, are affected by key environmental factors, such as politics and culture, and how they approach and resolve the differences and difficulties posed by international business opportunities and competition. The book presents a most up-to-date discussion of the contemporary managerial issues in international business and is firmly grounded in the twin dimensions of academic research and real-life business applications. Thus, the reader will find throughout the text a seamless transition between theory and practice with numerous current corporate examples drawn from countries, industries, and businesses around the world. These examples buttress scholarly findings while also illuminating successful or unsuccessful managerial practices. The writing is designed to keep the reader engaged in a dynamic subject, and a variety of end-of-chapter materials, including comprehensive case studies that have been extensively classroom tested, enable a deeper inquiry and analysis of the subject.

Scholars often debate the domains of international business and international management. International management is a subset of international business, the latter encompassing all aspects of doing business, which includes marketing, finance, accounting, and information systems, among others. In contrast, international management is much more focused, concentrating on the manager and the managerial functions of planning, organizing, controlling, and leading. Of course, the international firm and the manager do not function in a vacuum; the environment of international business in terms of laws, cultural mores, economic conditions, exchange rate changes, and so on affect the nature, scope, and consequences of managerial actions. Recognizing this distinctive nature of international management, this text takes the slant of how managers organize the firm to take advantage of various business opportunities at home and abroad, and what practices to adopt under what circumstances.

Many colleges and universities around the world are providing comprehensive educational programs that have a pronounced international thrust at both graduate and undergraduate levels to train people for positions in international firms, government agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and international institutions. In the United States, the main accreditation organization for business schools, American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), requires a strong component of international business in the curriculum. University programs have become more sophisticated and include such features as foreign language proficiency, : study abroad, international guided travel, executives-in-residence, and internships in international firms, in addition to extensive coursework. More and more firms are placing fresh college/university recruits into tracks designed to build them into global managers. Overseas appointments, which at one time came much later in one's career, now often come at the outset of careers. This textbook provides a student with a comprehensive overview of the key managerial issues that a firm engaged in international business has to address and how they are being addressed. ORGANIZATION OF THE BOOK

Throughout the book, the term international firm is used frequently. It is a generic and broad term used to describe any firm that is engaged in international business whether as exporters or importers, as licensors or licensees, as partners of strategic alliances or joint ventures, or as owners of businesses overseas. The reader will find the use of this term uncomplicated and effective in understanding the nature of management in the international arena. The term multinational firm is also used to refer to specific firms that are headquartered in one country and have operations in more than one country.

The 12 chapters in this book are presented in four parts. The following diagram presents the book's structure and the interrelationship among the topics. Both culture and politics constitute the external environment of international management and they affect the international firm and its sense of social and ethical responsibility. Internal to the firm is the main subject of strategy determination and formulation, which leads to selecting alternative or multiple methods of doing international business—trading (exporting and importing), licensing (and franchising), and equity/nonequity investments. Whatever form of business is selected, it gives rise to the attendant issues of organizing the firm in a way that the strategic goals are realized. Because management is also a matter of employing, motivating, and retaining employees to implement the work of the firm, the issues connected with both the managerial staff as well as the rank and file employees are discussed.

Part I discusses the environment of business today and the role of the manager in the international firm. The first three chapters set the stage for learning about specific firm behaviors.

Chapter 1 describes the place of the firm in today's international business environment, the growing importance of international management, and the characteristics of the successful manager. The material in the chapter serves as the foundation for learning about the managerial choices and skills required to make a firm function successfully in the international environment.

Chapters 2 and 3 expand on the environment of business by discussing the roles of national governments and national cultures. In Chapter 2, the focus is on the role of culture in molding societies and business practices. Various paradigms on categorizing and understanding cultures are presented. In addition, the chapter illustrates how managers can adapt to specific cultural differences and successfully pursue the firm's strategic goals. Chapter 3 examines the demands that managers face from various sovereign governments with regard to running the business and the compromises they make. Because politics is a crucial factor in the environment of international business, the chapter looks at how managers anticipate, prepare for, and reduce, if not eliminate, the risk posed to their operations by a range of governmental activities.

Part II of the book focuses on the strategy formulation and foreign market entry choices. Four chapters examine these issues. The thrust of Chapter 4 is on how firms formulate their strategies to compete successfully. Two alternative strategies, one focusing on efficiency of the firm and the other on the firm responding to national differences, are examined in detail. The chapter also looks at some of the strategic issues faced by multinational firms such as developing and protecting core competencies of the firm.

Chapters 5, 6, and 7 study the management dimensions of various international business arrangements. The topic of Chapter 5 is exporting and importing with the latter including offshore sourcing. It also presents a discussion of trading companies. Chapter 6 examines licensing and franchising as international business activities and the managerial issues connected with them. In Chapter 7, the emphasis is on the management issues associated with ownership-related activities such as joint ventures and wholly owned subsidiaries. The chapter also discusses the strategic opportunities and the managerial challenges inherent in strategic alliances.

Part III looks at how the firm goes about organizing itself both in terms of creating its chain of value-adding activities as well as how it is set up in terms of departments, flow of authority, and locus of decision making. Chapter 8 examines the management of logistics issues, such as site selection for plant and facilities, the role of transportation, designing the operations process, and quality control. To run a business successfully and achieve its strategic goals, the firm has to be organized appropriately. Several alternative organizational structures are presented and evaluated in Chapter 9. The chapter also examines the issues of centralization and decentralization of decision making, the nature of the control system, and some of the mechanisms used by firms for enforcing control.

Part IV focuses on the subject of managing human resources in the international environment as well as on the issues of ethics and social responsibility. Chapters 10 and 11 deal with the human resource dimensions of international management. In Chapter 10, the emphasis is on recruiting, selecting, training, and compensating managers, especially those who are posted abroad. The chapter also looks at how firms deal with managers returning home after a period of duty abroad and the special circumstances of women managers. The material in Chapter 11 looks at the human resource aspects of the rank and file workers. An extensive discussion sorts out how the presence of labor unions among a work force complicates the managerial function. Labor unions in the home country historically have opposed overseas investment by firms seeing it as a threat to the continued employment of its members. Thus, managers have to deal with labor relations both in the home and the host country.

In the final chapter of this book, Chapter 12, the topic centers on the dilemmas posed by ethical choices in international operations and the exercise of social responsibility. The chapter also looks at how the international firm is affected by voluntary codes of conduct and how such firms try to influence host governments to avoid strict scrutiny of their practices. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would be remiss in my responsibilities if I did not acknowledge the value of the extensive comments and suggestions made by two teams of reviewers. Much of the improvement of this book can be credited to the following people.

Laurel Adams, Northwestern University; Trevor Bain, University of Alabama; John W Clarry, Montclair State University; Andrew Delios, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; Alan Ellstrand, California State University-Long Beach; David Flanagan, Western Michigan University; Maureen Flemming, University of Montana; Turgut Guvenli, Minnesota State University-Mankato; Erdener Kaynak, Pennsylvania State University; John Kilpatrick, Idaho State University; Hema Krishnan, Xavier University; Mike Lee, California State University; Douglas McCabe, Georgetown University; Ray Montagno, Ball State University; Leslie E. Palich, Baylor University; Carol Sanchez, Grand Valley State University; Manuel G. Serapio, University of Colorado at Denver; Nader H. Shooshtari, University of Montana; Bob Spagnola, Colorado State University; John Stanbury, Indiana University of Kokomo; Ken Tillery, Middle Tennessee State University; Fairlee Winfield, Northern Arizona University; Frederick M. Zimmerman, University of St. Thomas (MN).

I am especially indebted to the students at The College of New Jersey who have taken my international management course over the years. The classroom discussions, the case analyses, and their insightful comments provided me the encouragement and the ideas on what and how to present the material in the book. I am also grateful to Melissa Steffens at Prentice Hall for her constant encouragement and reassurance and for managing so competently the entire editing and publication process. Last but not least, the most important thanks go to my wife Tracy and son TheoRishi. This acknowledgment is more than a mere familial obligation. They suffered patiently through the years sacrificing much so that I could pursue and complete this project. To them, I dedicate this book.

About this edition

• Publisher: Prentice Hall
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0201471531
• ISBN 13: 9780201471533
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 672