Contents
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International Business Management
Rationale
International trade is exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories.[1] In most countries, it represents a significant share of gross domestic product (GDP). While international trade has been present throughout much of history (see Silk Road, Amber Road), its economic, social, and political importance has been on the rise in recent centuries.
Global Competitiveness Index (2008-2009): competitiveness is an important determinant
for the well-being of states in an international trade environment.
Industrialization, advanced transportation, globalization, multinational corporations, and outsourcing are all having a major impact on the international trade system. Increasing international trade is crucial to the continuance of globalization. Without international trade, nations would be limited to the goods and services produced within their own borders.
International trade is in principle not different from domestic trade as the motivation and the behaviour of parties involved in a trade do not change fundamentally regardless of whether trade is across a border or not. The main difference is that international trade is typically more costly than domestic trade. The reason is that a border typically imposes additional costs such as tariffs, time costs due to border delays and costs associated with country differences such as language, the legal system or culture.
Another difference between domestic and international trade is that factors of production such as capital and labour are typically more mobile within a country than across countries. Thus international trade is mostly restricted to trade in goods and services, and only to a lesser extent to trade in capital, labour or other factors of production. Then trade in goods and services can serve as a substitute for trade in factors of production.
Instead of importing a factor of production, a country can import goods that make intensive use of the factor of production and are thus embodying the respective factor. An example is the import of lab or-intensive goods by the United States from China. Instead of importing Chinese labour the United States is importing goods from China that were produced with Chinese labour
International trade is also a branch of economics, which, together with international finance, forms the larger branch of international economics.
- Models
- Top trading nations
- Top traded commodities (exports)
- Regulation of international trade
- Risk in international trade
- Gallery
- Data
- Official statistics
- United Nations Commodity Trade Database
- WTO Statistics Portal
- Statistical Portal: OECD
- European Union International Trade in Goods Data
- European Union International Trade in Services Data (sub-collection of the Balance of payment statistics)
- European Union Exports and Imports (sub-collection of the National accounts statistics)
- Food and Agricultural Trade Data by FAO
- Brazilian Trade Data
- Other data sources
- Official statistics
- Other external links
- The Expected Benefits of Trade Liberalization for World Income and Development:
- Opening the "Black Box" of Global Trade Modelling by Antoine Bouët (2008)
- The McGill Faculty of Law runs a Regional Trade Agreements Database
- Interactive Ricardian Model Simulator
- Consumers for World Trade Education Fund electronic trade library
- International trade, Encyclopædia Britannica
- Benefits of International Trade
- Should trade be considered a human right?
- Penn Program on Regulation's Import Safety Page
- Articles on EU international trade in Statistics explained.
This course provides a comprehensive introduction to issues and challenges for managing a multinational workforce in light of an organization’s strategic objectives and the larger global environment in which multinational organizations operate. We will investigate techniques and strategies for managing performance in multinational settings to insure effective and efficient performance. Topics include cross-cultural teams and leadership and international dimensions of human resource management. The structure of the course consists of one lecture and two discussion sections per weekly course meeting. Lectures will be based on the required text and will provide the basic conceptual background for the course. Once per week, individual students will make a presentation and lead discussion of assigned readings about the practical realities of international management. In addition to class participation, students will be expected to write an in-depth case study.
Learning Outcomes
After completing the course, students will be able to
1. Review an organization or current business situation.
2. Identify and develop a situation statement requiring a proposed solution.
3. Identify specific organization activities/functions affected by the proposed solution.
4. Identify and utilize primary (proprietary) and secondary (public) sources of information relevant to the business situation being studied.
5. Process the foundational components contributing to the preparation of the final recommended solution.
6. Prepare the final recommended solution.
Today's Videos
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Teaching and Learning Resources
Introduction
Globalization (or globalisation[1]), although often described as the cause of much turbulence and change, is in fact the umbrella term for the collective effect, the change itself. Globalization (i.e. the aggregate change we observe in our factories, storefronts, indeed generally across our economies and lifestyles) is caused by four fundamental forms of capital movement throughout the global economy. The four fundamental capital flows are:
Most of the stresses and complexities confronted in the general macro affairs of countries, communities, and the interactions between them, can be traced to these four flows. Connectivity available via cheaper telecommunications and modes of travel-- made more accessible to more people, facilitates these interactions at a rate unprecedented in history. |
The "Stocks and Stripes flag", the united stockholders of America. A protest flag signifying the alleged corporate influence over the U.S. |
Cultural and political frictions at all levels can thus be explained as arising from the difference in opinion between two or more parties about the origination, treatment, timing, ownership or value of one or more of the capital flows.
- Meaning and debate
- History
- Nature and existence of globalization
- Characteristics
- Anti-globalization
- Pro-globalization (globalism)
- Other uses
- Measurement of globalization
- References and notes
- Marketization
- Mundialization
- Westernization
- Walmarting
- Saskia Sassen
- Global Empire
- The Global Economy
- World Economy
- The World Is Flat
- Links
Managing Change
Change management is a structured approach to shifting/transitioning individuals, teams, and organizations from a current state to a desired future state. It is an organisational process aimed at empowering employees to accept and embrace changes in their current business environment.[1]. In project management, change management refers to a project management process where changes to a project are formally introduced and approved.[2]
- List of human resource management topics
- Strategic change for change theories in strategic management
- Force field analysis
- Change management process
- References
- Change Management Forum
- Change Management Toolbook
- Article: What Blocks Support? understanding the nature of resistance to change
- Improving your chances of change success
Assessing the Environment
Assessing External Environments
The external environment consists of the forces and conditions outside of the organisation that could potentially influence its performance. The task environment consist of those forces that have a high potential for affecting the organisation on an immediate basis. The general environment consists of those forces which typically influence the organisation's external task environment and thus the organisation itself and the internal environment is key factors and forces inside the organisation that affect its operations.
The general external environment includes demographic and societal values. Technological forces include product technological changes and process technological changes. Economic forces include current economic conditions and cycles, and structural changes. Political and legal forces includes laws and government activity. Global forces include those changes to institutions and physical infrastructure.
Higher profits occur in a task environment with few competitors, quality-based competition, high entry barriers and high switching costs, few new entrants, few substitutes, fragmented customers, many suppliers (i.e., in economic terms towards monopoly). Lower profits occur in a task environment with many competitors, price-based competition, low entry barriers and low switching costs, many new entrants, many substitutes, united customers, few suppliers (i.e., towards perfect competition). Strategic partners include organisations that work closely with a firm in pursuit of mutually beneficial goals (i.e., an oligopoly). The internal environment consists of owners, the board of directors, employees and corporate culture.
Managers must engage in environmental scanning and response. Effective scanning begins with defining the categories of influence, recognising the influence, analysing the effects and responding both directly and strategically through organisational agility and information management.
Introduction to Business Environment
A business does not function in a vacuum. It has to act and react to what happens outside the factory and office walls. These factors that happen outside the business are known as external factors or influences. These will affect the main internal functions of the business and possibly the objectives of the business and its strategies.
The main factor that affects most business is the degree of competition – how fiercely other businesses compete with the products that another business makes.
The other factors that can affect the business are:
Social – how consumers, households and communities behave and their beliefs. For instance, changes in attitude towards health, or a greater number of pensioners in a population. Legal – the way in which legislation in society affects the business. E.g. changes in employment laws on working hours. Economic – how the economy affects a business in terms of taxation, government spending, general demand, interest rates, exchange rates and European and global economic factors. Political – how changes in government policy might affect the business e.g. a decision to subsidise building new houses in an area could be good for a local brick works. Technological – how the rapid pace of change in production processes and product innovation affect a business. Ethical – what is regarded as morally right or wrong for a business to do. For instance should it trade with countries which have a poor record on human rights. Read more ... |
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External links
- Culture in the Business Environment
- Country profile: Australia
- Country profile: China
- Country profile: Egypt
- Country profile: India
- Country profile: Kuwait
- Country profile: Malaysia
- Country profile: Saudi Arabia
- Country profile: Singapore
- Country profile: South Africa
- Country profile: United Kingdom
- Country profile: United States of America
- Economy Watch
- Market Profile on Chinese Mainland
A market economy is an economy based on the power of division of labour in which the prices of goods and services are determined in a free price system set by supply and demand.[1]
This is often contrasted with a planned economy, in which a central government can distribute services using a fixed price system. Market economies are also contrasted with mixed economy where the price system is not entirely free but under some government control or heavily regulated, which is sometimes combined with state-led economic planning that is not extensive enough to constitute a planned economy.
In the real world, market economies do not exist in pure form, as societies and governments regulate them to varying degrees rather than allow self-regulation by market forces.[2][3] The term free-market economy is sometimes used synonymously with market economy,[4] but, as Ludwig Erhard once pointed out, this does not preclude an economy from having socialist attributes opposed to a laissez-faire system.
Different perspectives exist as to how strong a role the government should have in both guiding the market economy and addressing the inequalities the market produces. For example, there is no universal agreement on issues such as central banking, and welfare.
The term market economy is not identical to capitalism where a corporation hires workers as a labour commodity to produce material wealth and boost shareholder profits.[5] Market mechanisms have been utilized in a handful of socialist states, such as China, Yugoslavia and even Cuba to a very limited extent.
It is also possible to envision an economic system based on independent producers, cooperative, democratic worker ownership and market allocation of final goods and services; the labour-managed market economy is one of several proposed forms of market socialism.[6]
Government Intervention in the Market
In a free market economic system, scarce resources are allocated through the price mechanism where the preferences and spending decisions of consumers and the supply decisions of businesses come together to determine equilibrium prices. The free market works through price signals. When demand is high, the potential profit from supplying to a market rises, leading to an expansion in supply (output) to meet rising demand from consumers. Day to day, the free market mechanism remains a tremendously powerful device for determining how resources are allocated among competing ends.
Intervention in the market
The government may choose to intervene in the price mechanism largely on the grounds of wanting to change the allocation of resources and achieve what they perceive to be an improvement in economic and social welfare. All governments of every political persuasion intervene in the economy to influence the allocation of scarce resources among competing uses
What are the main reasons for government intervention?
The main reasons for policy intervention are:
- To correct for market failure
- To achieve a more equitable distribution of income and wealth
- To improve the performance of the economy
Options for government intervention in markets
There are many ways in which intervention can take place – some examples are given below
Read more ...
Managing Interdependence: Social Responsibility and Ethics
Tutorials
Readings
Corporate social responsibility ("CSR" for short, and also called corporate conscience, citizenship, social performance, or sustainable responsible business[1]) is a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model. CSR policy functions as a built-in, self-regulating mechanism whereby business monitors and ensures its active compliance with the spirit of the law, ethical standards, and international norms. The goal of CSR is to embrace responsibility for the company's actions and encourage a positive impact through its activities on the environment, consumers, employees, communities, stakeholders and all other members of the public sphere. Furthermore, CSR-focused businesses would proactively promote the public interest by encouraging community growth and development, and voluntarily eliminating practices that harm the public sphere, regardless of legality. CSR is the deliberate inclusion of public interest into corporate decision-making, and the honouring of a triple bottom line: people, planet, profit.
The term "corporate social responsibility" came in to common use in the early 1970s, after many multinational corporations formed. The term stakeholder, meaning those on whom an organization's activities have an impact, was used to describe corporate owners beyond shareholders as a result of an influential book by R. Edward Freeman, Strategic management: a stakeholder approach in 1984.[2] Proponents argue that corporations make more long term profits by operating with a perspective, while critics argue that CSR distracts from the economic role of businesses. Others argue CSR is merely window-dressing, or an attempt to pre-empt the role of governments as a watchdog over powerful multinational corporations.
CSR is titled to aid an organization's mission as well as a guide to what the company stands for and will uphold to its consumers. Development business ethics is one of the forms of applied ethics that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that can arise in a business environment. ISO 26000 is the recognized international standard for CSR (currently a Draft International Standard). Public sector organizations (the United Nations for example) adhere to the triple bottom line (TBL). It is widely accepted that CSR adheres to similar principles but with no formal act of legislation. The UN has developed the Principles for Responsible Investment as guidelines for investing entities.
- Approaches
- Social accounting, auditing, and reporting
- Potential business benefits
- Criticisms and concerns
External links
- Chinese Etiquette and Ethics in Business
- International Business Ethics Institute
- Social
responsibility
- Criticism of the doctrine of positive responsibility
- Elements of Social Responsibility according to Poll
- Some one liners on social responsibility
- References
- Links Some groups of professionals have defined their own intrinsic social responsibilities. Here are some examples:
The
International Labour Organization
The International Labour Organization (ILO) is the UN specialized
agency which seeks the promotion of social justice and internationally
recognized human and labour rights. The above website provides
an overview of the ILO.
The
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) makes certain payments
by U.S. companies to foreign officials illegal. However, many
U.S. companies argue that this restriction places them at a disadvantage,
especially since bribery is commonplace in many emerging economies
where U.S. companies are doing business. The above website provides
further insight into the FCPA.
Organization
for Economic Cooperation and Development
The OECD groups 30 member countries sharing a commitment to democratic
government and the market economy. The OECD also plays a prominent
role in fostering good governance in public service and corporate
activity. The above website provides an overview of the Organization
for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Managing Within Cultural Contexts
Tutorials
Readings
Organisational culture is an idea in the field of organisational studies and management which describes the psychology, attitudes, experiences, beliefs and values (personal and cultural values) of an organization. It has been defined as "the specific collection of values and norms that are shared by people and groups in an organization and that control the way they interact with each other and with stakeholders outside the organization."[1]
This definition continues to explain organisational values, also known as "beliefs and ideas about what kinds of goals members of an organization should pursue and ideas about the appropriate kinds or standards of behaviour organisational members should use to achieve these goals. From organisational values develop organisational norms, guidelines, or expectations that prescribe appropriate kinds of behaviour by employees in particular situations and control the behaviour of organisational members towards one another."[1]
- Strong/weak cultures
- Typologies of organisational cultures
- Elements
- Organisational Culture Assessment Instrument
- Organisational culture and change
- Entrepreneurial culture
- Critical views
- Organisational communication perspective on culture
- Mergers, organisational culture, and cultural leadership
- Corporate culture vs. organisational culture
Case Studies
The Financial And Human Costs Of Working From Home
Many people consider working from home to be the dream job. There are financial and human costs to working from home.
Cultural
Savvy
Gift giving is a sensitive issue, especially when it relates to
doing business in a new country. The following website provides
several guidelines to the giving of gifts as a part of being culturally
savvy.
Cultural
Customs around the World
Doing business in different countries and among different cultures
is oftentimes tense and confusing. However, the following website
provides important and easy to use guidelines that can help international
managers conduct cross-cultural negotiations more successfully.
Communicating across Cultures
Tutorials
Readings
Cross-cultural communication (also frequently referred to as intercultural communication, which is also used in a different sense, though) is a field of study that looks at how people from differing cultural backgrounds communicate, in similar and different ways among themselves, and how they endeavour to communicate across cultures.
- Origins
- Interdisciplinary orientation
- Global rise
- Incorporation into college programs
- International educational organizations
- Aspects of Cross Cultural Communication
- Cross-cultural
- Cross-cultural studies
- Cultural competence
- Cultural dimensions
- Human fit
- Intercultural cities
- Intercultural communication principles
- Intercultural competence
- Intercultural relations
- Interculturality
- Translation
- References
http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/focus/antisemitism/voices/transcript/?content=20100701 "Voices on Antisemitism" Interview with Diego Portillo Mazal] from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
Inter cultural Research: The Current State of Knowledge
A Dozen Rules of Thumb for Avoiding Inter cultural Misunderstandings
Inter cultural Communication portal reviews traditional aspect of language of diplomacy: analogy, ambiguity, interpretation and translation, texts and documents. Useful links point to other relevant sites.
International Association for Intercultural Communication Studies (IAICS)
Articles on Cross Cultural Communication
Case Studies
Cross
Cultural Communication
The advent of the global economy is changing the fundamental nature of our governments, businesses, organisations and populations. In short, we are no longer constrained by state boundaries but have all become part of an interdependent international network.
Barriers
to Effective Communication
Communication barriers exist in every organization and understanding
these barriers is the first step to maximizing the effectiveness
in a company. The following website discusses the role of communication
barriers in the communication process.
Cross-cultural Negotiation and
Decision Making
Tutorials
- Communication and Negotiation
- Individual and Group Decision Making
- Cross-cultural Negotiation and Decision Making
Readings
Cross-cultural negotiations: avoiding the pitfalls
When entering into negotiations, we should always take into account cultural factors such as the educational or religious background of the person sitting across the table, but, says INSEAD professor Horacio Falcao, many people both underestimate and overestimate the cross-cultural aspects.
Read more ...
- Cross Cultural Negotiation
- Cross Cultural Negotiation - How do negotiation styles and techniques differ across cultures?
- Inter Cultural Negotiation
Case Studies
Organisational Management - Managerial Decision Making
In this instalment of our guide to organisational management we look at managerial decision making... Effective managers are tasked with making decisions ranging from large to small on a daily basis. An effective organization employs managers who are problem-solvers and who can make decisions constantly.
Leadership
Decision Making
The leader of an organization plays an important role, not only
because he or she is involved in designing and implementing strategic
plans, but also because he or she is responsible for making key
decisions for the company. The following website discusses the
decision making process of leaders.
Strategic Management
Tutorials
Readings
Strategic management is a field that deals with the major intended and emergent initiatives taken by general managers on behalf of owners, involving utilization of resources, to enhance the performance of firms in their external environments.[1] It entails specifying the organization's mission, vision and objectives, developing policies and plans, often in terms of projects and programs, which are designed to achieve these objectives, and then allocating resources to implement the policies and plans, projects and programs. A balanced scorecard is often used to evaluate the overall performance of the business and its progress towards objectives. Recent studies and leading management theorists have advocated that strategy needs to start with stakeholders expectations and use a modified balanced scorecard which includes all stakeholders.
Strategic management is a level of managerial activity under setting goals and over Tactics. Strategic management provides overall direction to the enterprise and is closely related to the field of Organization Studies. In the field of business administration it is useful to talk about "strategic alignment" between the organization and its environment or "strategic consistency". According to Arieu (2007), "there is strategic consistency when the actions of an organization are consistent with the expectations of management, and these in turn are with the market and the context." Strategic management includes not only the management team but can also include the Board of Directors and other stakeholders of the organization. It depends on the organisational structure.
“Strategic management is an ongoing process that evaluates and controls the business and the industries in which the company is involved; assesses its competitors and sets goals and strategies to meet all existing and potential competitors; and then reassesses each strategy annually or quarterly [i.e. regularly] to determine how it has been implemented and whether it has succeeded or needs replacement by a new strategy to meet changed circumstances, new technology, new competitors, a new economic environment., or a new social, financial, or political environment.” (Lamb, 1984:ix)[2]
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Case
Studies
Developing
Core Competencies
Properly developed and managed, core competencies can place an
organization in the lead compared to its competition. The following
website provides a synopsis of the process to developing and implementing
a competitive strategy for an IT organization.
Developing
an Effective Global Strategy
Without well-planned and implemented global strategies, a potentially
successful international business can fast become the loser in
the competitive global environment. The following website provides
precise information on sources of well-designed global strategies
as well as drivers that determine an industry’s globalization
potential.
Global Alliances
and Strategy Implementation
Tutorials
Readings
A Strategic Alliance is a formal relationship between two or more parties to pursue a set of agreed upon goals or to meet a critical business need while remaining independent organizations.
Partners may provide the strategic alliance with resources such as products, distribution channels, manufacturing capability, project funding, capital equipment, knowledge, expertise, or intellectual property. The alliance is a cooperation or collaboration which aims for a synergy where each partner hopes that the benefits from the alliance will be greater than those from individual efforts. The alliance often involves technology transfer (access to knowledge and expertise), economic specialization [1], shared expenses and shared risk.
Contractual
Equity
- New
entity
- Independent Joint venture
- Dependent Joint Venture of Multinational Corporation
- Existing
entity
- Purchase of equity share
- Equity swap
- Stages of Alliance Formation
Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals, Inc. Professional organization that serves those who manage strategic alliances and corporate partnerships.
SMART- Strategic Merger & Alliance Resource Training program Metropolitan Detroit program assisting nonprofit organizations with the strategic alliance process.
Example of Strategic Alliance program Example of strategic Alliance program with Oracle and Unisys.
Example of coaching approach to cooperations smE-MPOWER approach for coaching the formation of strategic alliances developed within a European Union funded public project. Resulting international network of cooperation coaches as a learning community.
Joint Venture Web Articles, tutorials and a discussion forum about strategic alliances, joint ventures and advanced partnership strategies.
Alliance Strategy Offers resources and readings on alliance strategy and management.
Case Studies
Exporting
and the Small Business
One of the most common reasons businesses don't export is an inability
to develop a successful export strategy. The SBA's website provides
an excellent resource for small business managers who plan to
use exporting as a supplement to growing their companies.
The
Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals
Strategic Alliances is quickly becoming recognized as the fastest
way for a company to expand globally, sharing the risk associated
with the expansion, but also the profits reaped from the partnership.
The following website provides a useful forum for businesses interested
in exploring the opportunities associated with strategic alliances.
The
Evaluation of a Franchise
Franchising, one of the modes of internationally expansion, continues
to grow at a consistent rate. However, the franchising concept
can be a complex one, especially if the evaluation of a franchisor's
services is required. The following website provides several simple
steps in making this evaluation simple and fast.
Organisational
Development and Transformation
Tutorials
- Organisational Development and Transformation
- Organization Structure and Control Systems
- Organisational Structure and Design
- Control
Readings
Organization development (OD) is a planned, organization-wide effort to increase an organization's effectiveness and viability. Warren Bennis has referred to OD as a response to change, a complex educational strategy intended to change the beliefs, attitudes, values, and structure of organization so that they can better adapt to new technologies, marketing and challenges, and the dizzying rate of change itself.
Training meeting about sustainable design. The photo shows a training meeting with factory workers in
a stainless steel ecodesign company from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. These types of meeting are
important in order make people work together in one shared goal.
OD is neither "anything done to better an organization" nor is it "the training function of the organization"; it is a particular kind of change process designed to bring about a particular kind of end result. OD can involve interventions in the organization's "processes," using behavioural science knowledge[1] as well as organisational reflection, system improvement, planning, and self-analysis.
Kurt Lewin (1898–1947) is widely recognized as the founding father of OD, although he died before the concept became current in the mid-1950s. From Lewin came the ideas of group dynamics and action research which underpin the basic OD process as well as providing its collaborative consultant/client ethos. Institutionally, Lewin founded the "Research Centre for Group Dynamics" (RCGD) at MIT, which moved to Michigan after his death. RCGD colleagues were among those who founded the National Training Laboratories (NTL), from which the T-group and group-based OD emerged. In the UK, the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations was important in developing systems theories. The joint TIHR journal Human Relations was an early journal in the field. The Journal of Applied Behavioural Sciences is now the leading journal in the field.
External Links
Case Studies
Aligning
Structure and Strategy
The proper balance of an organization's structure and strategy
is necessary for a company to effectively compete against its
rivals. The following website discusses the importance of properly
aligning a company structure with its strategy.
Corporate
Culture in Mergers and Acquisitions
A healthy corporate culture is essential to the success of any
organization and the importance of compatible corporate cultures
become even more critical in the case of mergers and acquisitions.
The following website discusses key factors used to determine
the compatibility between potential permanent organisational partners.
Organisational
Change
Organisational change is needed in most organizations to generate
a new sense of mission among employees and leaders in a competitive
firm. The following website provides a useful method to determining
the proper steps to implementing organisational change.
Managing
Human Resources
Tutorials
Readings
Staffing, Training, and Compensation for Global Operations
Tutorials
Readings
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Case Studies
Gaining
the GlobalEDGE on the Competition
GlobalEDGE is an useful database that provides the international
manager with updated data to track and counteract the competition.
The information is arranged in various categories and allows the
manager to access critical decision making information quickly
and easily.
Selecting
the Right Expatriate
With the high cost of training and relocating an expatriate, it
is essential that a company select the right person for the expatriate
position. The following website provides insight to several important
traits necessary for expatriates to possess in order to succeed
on a foreign assignment.
Groups and Teams
Tutorials
Readings
In the social sciences a group can be defined as two or more humans who interact with one another, accept expectations and obligations as members of the group, and share a common identity. By this definition, society can be viewed as a large group, though most social groups are considerably smaller.
A true group exhibits some degree of social cohesion and is more than a simple collection or aggregate of individuals, such as people waiting at a bus stop. Characteristics shared by members of a group may include interests, values, representations, ethnic or social background, and kinship ties. Paul Hare regards the defining characteristic of a group as social interaction.[1]
- Types of groups
- Common uses of the term
- Significance of the definition
- Recruitment
- Development of a group
- Dispersal and transformation of groups
- Territory and dominance
- Bureaucracy
- Community
- Corporate group
- Crowd
- Crowd psychology
- Group conflict
- Group dynamics
- Group Emotion
- Group selection
- Group size measures
- Household
- Mob rule
- Organization
- Social class
- Social identity
- Social representations
- Solitary
- Status class
- References
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Leadership
Tutorials
- Leadership I — Basic Concepts and Processes
- Leadership II — Approaches and Issues
- Motivating and Leading
- Motivation
Readings
The Art and Science of Leadership
Recommended Texts
 |
International
Management: Helen Deresky 0131968580 (Paperback) Feb 2005, 528 pages Check the availability and buy your books from our Bookshop. |
 |
Michael
Hitt, Texas A&M University ISBN:
0-13-008847-1 Check
the availability and buy your books from our Bookshop. |
 |
The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises: Annual Report 2002 |
Resources
- Internet Centre for Corruption Research
- Country at a glance tables(World Bank)
- Development Indicators (World Bank)
- Economic Growth (from the World Bank)
- European Union Internet Resources
- Official Paul Krugman Home Page
- World Economic Outlook and International Capital Markets -- Interim Assessment, IMF, 1998.
- The World Trade Organization
- Globalization
Links
- Douglas Roche's proposal for UN Parliamentary Reform, in PDF
- Index of Globalization
- Latin American Globalization Index
- The Global Small Business Blog
- Globalisationguide
- Globalism/Antiglobalism A survey and a critical analysis
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Globalization Essays, Documents, etc. University of Iowa Centre for International Finance and Development
- The North American Free Trade Agreement
The
Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC)
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation
(OPIC) is a self-sustaining federal agency that sells investment
services to small, medium and large American businesses expanding
into approximately 140 developing nations and emerging markets
around the world. OPIC's political risk insurance, project finance
and investment funds fill a commercial void, creating a level
playing field for U.S. businesses and support development in emerging
economies.
The
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is an international
organization dedicated to promoting the use and protection of
intellectual property. With headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland,
WIPO is one of the 16 specialized agencies of the United Nations
system of organizations. It administers 23 international treaties
dealing with different aspects of intellectual property protection.
Organisational
Performance
The 360-degree feedback system is perhaps one of the most comprehensive
evaluation techniques used by organizations to determine the performance
of employees. The following website discusses the proper design
and implementation of this popular and effective evaluation system.
The
Global Coalition Against Corruption
Transparency International (TI) is a non-governmental organization
dedicated to increasing government accountability and curbing
both international and national corruption. The following website
provides an overview of the mission and goals of Transparency
International.
Expatriate
Networks
Taking on an expatriate assignment can be uncomfortable especially
when the country of relocation is very different in terms of culture
and economic and political stability. The following website provides
useful background information regarding several countries around
the world.
Expatriate
Repatriation
Many global companies fail to focus on repatriation issues taking
for granted that expatriates will easily readjust to the home
country culture and organisational issues. However, this lack
of repatriation focus has caused many firms to lose top talent
and as a result, lose a competitive advantage. The following website
discusses some of the effect of proper planning in the repatriation
effort.
Leadership
Styles
Leadership styles differ significantly and it is important for
a leader to understand how to develop his or her traits to become
a more effective role model. The following website provides a
useful segmentation of nine different leadership styles.
Leadership
Styles
The study of leadership is an extensive one and many models exist
on the variations of differing leadership styles. The following
website discusses the variations among leaders in organizations.