Doing Business Internationally: The Guide to Cross-Cultural Success

Offering profitable insights into working with and managing people in global organizations, Doing Business Internationally provides guidelines for developing a solid grounding in cross-cultural competence. Starting with an overview of six cultural regions in the world-Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and North America--the authors build the framework for organizing cross-cultural experiences and identifying and working with key principles of communication and negotiation across cultural lines. Doing Business Internationally identifies the dynamics and scope of today's global workforce--and defines the core success factors for managing effectively in the global environment. This guide includes all the information necessary to: analyze key global trends and their impact on current business practices; recognize the impact of cultural differences on business practices; adapt key business skills to achieve better results when working with different cultures; identify the critical success factors needed by managers operating across borders.

Designed as a training program for those engaged in international business operations and academics, this book addresses the impact of cultural diversity on international business and expresses the necessity for developing "cultural competence" by international business operators. Drawing both from the literature of cross-cultural studies and from the experience of their practice, the authors (who are business consultants) take the fascinating approach of breaking the complexities of cultural differences into value orientations, put in the context of ten variables: environment, time, action, communication, space, power, individualism, competitiveness, structure, and thinking. The resulting framework offers readers systematic guidance on how to put in perspective the many factors and variations of cross-cultural issues. This work, which cites additional useful resources, is recommended for all business collections.
Ali D Abdulla, East Carolina Univ., Greenville, N.C.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.