Introduction

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.

—Marcel Proust

This book is for managers like Lars, a senior German manager who has worked and lived in many countries and is now in charge of operations at a multinational technical firm, working with his teams to develop and implement global strategies; like Magdi, a senior Lebanese manager who has also worked and lived in many countries and is now in charge of an important, but challenging, country organization for a global multinational company; and like Amanda, an American senior manager with a great track record in new product development and marketing at many important Silicon Valley firms, now with direct responsibility for international operations.

The book is also for young managers like Rachna, an Indian now in Europe, globally sourcing service contracts for a US-based multinational; like Jonatas, a Brazilian now in the Middle East, optimizing supply chain for a Europe-based specialty chemicals firm selling its product to Asia; like Rich, a Canadian who returned to his home country after working abroad, to innovate new practices in the oil industry; and like Kathie, just starting her career, intrigued about international management and eager to learn what it entails.

It’s also for people like Jemilah, Ed, Feena, Judy and Jim: senior leaders in global NGOs who are actively trying to help the world while simultaneously revolutionizing their industry to make aid more effective. And it is for Jesper, Mahoto, Ernest and Saskia, young managers creating innovative ways to combine aid, development, and entrepreneurship to help people help themselves in countries with developing economies.

The book is also for people like Josefine, Mads, Veronica, and other senior leaders in human resources responsible for attracting, assessing, developing, and enabling all the people who manage their organizations internationally.

This book is not just a book about global business. It is about people who conduct business – and manage other types of organizations – in a global environment. It discusses and explores typical situations that managers encounter: the problems and opportunities; the frustrations and rewards; the successes and failures; the decisions they must make and the actions they must take.

Global business is not an impersonal activity, and it should not be studied solely in an impersonal way. It is important to understand trade theories; to be able to weigh the pros and cons of exporting versus licensing; or to understand the advantages of a joint venture versus a wholly-owned subsidiary. But, eventually theory must give way to practice; strategizing and debating alternatives must give way to action. Working globally means interacting with colleagues, customers, and suppliers from other countries to achieve a specific outcome. We focus on these interactions, on getting things done with and through other people in an international context.

DEVELOPING INTERNATIONAL MANAGERS: RESEARCH-GROUNDED, PRAGMATICALLY-TESTED

We have developed, refined, and tested the perspectives in this book for over 40 years with undergraduates, graduate students, and practicing executives of all levels around the world. Combining conceptual knowledge and contextually based skill-building provides an effective learning package. In addition to drawing on the research of others, we have conducted our own research on the issues and skills relevant to international management, as well as how best to train global managers.

Management focus

We take a problem-solving approach to international business. International business activities are complex situations in which both business and cultural factors are often simultaneously embedded. The skills needed to cross boundaries cannot be isolated from business realities, and appreciating various and multiple influences on behavior can make a difference in outcome and performance.

Behavioral focus

The human element in managing effectively across cultures is just as important as, and sometimes more important than, the technical or functional elements. However, most managers have developed stronger technical or business skills than boundary-spanning interpersonal and cultural skills. They need to complement these strong technical backgrounds with the behavioral skills; if they don’t, they may never get the opportunity to use the business or technical skills.

Process focus

Related to the behavioral orientation is a process orientation – behaving, interacting, learning, and moving forward to meet objectives. This perspective is an important contributor to success in a global market. In other words, leading well in an international setting is not just about having the right characteristics or competences, it’s about the dynamics of knowing how to adapt quickly and effectively. Often, good international management is less about “finding a solution or making a decision” and more about “identifying and embarking on a process.”

Intercultural focus

The material in this text focuses primarily on the interaction between people of different cultures in work settings. This intercultural orientation is distinct from a comparative approach, in which management practices of individual countries or cultures are examined and compared. We will often report on cultural comparisons, but we will focus on what happens at the intersection. This is the interface that provides both the greatest challenges and the most interesting opportunities.

Culture-general focus

This book is intended for a wide variety of managers and international staff who must function effectively in a global environment; therefore, we do not concentrate deeply on particular cultures, countries or regions. A culture-general perspective provides a framework within which country-specific learning can take place more rapidly as necessary. It helps to know what questions to ask and how to interpret the answers received when conducting business globally or helping others to do the same. It helps the learner become more effective at learning and adapting to other cultures. We do provide specific examples of cultures, countries and regions: not enough to take the place of in-depth culture-specific training for people who are assigned to a particular place, but enough to enhance the impact of that training.

OUTLINE OF THE BOOK: FOLLOWING THE CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

The four parts of this book follow the main categories of challenges and opportunities we see international managers experiencing most frequently.

Part 1 is made up of Chapter 1, The Global Manager. This chapter explores the role of people who manage others in a global environment, and what makes it different from “regular” management. It introduces a global mindset, a global leadership competences model, and a set of principles for leading. These three elements set the organizing framework for the rest of the book.

Part 2 consists of three chapters that look at the individual and interpersonal sides of global management. Chapter 2 discusses culture and its effect on people and their behavior, Chapter 3 describes a model for interacting effectively across cultures, and Chapter 4 focuses on global teams and networks.

Part 3 moves the discussion from the individual to the organizational level. Chapter 5 focuses on strategy execution in a global context. Chapter 6 examines the challenge of complexity facing global managers and issues in recruiting and developing the people in this talent pool. Chapter 7 provides guidance on managing change in global organizations.

Part 4 has two chapters on competing with integrity in global business. Chapter 8 focuses on ethics at an individual level and Chapter 9 looks at corporate sustainability issues.

The chapters combine our own research and experience and that of many others. This is not a typical textbook in that we do not provide a review of all the research in the field. Other resources do that well. We focus here on the research that provides the most immediate practical guidance for managers, and present it in ways that have proven to be helpful for practice. We provide many examples throughout the book to help readers see how others have applied the lessons, and generate ideas for applying the ideas and behaviors themselves. Most of our examples come directly from the experience of managers we’ve worked closely with, and we’ve tried to capture the flavor, feeling, and tempo of these people and the places in which they live and work. They may not be as recognizable as leaders who capture headlines in the press, but we provide more behavioral and reflective insights. We find they provide great role models.

In this edition, we have not provided full-length teaching cases. If you are a professor using this book for a class or a consultant using it to develop others, please see our website www.wiley.com/go/lane7e for sample syllabi, annotated suggestions for teaching cases, and resources for teaching and developing global leaders.

Globalization means that one does not have to travel to another country to be exposed to situations of cultural diversity. For example, consider a manager in Boston who works for Genzyme which is one of the world’s leading biotech companies. This company was founded in Boston in 1981 and was acquired by Sanofi SA from France in 2011. Now the American manager may be frequently travelling to France or interacting with French managers when they come to Boston. This same manager possibly interacts with a number of other local Boston...