International management has never been as significant as it is today. Many of the world’s largest firms are truly global, and even their smaller counterparts increasingly participate in cross-border activities by subcontracting—having customers and joint venture partners collaborate with them around the globe.
The arena of international management has never offered so many opportunities and challenges to individual managers, businesses, governments, and the academic community alike. The expansion of the global market has created a need for managers who are familiar with the problems of international trade and finance such as culture, political structure, foreign exchange, geographical terrain, time, food and technology.
The trend towards a single global economy is expanding markets and providing unlimited opportunities for international managers. To remain parallel and compatible to other technologies, countries need to work together as more of a global economy. In addition, to have the greatest amount of technological expertise they need to combine their shared knowledge, which could augment this reciprocal relationship.
The managerial talents within a nation are key ingredients in the economic welfare of such a nation. Being able to organise production is critically important for developing and maintaining high standards of living in any country. One can state that wise organisation and governance are equal in importance to a country’s natural resources and its population.
International management requires the understanding of crossing cultures, multinational corporations’ interactions, global perspectives, and corporate issues. Understanding individual values of a high ethical standard would be another asset we want to emphasise throughout this book. Not only does international management rely on core business competencies, but also it requires the knowledge and skills necessary to operate and succeed in an international business arena. Today, multicultural managers are indispensable not only when they work with people from other countries but also with people from the same country, who speak the same language, have the same national heritage and yet, have different ways of looking at the world.
An economy per se is multicultural nowadays. In fact, international management involves planning, organising, leading, and controlling of employees and other resources to achieve organisational goals across unique multicultural and multinational boundaries.
An international manager is someone who must handle things, ideas, and people belonging to different cultural environments while ensuring that allocating and directing of human resources achieves the goals of the organisation, while respecting the beliefs, traditions, and values of the native or host country (Pierre, 1980). This is a non-current definition but it still gives a revealing discernment of this complex subject. Because the process of globalisation is becoming highly competitive and deepens interactions worldwide, the international environment has created enormous challenges for managers. These challenges include analysing the new environment, anticipating its effect on the home company, planning and managing to adapt to situational factors, while attempting to maintain an ethical climate. What is more important, international management demands a contingency approach to the ever changing environment. This means the choice of management system and style depends on the nature of the country, and the people involved.
An economy per se is multicultural nowadays. In fact, international management involves planning, organising, leading, and controlling of employees and other resources to achieve organisational goals across unique multicultural and multinational boundaries.
An international manager is someone who must handle things, ideas, and people belonging to different cultural environments while ensuring that allocating and directing of human resources achieves the goals of the organisation, while respecting the beliefs, traditions, and values of the native or host country (Pierre, 1980). This is a non-current definition but it still gives a revealing discernment of this complex subject. Because the process of globalisation is becoming highly competitive and deepens interactions worldwide, the international environment has created enormous challenges for managers. These challenges include analysing the new environment, anticipating its effect on the home company, planning and managing to adapt to situational factors, while attempting to maintain an ethical climate. What is more important, international management demands a contingency approach to the ever changing environment. This means the choice of management system and style depends on the nature of the country, and the people involved.
