This paper identifies and examines a wide range of current management issues, both internal and external to the organisation, that impact on international managers operating across national borders. It helps students understand implications of a global economy by highlighting the key challenges of managing across cultural and national boundaries.

The first part of the course focuses on the nature of globalisation, suggesting ‘globalisation is contentious issue/phenomena. A brief review of the fundamental drivers of globalisation is followed by studying the key arguments put forth by ‘globalists’ explaining why globalisation is good. The benefits of globalisation are discussed with reference to the ‘visible improvements’ observed in the Chinese and Indian economies. The section also discusses the anti-globalists arguments and the impact of global events such as War and pandemics on globalistion.

The second part of the course considers the development of the global economy and the corresponding emphasis on the ‘global mindset’ that is presumed to be associated with effective management of organisations operating in the global economy. This section highlights the nature and limitations of the ‘domestic mindset’. It argues for the development of a global mindset explaining how it enables the manager to understand market segments and business functions on a global basis. The section discusses the cognitive capabilities required of senior managers in multi-national corporations underscoring the challenges of managing across cultural and national boundaries.

The third part of the course considers the impact of national culture on the strategic behaviour of the firms and their managers. First, it examines the importance of national culture in explaining patterns of relationship in multi-national teams and extends a social networks perspective to multinational teams and organisations. Next, in light of the increased focus on global cooperation, cultural tendencies in negotiations are accessed to examine how national culture affects the negotiating style of managers.

The final section covers the ethical aspects of doing business across national boundaries with a focus on the responsibility of multinationals in developing countries. First, it considers whether business ethics are ‘universal’ such that there are ethical norms commonly recognized in all countries. Next, it examines whether we can distinguish different approaches to ethical issues across nations and the extent to which cultural dimensions can predict the social responsibility values of top management team members. Overall, the section concludes by highlighting the new pressures for principled behaviour on a global scale to evaluate the correlation between ethical standards and the economic success of global firms

This is an online paper taught through moodle and panopto lecture videos. Please refer to moodle for more details

https://waikato.rl.talis.com/lists/247BC4E7-B80A-AD2B-266C-255542F97D21.html