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The study of international business has become increasingly important in recent years. So important that the American Assembly of the Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) has called for the internationalisation of business curricula. In 1992 and beyond, successful business people will treat the entire world as their domain. No one country can operate in an economic vacuum. Any economic measures taken by one country can affect the global economy. This book is designed to challenge the reader to develop a global perspective of international business. Globalisation is by no means a new concept, but there are many new factors that have contributed to its recently accelerated growth. Among them, the new technologies in communication and transport that have resulted in major expansions of international trade and investment. In the future, the world market will become predominant. There are bound to be big changes in the world economy. For instance the changes in Eastern Europe and the European Community during the 1990s. With a strong knowledge base in international business, future managers will be better prepared for the new world market. This book introduces its readers to the exciting and rewarding field of international management and international corporations. It is written in contemporary, easy‐to‐understand language, avoiding abstract terminology; and is organised into five sections, each of which includes a number of chapters that cover a subject involving activities that cross national boundaries.

This purpose of this paper is to examine four separate though interconnected questions concerning corporations operating, in Anglo American jurisdictions.

The paper first examines the nature of the limited liability corporation as an entity dedicated to maximizing shareholder value, and how far this role is consistent with the pursuit of wider policies of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Second, it reviews the ownership arrangements of the corporation, the fiduciary duties of board directors and how this is translated into the task of maximizing shareholder value through the pursuit of profits. Third, it investigates how directors position themselves commercially in maximizing shareholder value and whether shareholders express views on how shareholder value can best be maximized. Finally conclusions are drawn on how best corporations and their directors can address the challenge of meeting shareholder value and how far this implies realignment in terms of wider societal expectations. The method of research used includes an examination of statute law governing the corporation, judge's law, regulatory law, other soft law in the context of outsider controlled capital markets. Relevant published research material is also declared in the bibliography.

Conclusions drawn suggest that the premise of maximization of shareholder value may very well entail the pursuit by directors of wider social and economic objectives consistent with CSR, if this is consistent with the enhancement of shareholder value. They also point to a lack of clarity on the question of what is expected of directors in meeting their fiduciary and broader director's duties as expressed in the objective of maximizing shareholder value. Evidence suggests that there is little effective communication between shareholders and directors on how best shareholder value can be maximized. Specifically the analysis focuses on how best to overhaul the mechanisms of governance and accountability if directors and the shareholders they represent are to develop and execute rational commercial policies aimed at maximizing shareholder value.

The paper breaks new ground in linking CSR to the enhancement of shareholder value and in suggesting that directors may be negligent in their duty to promote shareholder value if they fail do so. The paper should be of interest to company directors, company legal advisors; other corporate lawyers involved in litigation against directors, and policy makers in government.

Human resources are considered the most important component of a corporation's competitive advantage in global markets. Society, workers and shareholders expect corporations to manage and utilise human resources not only for the competitive advantage of a corporation but of a nation. Corporations are expected to disclose information relating to the management of human resources in their annual reports. This study analysed the annual reports of a sample of publicly traded corporations in six countries (USA, Canada, Germany, UK, Japan, and S. Korea) for the purpose of an international comparison of human resource information disclosure. Results of the analysis revealed that corporations in different countries differed in the disclosure of human resources information. In particular, those in Europe disclosed more human resources information than those in Asia and North America. The corporations in the financial services sector, which employed over two thirds of the workforce in the developed countries were also different from those in the manufacturing sector in disclosure of human resources information. The details of the differences between the two sectors, and among the six nations of the three continents, in terms of the incidence (frequency) and the word count (content) of information disclosed on different hitman resources issues in the annual reports are presented in the paper.

The purpose of this paper is to conceptualise how future changes in corporate social disclosure (CSD), aimed at improving accountability for corporate performance to key stakeholder groups, might be brought about.

Drawing on the work of the Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises with respect to human (and organisational) action and the work of Leon Festinger and Kurt Lewin with respect to human (and organisational) change, the paper examines how academics and other corporate stakeholders might effect changes in CSD.

Managers act in a way which maximises their formal happiness (from von Mises) and change occurs following the creation of cognitive dissonance (Festinger) which leads to “unfreezing” (Lewin). Stakeholders can effect change by creating cognitive dissonance. With specific reference to Anglo‐American limited liability and publicly traded corporations, such cognitive dissonance and unfreezing normally involves a perceived threat to profitability.

Research and theorising in corporate social disclosure patterns should take as given: that the managers of Anglo‐American limited liability and publicly traded corporations continue to be strongly encouraged, via both legal and remunerative means, to maximize shareholder wealth; and that this state of affairs significantly influences the information which management choose to disclose. Future research might instead examine and consider means of creating sources of dissonance significant enough to result in managerial concern for change within the constraints imposed on managers of Anglo‐American corporations. Such research might be conducted by engaging with organisations and their stakeholders.

The findings have implications for the manner in which corporate stakeholders act and interrelate with others in order to effect change towards more complete and credible sustainability reports which demonstrate accountability for material impacts to key stakeholder groups.

The paper focuses on how change in corporate behaviour might be brought about given the personal motivations and institutional constraints imposed on the behaviour of corporate actors.

This paper examines the applicable scope of United States employment discrimination law to “American” employers of U.S. citizens abroad. Through an analysis of the extraterritorial dimension of American anti‐bias, it is demonstrated that over time, it has become accepted that the full‐range of U.S. anti‐bias law applies transnationally. However, just who is considered an “American” firm is an open‐ended question under the Mas Marques test codified in the Civil Rights Act of 1991. The implications of this ambiguity could well lead to potential legal conflicts in the area of employment discrimination for a multitude of firms worldwide who may not consider themselves presently to be bound by United States employment law.

This paper analyzes and explains the dynamics of corporate evolution in the context of anthropologist conception of culture. The multinational corporate characterizing the Galbraithian world, as The New Industrial State, dominates the current economic landscape. The conception of corporate culture and its dynamics lays bare the locus of corporate power which resides in the control of corporate technology. Granting this dynamic, the question then arises concerning the agency which controls the application and use of this cumulated corporate power. Corporate power and policy in the USA are currently directed by a social institution in the form of profits without social responsibility. This policy is manifest in a “low road” of cost reduction. Such a policy direction exacerbates rather than ameliorates the current economic malaise now characterizing the US economy.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze how popular culture in general and movies in particular both reflected and shaped public attitudes to newly emerging corporate giants in the 1950s; to demonstrate how that view was itself shaped by political context and prevailing American ideology.

The paper rests on a content analysis of 11 corporate films released in the USA between 1954 and 1960.

Studying corporate movies during the 1950s lends an appreciation of the salience of understanding the political/cultural context of business history. The movies also reflected Cold War realities: the constraints imposed by an anti‐communist blacklist, and the belief – hope, perhaps – that capitalist corporations would stand as a bulwark against the alien ideology of Communism.

The films studied are all US‐made. Studying films from later decades might also lend additional perspective.

The paper demonstrates the value of considering political context and ideology in understanding business history.

The purpose of this paper is to review the development of the German advertising industry starting from 1950 to 2018 with a special focus on the American influence.

The paper uses the oral history methodology. The content is based on 27 semi-structured interviews with current and former experts from the German and American advertising industry. An analysis of secondary sources supports the line of argumentation.

The paper confirms the outstanding role of the American influence on the German advertising industry, owing to new standards of professionalism, to novel versions of terminology and to the introduction of the theory of marketing. However, incompatible management styles, increasing global competition and financial pressure diminished the impact. Likewise, the American interference did not suppress the development of specific German industry characteristics such as a strong entrepreneurial culture or sustainable leadership.

This paper provides an overview of the history of German advertising with a focus on advertising agencies in the period from 1950 to today (2018). Further, this paper assesses the special impact of the American influence on the German advertising industry. Further, subjects of investigation are particularities of the German advertising industry, such as special attributes of agency leaders and their relationship with clients, distinct versions of ownership structures, agency service offerings and, finally, the role of creativity.

Based on the American antidumping cases against China, the purpose of this paper is to construct an early warning model for Chinese exports.

In order to overcome the drawbacks of the existing early warning models for antidumping, first, the authors screen out six most relevant indices that play a key role in US textile corporations' decision of antidumping petition against China from 2002 to 2006, then design a early warning system for antidumping petition based on panel data logit model.

The regression result indicates that unemployment ratio and import‐penetration ratio significantly influence the antidumping filing decisions; when the other invariables keep the same, with the market share of China textile goods increasing by 1 per cent point, the odds ratio of antidumping petitions against China textiles increases by about 3.7 per cent.

As far as the authors are aware there is no definite research yet about early warning system of antidumping events, and this paper aims to specifically address this issue.

This paper examines the determinants of capital structure of large corporations of industrialized countries (excluding financial institutions and regulated utilities), using five years of data ending in 1992. The study employs variables reflecting differing theoretical arguments on capital structure. We find evidence similar to previous empirical research using data for American companies. In particular, the pecking order theory of capital structure, with past profitability being the major determinant of leverage, is supported. For U.S. firms, but not for Japanese firms, tax factors also appear to be important determinants of capital structure. In general, variables proxying for firm size and growth also appear to be significant variables in explaining capital structure variations. Corporations from Germany and Italy appear to be most different from the American companies, with the former having lower and the latter higher leverage ratios relative to the U.S. corporations. Japanese companies appear to use less long‐term leverage, a result that is consistent with the close ties between Japanese firms and their banks — a relationship that permits a greater use of short‐term financing than is true in the U.S.