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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 article presents an extensive up‐to‐date list of selective references on quality circles.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the preferences for conflict management styles of Thais and Americans in multinational corporations in Thailand. Gender and the length of exposure to other cultures were also taken into account as influences on the preference for conflict management styles. Design/methodology/approach – Quantitative methodology was used. A total of 250 Thais and 64 Americans from 73 multinational companies were asked to complete the questionnaires consisting of conflict management style instrument and a set of demographic information. ANOVAs and Pearson's correlations were used for data analysis. Findings – Thais, compared with Americans, preferred avoiding and obliging conflict management styles and exhibited no differences in preferences for other styles. Males and females did not exhibit differences in preferences for conflict management styles. There was a negative correlation between length of stay abroad for Thais and preference for avoiding and obliging conflict management styles, and a positive correlation between length of stay abroad for Thais and preference for a dominating conflict management style. Research limitations/implications – The language of the instrument, the small number of American female participants, and the positions of the participants may limit the generalization of the findings. Practical implications – The paper presents a very useful source of information for people working in multinational corporations and trainers in the area of intercultural communication. Originality/value – This paper provides new insight into the preference of conflict management styles in a multinational context, the entity in which people from many cultures directly interact (intercultural perspective). The length of exposure to other cultures was also investigated in relation to the preference of conflict management styles.

Three manufacturing facilities of an international consumer products company were studied to determine cross‐cultural differences in how managers address employee participation. Despite nearly identical products, a common company culture, and other similarities, European managers demonstrated a very different perspective on employee participation than American managers. Implications for American managers are developed from these contrasts.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the pluralist contours of Canadian management “knowledge” using the discourse “official” bilingualism – the English and French languages – to understand the impact of socio-historical-political differences on the development of management knowledge production.

Drawing upon an archival collection of management textbooks as historical data, the authors critically explore and analyze the development of Canadian “schools” and management theory. Using narrative analysis and critical hermeneutics, the paper considers the socio-historical-political context of the various “Canadian” scholars that sought to establish a unique business academy distinct but paradoxically akin to the management schools in the USA.

Mirroring the struggle of Francophones in a dominant English imperative, French management textbooks appeared decades later than English titles. When French texts began to disseminate, it remained in the shadows of American management ideologies.

As only Canadian organizational behavior texts published within the previous 50 years were used as data in this study, it may be incautious to draw broader conclusions. The empirical element of this research relied upon convenience sampling of textbooks.

Management educators weld a considered level of socio-political power that they may or may not knowingly possess, especially in terms of selecting a textbook and other course materials. Regardless of background, management students are somewhat a “tabula rasa;” open to learning new content to make sense of the world. This “open state” places a great deal of responsibility on the professorate in shaping management students’ theoretical understanding of everyday life in organizations. The authors suggest practitioners be reflexive, aware of how textbooks serve as an important vehicle in education that in times past, have promoted or reified mono-cultural agendas.

The research in this paper builds on recent research that considers the role of socio-historical-political context in how management knowledge and theory is performed, as well as contributes to understanding textbooks in how they may shape a pluralist account of Canadian management “knowledge”.

This paper aims to trace the historical roots of African American management by examining managerial practices and experiences described in the letters of Benjamin Thornton Montgomery, a former slave who eventually became manager and, ultimately, owner of the Hurricane plantation.

The method used is the historical archival method of analysis, primarily the examination of a series of letters written by Montgomery during the 1865‐1870 time periods. These letters, which document the foundation and emergence of African American management during the Emancipation age, are for the first time presented as a source of management history.

Contrary to traditional thoughts of the insignificance of the plantation era to the history of management, the analysis indicates that Montgomery's management practices were quite sophisticated as they incorporated classical management principles of planning, delegation, leadership, and control.

This paper provides insights concerning the historical roots of management practices during the African American Emancipation period which could provide contemporary managers with a more realistic foundation of management practice.

The principal contribution of this investigation is the historical awareness of the documented roots of African American management represented by Montgomery's competence and perseverance to manage effectively while withstanding impeding racial attacks.

This paper presents an evolutionary journey of management thought through four phases viz. scientific management, human side, ethics and values and spirituality in management. Further, it presents three paradigms of management viz. American, Japanese and Indian in term of three key ideas viz. Kola (derived from Cola), Kaizen and Knowledge. It suggests that Indian paradigm is rooted in the spiritual view of human beings and there is a need to bring this view to management and leadership literature. This paper also makes a comparative analysis of three paradigms in terms of vision of life, influencing thinkers, dominant ethos and foundational theories. For future direction of management thinking, an integration of these three paradigms in terms of a holistic approach to corporate management is suggested.

The intention of this chapter is to evaluate the likelihood that the Critical Management Division (CMS) of the Academy of Management can accomplish anything beyond helping to promote the careers of its members.

This chapter examines the likelihood of getting anything done from a personalized historical approach, as the author was a witness to many of the events covered in the chapter. It also compares the experience of the CMS Division with that of critical management as an academic specialty in other nations.

After examining the evolution of the social role of the US-based Academy of Management along with the origins of the CMS Division, the author concludes that the division’s emergence was tolerated precisely because it was so unlikely to accomplish anything that might challenge the institutional privileges of academic management, let alone seriously threaten the hegemony of American-led global capitalism.

The chapter intends to discourage critical scholars from wasting their time and energy trying to make CMS into something it is not structurally capable of being, and instead focus on building organizations outside of the academy that might stand a chance of promoting the goals of critical management.

While several histories and critiques of UK-based critical management have been published, this chapter may be the first critical history of CMS.

A comparison of distributive justice strategies was made between a collectivistic culture, i.e., Mexico, and an individualistic culture, i.e., the United States. This study is the first to include the effect of ingroup/outgroup on the distribution strategies as Fischer and Smith (2003) called for in their extensive meta‐analysis of the topic. Distributive justice was operationalized as the monetary rewards given by Northern Mexicans and Americans in sixteen different allocation vignettes. The results showed that the two groups were significantly different in only one of the allocation vignettes. These results indicate a convergence between the cultures of the northern maquiladora region of Mexico and of the United States. Northern Mexicans and Americans were not significantly different in their distributive justice strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze Alfred Chandler's ideological shift from American exceptionalism to transnational history in research assumptions to identify significant corollaries for the study of management history.

Using the determinism‐indeterminism classifying framework proposed by Tucker, the paper classifies Chandler's works based on the extent to which they reflect Chandler's ideological commitment to exceptionalist versus transnational perspective.

The paper found that the year of 1980 was the turning point for Chandler's ideological shift from American exceptionalism to a more transnational comparative perspective.

The paper outlines the relevant implications of our findings for management history, calling for an emulation of Chandler's pursuit of comparative examinations of established concepts and management philosophy within the historical development of contemporary and past transnational firms and managers. It believes this holds great importance to furthering a historical perspective in relative management history, and global management, which, in turn, will further illuminate the history of American business and management as well.

The unique contribution of this paper is that it provides the first historical analysis of the ideological assumptions underpinning Chandler's works.