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Despite the proliferation of countertrade (CT) literature, it has not been examined from a marketing process perspective. This study attempts to fill this gap. The concept of Reverse marketing, which is a direct consequence of CT, is introduced. A conceptual CT framework, which makes a distinction between commodity and differentiated products, is developed. The central point of this concept and, ultimately, of this article is that the reverse sequencing of marketing processes leads to many costly inefficiencies. The analyses that follow suggest that, in the majority of cases, firms should engage in CT only as a last resort.

Over the last decade, market entry activities have continued to play a critical role in global economic development. In the transitional economies in China, Russia, and the Eastern European countries, newly emerged private enterprises, both large and small, have operated beyond national borders to build their wealth and social identities. In the developed economies in North America, Europe and the Pacific Rim, more and more companies have relied on joint ventures and direct investment abroad to relieve pressure from mature domestic markets. In the developing economies in Asia, Latin America, and Africa, governments have continued to embrace direct and indirect exports as a means to emerge from deprivation and poverty and participate in market globalization.

The use of offsets is one of the main characteristics of international defence trade. The rising costs of defence equipment and the significant contraction of defence spending have resulted in an environment that favoured the use of offset policies, the latter becoming increasingly demanding in both quantitative and qualitative terms. The chapter analyses the role of offsets on the process of integration of defence equipment markets, with a specific focus on the EU. Particular attention is given to the offset-relevant regulation and practice and to their recent evolution in the EU following the adoption of European Directive on defence and security procurement (81/81/EC). Offsets play a dual role with regard to the integration of defence industries: on one hand they can be trade-distorting and contribute to the survival of inefficient suppliers in arms importing countries; on the other hand, they can contribute in overcoming barriers that may otherwise prevent some potentially efficient suppliers from accessing the supply chains of the big system integrators. The chapter draws the attention on the need to complement the regulatory evolution by further initiatives aiming at improving the access of non-incumbent suppliers to the supply chains of the large defence system integrators.

In this chapter I will elaborate on Professor Jean-François Hennart’s impressive career in honour of him receiving the 2012 Booz & Co./Strategy+Business Eminent Scholar in International Management award. I will first present a sevenfold typology of his publications, classifying them into (1) conceptual studies on why multinational enterprises (MNEs) exist and use specific entry modes, (2) industry-focused case studies, (3) statistical studies of foreign entries, (4) review studies of entry mode choice, (5) country-level studies of international business activity, (6) conceptual studies scrutinizing multinationality-performance research, and (7) studies of emerging-market MNEs. I will then point out some of his qualities that in my view have contributed to his scholarly success. I will also describe the main academic and practical contributions of his work, and finish with a short conclusion.

In examining the issues relating to global marketing strategy, scholars have primarily focused on marketing opportunities in the developed world. Recently, rapid rates of growth in emerging market countries have resulted in a growing interest in the market potential of these countries. Developing a global marketing strategy to target these diverse types of markets suggests the need to develop divergent strategies for different types of markets rather than focusing on integrating strategies across markets. To date, however, little is known about how to achieve this effectively. This paper briefly reviews past approaches to these issues and then indicates critical topics for future research.

In this chapter I would like to recall how I got started on my research on the multinational enterprise (MNE) and outline how my thinking on this important economic institution has evolved through the years.11I thank Sondra Grace of Gracefully Put for editing this manuscript.

The importance of organizational-stakeholder relationships has been an interesting subject in the organizational literature.

In this chapter, the evolution of the concept of stakeholder and how crucial is the company’s interaction and cooperation with them to achieve common goals has been studied. Initially stakeholder was considered a synonym of shareholder but throughout the years the category has expanded including managers, employees, suppliers, and other key actors, until the current meaning: stakeholder is “any group or individuals who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the organization’s objectives” (Freeman, 1994). Hence for running successful businesses, the companies need to acknowledge the existing stakeholders and provide them expected benefits, proportionally to their relevance, which is based on their power, legitimacy, and urgency. The chapter concludes by showing us the main principles that identify the management duties to all stakeholders and the necessity of increasing their involvement in decision-making processes.

Six sigma is a structured methodology that uses mathematical and statistical tools to increase productivity and business efficiency. In order to apply it, it is necessary to have a very broad knowledge in the fields of mathematics, management, and sector to which the process or the product under consideration (mechanical, electronic, chemical, etc.) refers. It is based on guidelines with a rigid and formalized approach to deal with misunderstandings and minimize subjectivity as much as possible.

This chapter will provide the basic information regarding the birth of the methodology and the composition of the work team; moreover, the procedure define, measure, analyze, improve, and control (DMAIC) will be presented and some tools will be described in order to obtain the improvements desired for the product or the process.

This chapter aims at presenting the ISO 9000 standards and their crucial role in the regulation of the quality management process in a company. To achieve this goal not only have the standards been deeply scrutinized but also evidences of their importance and consequences of their application have been collected after a deep period of study and research.

The chapter begins with a quick review of the standards history, followed by a consistent part that describes the process of standardization and who releases the certifications. The following part is devoted to the analysis of the structure of the standards and the principles in which their content is based. The chapter ends highlighting the areas influenced by the quality standards and the benefits that they bring to the companies.

In conlusion, this section of the book is dedicated to a normative topic that is in continuous evolution and that influences a lot the quality management system.