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The purpose of this paper is to share a personal perspective on the 28th Annual European Group on Organizational Studies (EGOS) Colloquium held in Helsinki, Finland in July 2012. It explores the author's reflection on his participation in the EGOS Colloquium Subtheme 29 titled “Designing Culturally Sustainable Organizations.”

The author's reflection was based on his participation from a constructionist perspective.

The author argued that participating in EGOS provided critical feedback and additional insights on his research regarding the design of culturally sustainable organizations and how this research may apply in the South Asian context.

This paper offers the personal perspective of an American doctoral student and human resources development professional with experience in South Asia on his observations as an attendee of the 28th Annual EGOS Colloquium.

The purpose of this paper is to explore leadership styles and patterns in India, Indonesia, Pakistan, and the USA in order to contribute to a greater understanding of global leadership.

The paper uses cultural mythologies as a lens (Kessler and Wong-MingJi, 2009a) to extract the most favored leadership traits within selected countries. In doing so, the paper explores historical trajectories and core values of each country to identify their distinctive characteristics. Additionally, leadership styles of well-known business leaders in each culture are examined to develop a comparative discussion of global leadership patterns and styles.

The paper finds that leaders may share same characteristics across countries, however, their behavioral expressions tend to unfold differently within each context. The paper argues that without context, meanings embedded in cultural mythologies and behaviors often become lost. The paper concludes that a comparative analysis of selected countries reveals a more complex and rich array of cultural meanings, thus offering support to a contextual view of leadership.

Examination of cultural mythologies on leadership makes important theoretical contributions by illustrating that cultural mythologies indeed shape the values, behaviors, and attitudes of global leaders, and provide three important functions that are identified as: cultural bridging, meaning making, and contextual nuancing.

Understanding comparative leadership patterns is critical in international business. The paper offers cultural mythologies as a tool for leaders who seek to cross-cultural boundaries in developing long term and high-quality productive international business relationships.

The value of the study lies in developing a comparative analysis of leadership patterns in three Southeast Asian countries and the USA with the help of cultural mythologies. The paper urges that scholars to move beyond quantification of cultural dimensions to a more contextualized understanding of leadership.

The purpose of this paper (editorial) is to provide a balanced contextual overview of several South Asian countries, in order to present their relevance in international business research.

The author argues that South Asia offers a rich context for studying and advancing international business theory and practice.

South Asia presents an interesting paradox; where dynamism and growing challenges (of poverty, corruption, inadequate governance and extremism) exist side by side. The author also discusses that using South Asia as a context of the study is likely to add relevance and rigor to international business theory, therefore addressing the recent calls by many scholars.

Countries in South Asia are under‐researched by many accounts. Hence an exploration of business and management issues is likely to expose phenomena that have the potential to advance international business theory and practice.

This editorial highlights the regional importance of South Asia in international business research. It places South Asian Journal of Global Business Research, with its emphasis on South Asian economies, organizations, diaspora and people, as an important journal for developing a body of knowledge relating to South Asian business practices, deepening our understanding of South Asia, broadening our view of international business theory and research, identifying new phenomena, exploring indigenous methodological tools and increasing the output of research focused on the region that appears in and also has an impact on global research.

Globalization has created an intense competitive environment. As a result, achieving competitive advantage has become the core argument in international management. Some scholars have argued that the development of global leaders is critical (Osland, Bird, & Mendenhall, 2006; Yukl, 2009), while others believe that the global mindset is the key to strategic advantage (Black, Morison, & Gregerson, 1999; Jeannet, 2000; Javidan, 2008). In this paper, we present a review of both literatures (i.e., global leadership and global mindset) to highlight that today's dynamic marketplace requires a shift in thinking. We conclude by drawing attention to existing gaps in these literatures, and shed light on an emerging integrative model of global leadership and mindset.

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore the requirements of leading in a global environment as perceived by the leaders participating in this study as well as the way these leaders learn and develop their global mindset.

The research methodology informed by social constructivism included in‐depth interviews with 24 global leaders that were analyzed using constant comparative and content analysis. The findings presented in this paper are part of a larger study on the meaning of global leadership and mindset. The framework for this research was guided by the Global Leadership Mindset (GLM) model developed by the authors and their colleagues.

Transcendence, plasticity of the mind (flexibility, thinking differently, rebalancing, openness, having multiple frames of reference), mindfulness, curiosity, and humility emerged as requirements of leading in the global environment. The global leaders' learning journeys were characterized by informal learning during everyday work and life experiences including learning from mistakes, and from and with others. Self‐reflection leading to the “self‐awareness of otherness” as well as reflection with others were at the core of learning and developing the global mindset of these leaders.

The findings of this study highlight the role of human resource development (HRD) professionals in facilitating self‐reflection and reflection with others – core processes for the learning and development of global mindset. HRD professionals are called to address both the “you don't know what you don't know” phenomenon by offering cross‐cultural training programs and experiential learning opportunities and the “you know what you don't know” daily challenges of global leaders and their team members. Initiatives that will incorporate self‐reflective and reflective processes will allow the participants to make meaning of their learning.

This is an initial attempt to explore the development of a global leadership mindset as informed by the GLM model with a focus on its learning component. The findings of this study could inform leaders preparing to work in global environments and HRD professionals called to develop learning environments and a learning culture in global workplaces.

The purpose of this paper is to expand the burgeoning research, which provides evidence relating to the influence of religion upon work-related values.

The authors employed a survey methodology to collect data across seven countries and six religions.

The study provides evidence of differences as well as similarities in the way people belonging to different religions rank personal values. Thus, on the one hand, the authors can argue that religion helps shape our behavior and attitudes in the workplace, whilst at the same time, however, accepting the converging influence of globalization and/or the universality of some values that they include in their analysis. This finding leads the authors to focus upon a complex pattern of value variations and similarities across religions.

Overall, the findings provide a glimpse into what the paper interprets as (just one dimension of) plurality within contemporary organizations to support the paradox perspective, popularized by Lewis and Smith and Lewis, who contend that organizations embed multiple tensions and dilemmas in an ongoing cyclical process. Hence the paper argues that the similarities and differences across religious affiliations are not “either/or” choices but dualities that must be dynamically balanced in order to simultaneously meet multiple employee needs. The paper concludes that managers and employees need to articulate and embrace paradoxes related to religion, in order to create an awareness of the influence of religion that leads to being inclusive.

The paper seeks to offer a novel perspective on “deep benefit management” in inclusive business ventures at the Base‐of‐the‐Pyramid (BoP). Furthermore, it explores tensions between social impact creation and financial objectives in multinational corporations (MNCs).

The paper opts for an exploratory research design using empirical data, including an expert interview survey and expert discussions. Data is supplemented by documentary analysis, including corporate publications as well as case and impact studies. The paper applies a nested cross‐case comparison of three sustainability driven initiatives of PHILIPS Electronics.

The paper provides empirical insights on value creation for customers and partners. Findings indicate the need for “external benefit management”. In addition, MNCs can gain financial as well as non‐financial benefits by venturing at the BoP. “Internal benefit management” should consider employee engagement, reputation, and partnering capabilities. Nevertheless, results indicate conflicts between social and financial objectives to which employees respond with “social intrapreneurship”.

Due to the research methodology, results may not be generalized. Future research is encouraged to corroborate findings.

The paper develops deep benefit management as a powerful tool to plan, manage, and assess value creation in inclusive BoP ventures. Further, the paper proposes to establish protective space in MNCs to capitalize on social intrapreneurship.

This study provides an enhanced understanding of benefits of and barriers for inclusive business. Novel insights on social intrapreneurship are provided additionally.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the concepts of national human resource development (NHRD) and human resource development (HRD) in order to demonstrate their mutually reinforcing strategic value in the nation building process of Afghanistan.

This study conducted an analysis of the national context and organizational context of an international aid agency in relation to Afghanistan's nation building challenges.

The authors propose NHRD as an effective strategic approach to progressing Afghanistan's nation building strategy to be simultaneously used by the Afghan government and UNDP. Effective deployment of HRD principles in the selected international aid agency may further contribute to the nation building effort within Afghanistan by helping maximize organizational and workforce performances. In conjunction, these human development strategies can assist Afghan government's policy makers, and international aid agencies to successfully achieve human development goals.

The authors suggest that it is increasingly important for policy makers to understand the significant contribution of NHRD in nation building and organizational development. The authors propose some recommendations toward a sustainable modernization of a nation specifically in the context of the developing country.

The paper advances the mutually reinforcing value of NHRD and HRD and highlights their contribution towards human development, abatement of social injustices and building democracies around the world.

The paper explores a complex environment such as Afghanistan in which human development challenges are a shared responsibility between the national government and the international community. The authors’ discussion can serve as an example to demonstrate the role of NHRD in other post‐war and transitioning countries. This paper is also important for HRD scholars interested in exploring new and challenging contexts as it highlights HRD's role as a valuable policy tool in the context of national and international development.

The purpose of this paper is to exemplify how Mr Surya Kant, President of North American, UK and European Operations in Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), leads and grows a complex global company by adopting and operationalizing a global mindset.

This paper applies a social constructionist interview method, which focuses upon the reflectivity of the research in critically constructing meaning from qualitative data collected through personal interviews. The paper links information gleaned from a semi‐structured interview with Mr Kant to a theoretical discussion of the construct of global mindset. In so doing, it demonstrates the paradox of complexity in global leadership and illustrates the applicability of theory in global leadership practice.

This paper aids in making the case for the application of an inductive qualitative methodology by showing that inductive approaches to business research have, as their base, the lived experiences of people operating in a business context. The paper found a close link among the theoretical constructs of global mindset, paradox theory, complexity, leadership and global business, and their use and applicability in driving a global corporation.

In making explicit the links between theory and practice, this paper illuminates the practical application of academic literature and theoretical constructs in the arena of global business and global leadership, thereby bridging the oft‐cited theoretician‐practitioner‐bifurcation in business research.

The purpose of this paper is to construct historical perceptions of coal use in India and Japan in different historical time periods through the process of analyzing the narratives and discourses in academic, media and trade literatures.

In terms of methodology, this paper will utilize discourse theories/analysis and interpretive history to study the subject matter. In this paper, specific literatures on energy as well as general literatures on themes like technology are utilized.

The finding of the paper is that discourses and narratives about coal energy for example are constantly negotiated, constructed and then deconstructed again to fit and adapt to new realities, including the availability of newer technologies or priorities and concerns about the environment.

The research implication and originality of the paper is to demonstrate empirically the idea of the existence of narrative communities debating the use of coal energy in India and Japan. It highlights the communities of stakeholders interested in coal energy resource. The practical application and value of the ideas is the intellectual process of categorizing various contemporary narratives about coal energy use specific to two of the largest consumers and importers of coal in Asia. Through historical narratives of its past and recent coal use, the role and function of coal in the overall energy mix of India and Japan are instructive. The research limitation lies in its non‐quantitative nature and reliance on a combination of academic and trade secondary sources.