This stimulating, clearly written and well-structured text is a comprehensive introduction to the principles of management and organisational behaviour, as well as a corrective to the eurocentric bias of most management texts. It develops a trans-cultural perspective which draws on insights from across the world to examine different management styles, cultures and stages of business development. Contents include: * Orientation * Primal Management - Western including America * Rational Management - Northern including Scandinavia * Developmental Management - Eastern including Japan * Metaphysical Management - Southern including South Africa * Developing yourself as a manager Each section examines core management theory and literature, cultural orientation and related prominent theories. The numerous case studies use appropriate examples from a wide range of international organisations. The uniquely wide-ranging perspective make this a valuable text for all those interested in general management, international business, organisational behaviour and corporate strategy.

As the level of globalization in business relationships rises, the importance of questions and problems pertaining to intercultural communication increases more and more. This gives rise to new tasks for the social sciences, which can only be successfully performed through interdisciplinary cooperation in the sense of area-studies. Between 1995 and 2002 for area, the Bavarian research network for area-studies, drew together numerous members of the scientific community who are specialized in the social sciences to pursue previously unresearched topics in areas of overlap of business and culture as exemplified in non-European regions. The most important results are collated here.

The book provides a holistic and practical approach to lean management throughout the business value chain. The lean management framework and tools demonstrate the optimal design and use of methods, tools and principles for companies and organisations. The author describes comprehensively how lean management enables companies to concentrate on value-adding activities and processes to achieve a long-term, sustainable competitive advantage. A wealth of best practices, industry examples and case studies are used to reveal the diversity and opportunities of lean management methodologies, methods and principles. Moreover, the book shows how lean management principles are ultimately applied in industries like automotive, healthcare, education and services industries.

This book examines the dynamics of the sociocultural processes inherent in mergers and acquisitions, and draws implications for post-merger integration management.

Do corporate culture and leadership contribute to a firm's success? And if so, how? How can a company create and develop its corporate culture to compete successfully over the long term? Answers to these questions emerge in case studies of the business practices of six long-established and world-renowned companies: the BMW Group, Deutsche Lufthansa, Grundfos, Henkel, Hilti and Novo Nordisk. In a project initiated by the Bertelsmann Stiftung, researchers investigated these firms and analyzed the central characteristics of corporate success from a culture perspective. The case studies render a detailed picture of each firm's distinctive corporate culture and the factors that shape it. Based on these examples, Sonja A. Sackmann has identified concrete strategies and practices that illustrate how a company's management can make a significant contribution toward developing a dialogue-oriented corporate culture that supports a firm's viability. The appendix provides a checklist for readers who want to develop their firm's culture and practice culturally aware management.

Consolidation activities such as mergers and acquisitions (M&As) have been one of the major strategies adopted by Indian firms to withstand global competition. M&As experienced a substantial increase in value and volume during the post-liberalization era, facilitated by the presence of foreign subsidiaries in the Indian market as well as competitive pressure on domestic firms. The increased foreign investment through M&As brought new dimensions to the fore such as the implications on technological performance, efficiency, and more importantly, competition in the Indian market. The Globalisation of Indian Business: Cross Border Mergers and Acquisitions in Indian Manufacturing provides an in-depth analysis of these issues, specifically aiming to understand whether the M&As strategies helped the firms to achieve their desired objectives in terms of improvement in technology, efficiency and market power in the context of the increase of M&As in India, using appropriate statistical and econometric techniques. The book is of additional importance in the context of the recently implemented Competition Act, replacing the thirty year old MRTP Act in India. The new Act aims to maintain competition and protect consumers’ interests without harming that of the producers’. Based on the analysis, broadly, the study cautions the regulators to rethink the efficiency defence argument and become more vigilant on the creation of monopolies. On the other side, it suggests firms should reconsider their post-merger integration strategy since consolidation has not led to a sustainable increase in market share of the surviving firms.

Taking Brand Initiative offers a revolutionary approach to corporate branding that looks beyond the marketing value of brands company-to-customer and the HR significance of brands company-to-employee. It places the management of brands at the senior level of management as it radiates throughout the organization. In this groundbreaking book, international branding thought leaders, Mary Jo Hatch and Make Schultz explain how a company's brand is just as important to ÒoutsidersÓÑpoliticians, suppliers, and analysts as it is to company insiders. They show how only the corporate brand can integrate all the company's staff functions and provide a vision for competition and globalization.