Book Description

As U.S. organizations continue to explore overseas business opportunities, they will be challenged to adapt to the new market's local characteristics, legislation, fiscal regime, sociopolitical environment and cultural system. Riding the Waves of Culture shows international managers how to build the skills, sensitivity, and cultural awareness needed to establish and sustain management effectiveness across cultural borders. This revised edition is updated with new research and statistics.

More than an encyclopedia of cultures and customs, this essential guide: Describes successful and failed cross-cultural business transactions of multinational organizations such as AT&T, Heineken, Motorola and Volvo Offers techniques managers can use to anticipate and mediate some of the difficult dilemmas of international management Uses country-by-country graphs, examples, and other comparisons to illustrate how different cultures regard and respond to various management approaches Includes a CD-ROM of graphs, charts, and exercises to help readers evaluate their effectiveness as a global manager


From the Back Cover

Read the book that is revolutionizing international business!

With over 50,000 copies sold in its first edition, Riding the Waves of Culture dispelled the idea that there is only one way to manage, and was the first book to show professional managers how to build the cross-cultural skills, sensitivity, and awareness required in today's global business environment. In this second edition, Fons Trompenaars and co-author Charles Hampden-Turner reveal the seven key dimensions of business behavior, and how they combine to form four basic types of corporate culture: The Family (Japan, Belgium) The Eiffel Tower (France, Germany) The Guided Missile (US, UK) The Incubator (Silicon valley)

This revised and updated edition features completely new sections including: An in-depth examination of one of the world's most multicultural nations­­South Africa­­and how recent events make it an ongoing laboratory of intercultural reconciliations A detailed analysis of how gender differences within the United States affect workplace and problem-solving behavior Current research findings on how ethnic differences within a society can be more troublesome than international differences­­and how some managers are keeping the peace A systematic program for uncovering, understanding, respecting, and reconciling cultural differences at all levels of the organization


About the Author

Fons Trompenaars is managing director of United Notions, an international management and training consulting group with clients that include Motorola, Mars, Shell, Eastman Kodak, Heineken, and Apple Computer. Trompenaars, an accomplished consultant and author, has given over 1,000 cross-cultural training programs in 18 countries. He received his Ph.D. from the Wharton School of Management at the University of Pennsylvania.

Charles Hampden-Turner is a leading management consultant with a DBA from Harvard. He has authored over a dozen books, including Maps of the Mind, and with Fons Trompenaars coauthored The Seven Cultures of Capitalism and Mastering the Infinite Game. Hampden-Turner is a past winner of the Douglas McGregor Memorial Award and is based at the University of Cambridge Judge Institute of Management Studies.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

International management guru, Fons Trompenaar's best-selling Riding the Waves of Culture has become an essential guide for managers and trainers in multinational organizations, as well as anyone who conducts business overseas. This thoroughly revised, second edition, updated to include new case histories and fresh research findings, uses country-by-country graphs, examples, and other comparisons to clearly illustrate how different cultures respond to different management approaches; provides case histories to show how managers have successfully anticipated and mediated difficult and potentially costly dilemmas; and shows how managers can prepare their organizations for the process of internationalization through specific points of intervention.

SYNOPSIS

Read the book that is revolutionizing international business!

With over 50,000 copies sold in its first edition, Riding the Waves of Culture dispelled the idea that there is only one way to manage, and was the first book to show professional managers how to build the cross-cultural skills, sensitivity, and awareness required in today's global business environment. In this second edition, Fons Trompenaars and co-author Charles Hampden-Turner reveal the seven key dimensions of business behavior, and how they combine to form four basic types of corporate culture: The Family (Japan, Belgium) The Eiffel Tower (France, Germany) The Guided Missile (US, UK) The Incubator (Silicon valley)