Country and Regional Management Studies

Welcome

The Country and Regional Management Studies Program is an initiative of the GL&B Institute for Management Training and Studies.  The Institute engages in and promotes training and research on matters relating to organizational design and management, comparative management studies, management of emerging companies, management in developing countries, global law and business strategies and country and regional management studies.  The Institute houses and supports several research centers and programs that undertake activities in these areas.  Click here for further information on the Institute.

Indian Business Systems

This report discusses management systems in India, which combine a number of influences including centuries of rules and regulations from various dominating empires; different religions; a very influential caste system that, knowingly or unknowingly, intentionally or unintentionally, influences the organizational system of Indian enterprises; the British Raj who ruled India for about 200 years; and more recently, the globalization of world economies and its influence on the Indian management system. While maintaining their cultural roots and traditional ways of thinking in social relationships, Indians, like the Japanese, have been willing to adopt and accept Western business practices and institutions including professional organizational and managerial structures and governance standards.

Cultural Influences on African Management Practices

While Africa is a large and diverse continent, some researchers nonetheless claim that it is possible to identify similarities among African countries with respect to cultural values, beliefs and rituals at the societal level.  This month's report focuses on Nnadozie's summary description of some of the common characteristics of societal culture in Africa in the context of providing advice on how to "manage" African business culture.

Mexican Management Style

In general, Mexican management style follows the high power distance and collectivism found in Mexican societal culture and this means that Mexican firms are more likely to adopt hierarchical structures with power vest at the top of the pyramid and introduce and follow formalistic relationships between managers and workers; however, the apparent rigidity of hierarchy and formalism is tempered to some degree by a relatively casual approach to rules and regulations.  Paternalism and a sense of “extended family” are also important factors of Mexican management styles.  There is evidence, however, that the consultative management style is becoming more acceptable in Mexico.  A brief summary of Mexican management style is provided in this report.

German Management Style

While US and Japanese management styles have attracted a good deal of attention, notice should also be taken of management styles in other successful countries such as Germany, a nation often touted as Europe’s “economic giant” based on its impressive manufacturing output and a per capita export trading volume.  This month's report explains that German managers concentrate intensely on product quality and product service and that the main elements of German management culture, as well as the preferred styles of German managers, all evolve around the desire to design and manufacture high quality products and provide customers with extraordinary responsiveness and dedication.  German firms tend to draw on engineers and technicians for fill management positions and these persons necessarily bring a strong background in manufacturing, design and service to their managerial duties.  In addition, German managers tend to remain with one firm throughout their careers, which means that those managers build an intense loyalty to their firm and make decisions based on what will be best for the long-term prospects of the firm.

International R&D Strategies for Chinese MNCs

I recently came across two interesting articles on the important topic of international research and development (R&D) strategies in companies from developing countries.  Not surprisingly, both articles relied on survey data from China.

Zhang relied on in-depth case studies of R&D investments by Chinese companies in Europe and the US to analyze the international R&D strategies of those companies and found interesting differences based on the location of the investment activities.  In Europe, for example, Chinese companies were “more insulated from [the] local innovation system, getting access to good indigenous labor rather than local partners” and tended “to engage [in] less explorative and more exploitative R&D activity” that focused on adapting technologies self-developed for the European market.  In contrast, when Chinese companies became involved with R&D investments in the US they were much more interested in securing “long-term local embeddedness”.  Click here to download the article.

Zedtwitz used his investigation of a large sample of technology-intensive Chinese firms to learn more about how firms from developing countries are approaching outbound R&D investment and relied on his results to propose two concepts of international R&D strategies for such firms: “innovation capability enhancing”, which includes developing the capacity to “understand and conduct cutting-edge technology development by absorbing know-how from advanced countries”, and “innovation capability exploiting”, which includes exploitation of “technologies and technical know-how which has been absorbed earlier and refined for use in other developing countries”.  The results that Zedtwitz compiled from his sampling of Chinese firms led him to speculate that companies from developing countries will internationalize R&D into advanced countries to remedy shortcomings in their domestic technologies and enhance their long-term ability to compete technologically in foreign markets.  In addition, however, developing country firms are keen to engage in “opportunistic” R&D investments in other developing countries; first to fulfill the requests of local customers and then later to pursue, and hopefully achieve, long-term first-mover advantages in countries that are currently less privileged but which may ultimately emerge as important markets.  Click here to download the article. 

Business Ownership and Human Resources Management in Vietnam

This month's report examines the relationship between business ownership structure and human resources management styles and policies in Vietnam.

Role of the State in Korean Economic Development

While Japan has probably been the major focus of research and commentary regarding the role of the state in economic development, Korea’s experience as a “developmental state” is also an important illustration of the role that governments sometimes choose to play in directing the public and private sectors toward specific economic and social goals. This month's report provides a brief introduction to the role of the state in Korean economic development.

Evolution of Human Resources Management Systems in Japan

This month's report traces the evolution of human resources management systems in Japan from the early 1960s to recent times. An interesting picture is painted of the path from "people oriented" HRM systems, which were supportable due to the tremendous economic successes enjoyed by Japanese firms from the early 1960s to the 1980s, to reengineering of HRM systems over the last two decades due to the significant downturn suffered by many Japanese industries following the burst of Japan's "economic bubble".