This book focuses on the cultural challenges often faced by international managers and global business operations. In the last few decades, the world has witnessed unprecedented economic turmoil, volatility, and uncertainty which has altered the political dynamics and sociocultural landscape around the globe and directly or indirectly affected international business activities. Further, new markets have opened up in every corner of the world. Brazil, Russia, India, and China, collectively known as BRIC, are strong emerging economic powers similar to the once captivated ‘Asian Tigers’ such as Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan which rose decades ago. The emergence of these markets has heightened both the opportunities and challenges for national and international businesses. Multinational firms are gradually expanding in the emerging markets and are expected to become giants in the foreseeable future. As they expand, they also need to assume increasing social responsibilities in a global context, and it is important that the ways business is conducted are developed accordingly. As such, understanding the practices, challenges, and strategies that companies have developed is critical to global firm’s success. Against this background, the book highlights the importance of understanding cultural elements when managing multicultural human behaviors in the workplace. Based on conceptual and empirical work, it pushes the frontiers of knowledge of this emerging field in international business setup and management, and explores how globalization is changing the way in which multinational firms formulate their business strategies. “The editors of this text bring a wealth of expertise in this area, as is evidenced by their choice of topics, and the strength of the experts they have invited to contribute to the book. The combined chapters provide both strategic guidance as well as a focus on operational concerns that may arise in international business including expatriation and human resource mobility. The authors not only correctly identify the oncoming challenges, but also present evidence regarding the likely solutions such as culture and innovation and global change management. Overall, this book will be a tremendous resource for scholars in the international business field, but I believe the audience will be much wider. The international team of editors and authors bring a wide range of perspective as well as real-world contextual knowledge that will be useful for scholars and practitioners who seek to leverage culture and human capital to advance international business and drive the global economy. I applaud the editors for their vision and leadership in guiding us through one of the most challenging contemporary research areas and through one of the most pressing challenges of our day.” -Dr. Richard L. Griffith, Executive Director, Institute for Cross Cultural Management, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL, USA

This book offers fresh insights into the complex and various ways in which international frontiers influence cultural identities. Ten anthropological case studies describe specific international borders in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America, and bring out the importance of boundary politics, and the diverse forms that it may take. As a contribution to the wider theoretical debates about nationalism, transnationalism, and globalization, it will interest to students and scholars in anthropology, political science, international studies and modern history.

Writing the Heavenly Frontier celebrates the early voices of the air as it examines the sky as a metaphorical and political landscape. While flight histories usually focus on the physical dangers of early aviation, this book introduces the figurative liabilities of ascension. Early pilot-writers not only grappled with an unwieldy machine; they also grappled with poetics that were extremely selective. Tropes that cast Charles Lindbergh as the transcendent hero of the new millennium were the same ones that kept women, black Americans, and indigenous peoples imaginatively tethered to the ground. The most popular flight autobiographies in the United States posited a hero who rose from the mundane to the miraculous; and yet the most startling autobiographies point out the social factors that limited or forbade vertical movement—both literally and figuratively. A survey of pilot writing, the book will appeal to flight enthusiasts and people interested in American autobiography and culture. But it will also appeal strongly to readers interested in the poetics and politics of place.

This book showcases the work and thinking of environmental educators who are concerned about the residual mechanism within their field, the guiding symbol of the web of life in all its dynamism notwithstanding.

As a preface to a consideration of stagecoaching in the mid-1800s Southwest and West, Ancient Footsteps examines what the Tribal Representatives, Anthropologists, and Archaeologists of today understand about the origins of ancient trails over which many later transportation and communication developed. Considering their ancient appearance, stability through time, adaptability, and later, European appropriation, it sets the stage for commercial and technological change to follow. Using an approach tailored to preservation of these ancient artifacts of mankind, discussion focuses on trail characteristics in prehistoric, historic, and modern times with a final focus on the possible future of these irreplaceable linear artifacts.

This book is not just about the linguistic translation process; it delves deeper into the socio-cultural journey, the unique challenges faced, and the broader implications of this cross-cultural exchange. It stands out for its novel perspective, taking the readers on a fascinating journey from the humorous undertones of ‘Monsters Inc.’ to the satirical edges of ‘The Simpsons’ and ‘Family Guy’. It uncovers the intricate process of dubbing and transcreating Western audiovisual content into Arabic, highlighting how visuals, irony, and stereotypes interplay in this complex process. It offers readers insights into the world of media translation and cultural adaptation in Arabic, making it a compelling read for linguists, translators, media scholars, cultural enthusiasts, and anyone intrigued by the intersection of language, culture, and humour. It is a unique blend of academic research and engaging storytelling that will leave readers with a newfound appreciation for the art of dubbing and the cultural nuances it negotiates.

In this sustained and nuanced attempt to define a genuinely African philosophy, Kwame Gyekye rejects the idea that an African philosophy consists simply of the work of Africans writing on philosophy. It must, Gyekye argues, arise from African thought itself, relate to the culture out of which it grows, and provide the possibility of a continuation of a philosophy linked to culture. Offering a philosophical clarification and theology, and ethics of the Akan of Ghana, Gyekye argues that critical analyses of specific traditional African modes of thought are necessary to develop a distinctively African philosophy as well as cultural values in the modern world. --

Innovation Leadership in Practice provides a unique source of new insights on the role of innovation leadership and effective practices through conceptual models, empirical case studies, development interventions, and tools.