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The leaders of business are a continued focus of interest in management research and in the broader society. Their attributes speak to social mobility, inequality, and who holds positions of power and influence in society. This article examines the attributes of the ten highest-ranked executives of the largest corporate enterprises in the United States—the Fortune 100—and compares how they have changed over the past 40 years, a period when many assumptions about businesses and the people who run them have changed. While there has been significant change in some areas, such as the increase in the proportion of women and foreign-born executives and the rise in outside hiring, there is no evidence of an increase in younger leaders who advance faster than their predecessors and spend an ever-shorter time with their employer. In fact, top executives now are as old as their peers were in the 1950s, and their tenure with their employer is rising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We find that foreign‐born CEOs are more inclined than domestic‐born ones to acquire across borders, and that this inclination is explained by their preference for targets in their birth country. This preference is motivated by foreign‐born CEOs' information advantage in their birth country and by these CEOs' desire to give back to the birth country. CEOs' desire to help their birth country also influences target location, increasing the likelihood of a target in countries that colonized the CEO birth country. The motives that drive acquisitions in acquirer CEOs' birth countries measurably affect the returns of acquirers' shareholders, target premium, and acquisition synergy. Both acquirers' returns and synergy but not target premium are abnormally positive when the motive for an acquisition is a CEO's information advantage in the birth country. Targets premiums but not acquirers' returns and synergy are abnormally positive when the motive for an acquisition is the desire to give back to the CEO's birth country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine how similarity in institutional, legal, and social characteristics between a firm's and its directors' home countries, that is, country‐pair homophily, affects foreign director appointments. We estimate a gravity model that includes economic and geographic proximity and find that country‐pair homophily is a significant determinant of foreign director appointments to corporate boards. We also find that country‐pair homophily limits the appointments of foreign directors from high‐quality governance countries to firms located in low‐quality governance countries, which may reduce the role of board internationalization in promoting the global convergence of governance practices. We analyze changes in foreign director appointments around the international adoption of IFRS and Norway's gender‐quota rule and find a higher appointment likelihood for directors originating from countries that are institutionally and culturally similar to that of the firm. Our findings point to the critical role that country‐pair homophily plays in matching director to boards with implications for the diffusion of governance practices globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the impact of inherited parent firm knowledge on the performance of foreign operations in global industries. I argue that transfers of parent firm knowledge provide different advantages to foreign operations, depending on the technological characteristics of the foreign country and the type of knowledge transferred. Results from a comprehensive panel of U.S. multinational corporations (MNCs), using fixed effects and system general method of moments (GMM) models to correct for endogeneity issues, show that inherited parent firm knowledge is not equally valuable in all countries. The transfer of technological knowledge is value-creating when home country innovation dominates and when parent firm knowledge is transferred to foreign operations in lagging technology countries (when foreign technology dominates). Further, combining managerial knowledge transfers with local subsidiary investments in innovation is shown to boost the performance of foreign operations located in leading technology countries, suggesting that the prior experiences, connections, and knowledge of expatriate managers, can be particularly useful in managing new knowledge generated in these countries. Overall, this paper extends our understanding of knowledge management within MNCs by exploring when transfers of parent technological and managerial knowledge are more likely to improve the performance of foreign operations in increasingly globally competitive industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the valuation impacts of outside independent directors in Korea, where a regulation requiring outside directors was instituted after the Asian financial crisis. In contrast to studies of U.S. firms, the effects of independent directors on firm performance are strongly positive. Foreigners also have positive impacts. The effects of indigenous institutions such as chaebol or family control are insignificant or negative. This implies that the effect of outsiders depends on board composition as well as the nature of the market in which the firm operates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study adds to current explanations of executive fate following a merger or acquisition by examining how executives' perceptions of merger events determine whether they stay or leave. Results indicate that executives' perceptions of the merger announcement, interactions with the acquiring firm's top managers following the merger, and long-term effects of the merger significantly influenced their decision to stay or leave. These perceptions could be used to correctly distinguish between stayers and leavers in almost 80 percent of the cases. In addition, perceptions created when the target company was acquired by a foreign multinational made it more likely that the executive would leave. This finding demonstrates that foreignness continues to be an important determinant of executive perceptions in cross-national mergers and acquisitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a cognitive categorization model of intercultural management that focuses on interaction between an expatriate manager and a host country subordinate. The paper outlines some of the effects that culture may have upon the content and structure of schemas, the extent to which automatic versus controlled information processing occurs, and the use of the model to examine convergence of cognitive structures through intercultural dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A review of empirical studies that directly investigated the overseas adjustment of expatriate managers revealed four dimensions that were related to successful expatriate acculturation: (1) the "self-oriented" dimension; (2) the "others-oriented" dimension; (3) the "perceptual" dimension; and (4) the "cultural-toughness" dimension. The study's implications for expatriate selection and training procedures in multinational corporations are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the US constitutional system, the president generally conducts foreign relations. But not always. In recent years, the courts and Congress have repeatedly taken steps to interact directly with foreign governments. Nonexecutive conduct of foreign relations occurs when the courts or Congress engage in or take actions that result in the opening of a direct channel of official communications between the US nonexecutive branch and a foreign executive branch. Nonexecutive conduct of foreign relations raises serious constitutional questions, but to date there is no clear rubric for analyzing the constitutionality of the judiciary's or Congress's actions. Moreover, nonexecutive conduct of foreign relations is likely to become more frequent due to changes in technology, foreign governments' increasing sophistication about the US government, hyperpartisanship in the United States, and what might be called the "Trump effect.". Building on Justice Robert Jackson's iconic tripartite framework from Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co v Sawyer, this Article proposes a converse Youngstown framework for determining when nonexecutive conduct of foreign relations is constitutional. The converse Youngstown framework judges the constitutionality of the courts' or Congress's actions in light of executive authorization or condonation (Category 1), executive silence (Category 2), or executive opposition (Category 3). The converse Youngstown framework offers significant advantages over the current ad hoc approach to analyzing nonexecutive conduct of foreign relations, and it avoids some of the pitfalls that critics have identified with traditional Youngstown analysis. First, it more accurately reflects the fact that the president isn't the only actor who exercises foreign relations initiative. Second, it avoids much of the indeterminacy that plagues traditional Youngstown analysis. Finally, it simplifies the constitutional analysis of nonexecutive conduct of foreign relations by explaining why easy cases are easy, allowing courts to engage in constitutional avoidance in some cases, and showing how Congress and the courts may sometimes trump the executive, even in Category 3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing from socio-analytic theory and institutional theory, this study investigates the influence of personality traits on cross-cultural competence (CCC) in Chinese expatriate managers' overseas managerial experiences. Given the growing importance of Chinese outward foreign direct investment to other economies, this study is timely as it expands our knowledge of expatriates from this large emerging ‘superpower’. In order to explore the impact of personality traits on CCC, multi-level in-depth interviews were conducted including interviews with 25 Chinese expatriate managers, 15 foreign colleagues and 10 cross-cultural experts or expatriate supervisors. The findings suggest that although conscientiousness and openness emerge as major traits that may contribute to CCC, their influences are considerably constrained by institutional differences between home and host countries. This study contributes to theory building by proposing a new conceptual model that incorporates institutional factors into socio-analytic theory to explain how personality traits contribute to CCC of expatriates. It also advances the field by examining the experiences of expatriates from an emerging economy and how their experiences differ from those previously researched. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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In this article the authors intend to analyze how the concept of culture is packaged, sold and delivered as a commodity. It is based on an ethnographic study of a Swedish consultancy in the field of cross-cultural communication and the relationship between the company and its clients. The clients were primarily foreign executives working in Sweden or Swedish expatriates, preparing for life abroad. The significance of culture-as-commodity will be explored from the perspective of the company as well as its clients in order to shed light on how the concept of culture can be communicated and what happens to it in the process. The study shows how the company combines theoretical perspectives from anthropology and intercultural communication with the aim to deliver a complex yet accessible understanding of culture to its clients. The analysis shows that these perspectives both clash and synergize, creating contradictions as well as turning culture into an accessible and useful tool for clients. The authors argue that researchers in the field of applied cultural analysis can learn from the example put forth by the balancing act between these two perspectives on culture performed by the company. The authors conclude that although the commodification process reduces and simplifies the meaning(s) of culture, the company still manages to put culture on the agenda, demonstrating to its clients how, why, and in what ways it matters to them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing upon the findings of a grounded theory study, this article addresses how sunao- sa influences intercultural communication and the process of building and developing trust between Japanese expatriate managers and Australian supervisors working in subsidiaries of Japanese multinationals in Australia. The authors argue that sunao is related to other concepts in business ethics and virtue literature such as character and its constituents, empathy and concern for others. How sunao as a value, influences the process of interpreting intercultural behaviour in relation to providing accounts, excuses or apologies in situations where a breach of some norm has occurred, is also explained. Although sunao has a particular role in hierarchical relationships between manager and subordinate, the paper concludes that becoming mutually sunao is crucial in learning and understanding the perspectives and expectations of a counterpart so that trust can deepen and flourish. The study makes an original contribution in an area that to date does not appear to have been researched from a management perspective and purports that sunao as character is an important factor in the culture of Japanese multinational organizations and indeed, international management in that context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing globalization of the world economy challenges multinational as well as small and medium-sized local organizations to attract and retain global talent. Academic researchers have lately turned their attention from organizational expatriate assignments to various new types of global careers, including self-initiated expatriation in geographically and culturally distant countries. Among these new global careers, foreign executives in local organizations (FELOs) are a very specific phenomenon. Highly visible and often controversial, FELOs are appointed to help organizations compete with-and even leapfrog-international competitors. Research shows that a dichotomy exists between the initial reason for an FELO appointment and the reasons that actually make a cross-cultural workplace successful in the long term. Local organizations that appoint foreign executives without regard for contextual influences, people management skills, and capacity development do so at their peril. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the feasibility of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (FCPA) in terms of taking punitive actions with regard to corrupt practices associated with foreign companies and nationals. It refers to a number of actions taken against foreign officers and professionals involved in corrupt practices. It also states that in 2011, FCPA's functionality got scrutinized by the U.S. Congress, the judiciary and press in particular following its injudicious conduct.

The article focuses on some tax-related issues raised by the transfer or assignment of executives between Great Britain and the U.S. It discusses general issues applicable to foreign mobile executives in either of these countries as well as particular issues affecting executives leaving their home country for a temporary international assignment overseas. Among these issues are culture and financial prominence, constant high-level managerial and executive talent flow, and common language.

The article discusses the implications of the employment law on mobile executives in the U.S. It provides an overview of the law and considers its impact on foreign executives stationed in the country and those stationed overseas. It also presents sample issues with concern or interest to these groups of executives as well as to their employees.

The article focuses on the alternative approach to foreign mobile executives' taxation taken by Finland and other Nordic countries to mitigate their traditional high taxation rate. It notes tax authorities' adoption of special tax relief schemes intended for foreign employees. It is observed that the use of these schemes has significantly grown over the years.

The article analyzes the main provisions of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and reflects on the issue of interpretation of the term "foreign official," by some courts in the U.S. It suggests that courts should use a "control analysis" centering on the degree of government control over the "instrumentality." It presents information on the distinction between a foreign official and a private corporation official, using legislative history of the FCPA's provisions.

For Western operations to succeed in Africa, foreign executives must embrace cross-cultural management skills as part of a broad strategic focus. This article examines culture as the crucial dimension to forging strong social, economic, and diplomatic ties between Africa and the Western world. To globalize successfully into the African marketplace, the effective cross-cultural manager must have an in-depth understanding of the African cultural value system. By analyzing African conventions, whose norms differ greatly from Western culture, this article clarifies the key roles that African culture plays in management methods, organizational behavior, and business practices in the sub-Saharan region. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - With increasing interest in overseas business expansion, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, expatriate management, including repatriation readjustmenst, has become a critical international human resource development (HRD) issue for multinational enterprises (MNEs). This empirical study therefore aims to investigate the use of HRD interventions relating to training and development for effective readjustment of international managers on repatriation. Design/methodology/approach - The data were collected through a field survey conducted on repatriation experience of international managers from more than five countries, who are working in Singapore. Findings - The study provides valuable insights about repatriation training programmes, training contents, programme duration, delivery modes, and providers of effective training programmes. Research limitations/implications - HRD professionals and senior executives of MNEs will benefit from the findings of this study in making decisions on effective design and implementation of training and career development programmes. Practical implications - The findings have significant implications for career development of managers involved in international business operations. Originality/value - This paper discusses readjustment problems of the repatriating managers and suggests how realistic HRD programmes, mainly based on training, can be developed and implemented for retaining international managers. These findings from the dynamic region of Asia will also help in developing appropriate career development programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to report on research which addressed two purposes. First, to test the fit between, the theoretical model, and the empirical findings from an earlier reported study. Secondly, to test the extrapolative and interrelated nature of a two sets of cultural adjustment constructs designed to enhance the personal wellbeing and intra-cultural interaction of cross-border managers when on foreign assignments. Design/methodology/approach - Data were collected from 244 cross-border managers working for Australian private sector businesses in South-East Asia in two broad industry groups: manufacturing/industrial, and financial/services. Respondents were asked to complete a questionnaire based on two separate dimensions associated with an individual''s adjustment to cross-border circumstances vis., personal wellbeing and intra-cultural interaction. This paper evaluates the measurement fit between the identified constructs, by first examining any significant relationship though a structural equation model using LISREL 8; and then through employing path analysis. Findings - Results from the structural equation modeling were significant; and suggest a sound fit between the theoretical model and the empirical findings. The path analysis further supports the multidimensional model. The results provide direction for organisations in addressing cultural adjustment issues to support the personal wellbeing; and the intra-cultural interaction; of cross-border managers. Research limitations/implications - Future research will need to consider the potential for measurement invariance associated with the framework identified in this paper. Originality/value - The overall results provide useful insights for organisations as to important interventions to assist cross-managers in becoming more attuned to their new job, business and cultural surroundings and circumstances. In this respect, cross-border organisations need to include such interventions amongst the "adjustment experiences" for their cross-border managers in developing personal wellbeing skills and intra-cultural interaction strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The aim of this paper is to investigate the perceptions of Malaysian employees of ABC MSC (a Japanese company in Malaysia) in order to recommend changes in management practices. Design/methodology/approach - Fieldwork was conducted using participant observation and interviews. Participant observation was conducted to investigate the flow of information, the implementation of decisions made by the top Japanese managers, problem resolution, and the reaction of the local staff to management practices. The interviews highlighted communication problems which have existed between the Japanese CEO and the local telecommunications companies since the company started operations in 1997. Findings - Even thought the company is backed by a financially strong parent company in Japan and has a lot of growth potential, this potential remains partially untapped due to management strategies of the company headquarters. Research limitations/implications - Japan remains an important Foreign Direct Investment country in Malaysia. The perceptions of employees of Japanese companies in Malaysia are worth investigating since changes of management strategies in the home country affect the direction and operations of the overseas subsidiaries. Further research should be carried out in other Japanese companies in Malaysia. Practical implications - Suggestions to improve the management strategies are discussed. Originality/value - It is believed that no other Japanese company in Malaysia has been investigated in this way before. This paper's findings should be useful to many expatriate managers in Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article summarizes some of the authors' experiences in introducing marketing concepts to students involved in the transition from planned to market economies. It addresses critical issues involved in the translation of these concepts within languages that often have no words that are synonymous with these terms. The authors discuss methods for establishing open classroom discussion in countries where pedagogy depended almost solely on lectures and assessment depended almost entirely on memorization rather than the application of terms, definitions, and concepts. The article discusses methods far choosing business cases for discussion and analysis that are relevant to the students' level of experience. The authors show how to use the cases over the period of individual courses and within comprehensive degree programs. Finally, the article discusses the importance of marketing strategy and the concept of choice to the success of economic transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The aim of this study is to examine the effect of supervision style and decision-making on role stress (role conflict, role ambiguity, role overload) and satisfaction of senior foreign managers working in international joint ventures (IJVs) in China. Design/methodology/approach - This paper is a quantitative study using an international mail survey among Sino-Foreign joint ventures. The final sample size was comprised of 82 Japanese and Taiwanese senior managers working in IJVs in China. Regression analysis was used to assess the relationship among these variables. Findings - Regression results demonstrated that a tighter supervision style by Japanese managers positively influences role conflict and role overload. Surprisingly, centralized decision-making by Japanese managers also positively effects role ambiguity in Japanese managers, but centralized decision-making by Taiwanese managers negatively effects role ambiguity in Taiwanese managers. Research limitations/implications - While the sample size is relatively small, the findings in this study suggest that the effects of supervision style and decision-making are different between the Japanese and Taiwanese groups. It is suggested that further research of management styles among eastern and western managers is required. Originality/value This study contributes to international business literature and provides insights to expatriates by investigating the relationships among supervision style, decision-making, role stress, and satisfaction. It also provides some evidence that the impact of decision -making on role ambiguity is different between national groups, which have been given limited attention in previous literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper applies Penrose's (1959) insights on the quantity of managerial services required for firm-level organic expansion to the analysis of entrepreneurial activities in MNEs. • We use these insights to build a framework relevant to entrepreneurial activities in MNEs. and then apply this framework to assess the metanational model (Doz/Santos/Williamson 2001) in terms of the quantity of managerial services required to implement it. • Pcnrose's (1959) insights on firm-level growth processes are still relevant to the analysis of entrepreneurial activities in MNEs. • The quantity of managerial services required for the effective functioning of the metanational model appears to be particularly high, and the benefits of this model should therefore be carefully weighed against the potential costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a contribution to the growing literature on contemporary forms of global mobility, we consider young New Zealanders who move to the UK for a period of work and travel, typically basing themselves in London. Beyond consideration of career opportunities, we find formulations of the self as creative project to be remarkably central to the mobility of these New Zealanders. Their time in London is often understood as a period of exploration, travel and new experiences. We note also the distinctive role that friendship networks play in sustaining and shaping this movement, in both practical and less tangible ways. Significantly, we find that these friendship networks are themselves mobile, in some cases undergoing almost complete temporary relocation from New Zealand to the UK. This raises questions about how we think about contemporary international mobility, and the significance of friendship as opposed to kin or neighbourhood relations within it. We conclude with a series of schematic statements regarding what is needed to more fully come to terms with the distinctive forms of mobility that these New Zealanders—and the Australians, South Africans and Canadians with whom they have much in common—embody as a way of lift. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The international migration of professional workers has increased in scope over the past 20 years as skilled workers are needed when companies' activities cross national borders. While this trend has been recognised from an economic perspective, much less has been researched from a social and cultural angle. Using case studies of British and Singaporean migration to China, this paper employs a comparative frame to examine the effect of cultural differences — both in terms of business culture as well as social norms regarding ethnicity and gender — on the dynamics of the 'contact zones' emerging in various cities in China, including the cosmopolitan cities of Shanghai and Hong Kong, the Chinese capital city of Beijing, as well as the industrial townships of Suzhou, Wuxi and Guangzhou. As sites which invoke the spatial and temporal copresence of subjects previously separated by geographic and historical disjunctures, and whose trajectories now intersect, 'contact zones' (as defined by Mary Pratt in the context of colonial encounters) are frontiers where 'difference' is constantly encountered and negotiated. Given very different ethno-historical linkages traced by Singaporeans and Britons to China and as a result a divergence of cultural imaginings about 'China', it is not unexpected that the two groups of transmigrants enact different ways of encountering lift in China. The paper explores the differential politics of the Singaporean and British presences in China around three stereotypical images of the foreigner in China — the culturalist, the colonialist and the imperialist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Western business expatriates assigned to Hong Kong were surveyed regarding their previous international experience and their degree of sociocultural and psychological adjustment. Being a quality increasingly sought after, it would be important for international business firms to find out whether previous international experience can reinforce their expatriates' ability to function and work on a foreign assignment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contingency theory holds that human resource management methods are selected in accordance with the type of competitive strategy adopted by a business. It moreover assumes that companies that closely coordinate their business strategy and HRM activities achieve better performance than companies that do not. This study attempts to examine the interactive effects of various combinations of business and HRM strategies from the standpoint of contingency theory. The conclusions are based on an analysis of questionnaires completed by 315 local firms in Taiwan. The results show that different business and HRM strategy combinations have different effects on organizational performance. However, these differences were not always consistent with the predictions of contingency theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the program of the New Zealand government in recruiting foreign executives for local corporations. Services offered by Worley Consultants in training and assisting executives who planned to work abroad in terms of personal affairs and tax considerations; Social skills which are needed to be adapted in working abroad; Personal problems encountered by foreign executives; Issues which are needed to be considered by companies who will hire foreign executives. INSET: EYES WIDE OPEN.

This study examines the process by which interactions with host nationals help facilitate expatriates' cross-cultural adjustment. The hypotheses are based on two related theories, (1) the contact hypothesis and (2) social learning theory. Personality characteristics (openness and sociability) are hypothesized to moderate the relationship between contact with host nationals and cross-cultural adjustment. The hypotheses are tested on a sample of expatriates from a US-based information technology company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measures the effectiveness of short-term business training programs for Chinese managers at a university in the United States. Areas of management skills and knowledge; Desired importance versus current importance.

Presents information on a study that explored various operational issues foreign managers have suggested as being problematic in managing equity joint ventures (EJV) in China. Previous research of EJV in China; General attitudes and perceptions of foreign general managers; Conclusion.

Presents information on a study that explored non-United States (U.S.) sellers and selling environments through the perceptions of mainly foreign-based managers of subsidiaries of large U.S. multinationals. Methodology of the study; Results and discussion on the study; Conclusions.