Export-management Books

The thematic collections of articles from the Harvard Business Review are clearly popular enough to justify more. This one is on globalisation and its implications. As ever, the articles selected are well organised, with a useful short introduction.

As with several of the collections, the really interesting thing is what is not covered. To an observer, three of the things that are really uncertain in the global economy, with large potential implications for global strategy, are financial instability, the growth of consumer dissent and activism and the pressure to build environmental sustainability. The first two topics do not appear at all and the third is represented only by an interview with the CEO of a company that has since changed its name, apparently as a direct of result of customer backlash to its chosen path to sustainability.

The impression is of a book that represents a somewhat complacent corporate conventional wisdom, in which change will occur in ways that we understand and can, within limits, control and more radical possibilities are comfortably not in contemplation. The failure of the Kyoto conference has amply demonstrated this lack of vision. As AtKisson and Hawken have pointed out, the obvious response to the problem of global warming is a large - and, in even the medium term, potentially enormously profitable for someone - thrust to bring on the hydrogen economy. Yet, as far as one can determine from the reports, this solution was not even seriously raised, let alone debated.

A true 'world view' is likely to see strategies that are much more radical and much less comfortable for conservative business, than this collection seems to suggest.

In this world of changes we must know our next future. This book brings us these informations. Garten handles a torchlight to the future of the world and organizations. It is surprising how he connects the wires and alll we have to do is just follow the line of the words. Undoubtfully is a great book.

I am impressed on Garten's and his contributor writers telling MNCs past lessons trying to penetrate into Asia's markets in India and China. I find it interesting especially local companies tried to sort strategies since there are no longer consider as monopoly to counter-attack before they enter the market! This will give local producers to be much more competitive than before. Eventually, they repaired their reputation and efficient production and service than before!MNCs need to worry much especially they don't understand the Asian culture and taste! It may be a suicide mission if MNCs don't study the culture and the background of the country! Although the population in India and China approxed 2.2 billion doesn't mean that it is a 100% peneteration! These may find on Part 1: Emerging Markets and Part 2: Europe and Asia This book is highly recommended to Asian Small-Medium Entrepreneurship and asian big corporate companies as it is important to know how much competitive market as the world trade tariff walls declined! It is undoubtfully an excellent book!

Many organizations are now struggling to formulate global strategies for the New Economy. Garten has assembled sixteen different essays in which various experts identify a number of different strategies to consider and then suggest how such strategies could be implemented. The material is organized within four Parts:

Emerging Markets [eg Prahalad and Lieberthal on "The End of Corporate Imperialism"]

Europe and Asia [eg Williamson on "Asia's New Competitive Game"]

Corporate Strategies [eg Porter on "Clusters and the New Economics of Competition]

Leadership [three interviews: Victor Fung, Robert B. Shapiro, and John Browne]

Garten then provides Executive Summaries and About the Contributors, both sections giving the reader a frame-of-reference within which to evaluate the specific essays and their respective authors. Garten is eminently well-qualified. You are urged to check out another of his books, The Mind of the C.E.O., in which he shares what he learned from interviews with 40 CEOs of major global corporations.

In the Introduction, Garten identifies several "common themes" revealed throughout the sixteen essays: operating in a global market requires CEOs to rethink everything about their strategies -- even what strategy means in an environment which is changing so fast and is so brutally competitive; the best strategies require organizations that are set up for gathering massive amounts of information and processing it effectively; companies that succeed on a global scale are constant innovators; great global companies create a culture conducive to extensive internal and external collaboration; and finally, virtually all of the authors agree that change is brining unprecedented opportunity to capture markets and enhance shareholder value.

Who will derive the greatest benefit from this superb anthology of separate but inter-related essays? Obviously, the governing board members and other senior executives of global organizations (which include but are not limited to for-profits) as well as CEOs of companies which include one or more of the global organizations among their own clients. Also, business students at the undergraduate and graduate levels who seek a single-volume source of information and insight concerning global strategies for the New Economy. (Have you checked out the price of textbooks lately?) For those in need of additional sources, Garten provides an abundance of them in the "About the Contributors" section.

Those who share my high regard for this book should also check out Dun & Bradstreet's Guide to Doing Business Around the World (Morrison et al) and also, if relevant, Doing Business in Asia (Dunung) and/or The New Silk Road (Stuttard's observations on doing business in China). Having accurate and sufficient information is obviously very important but without an appropriate strategy, information cannot be effectively leveraged. Hence the importance of the diverse and abundant wisdom which is so readily available in this book.

Brand New Justice is an exposition of marketing guru Simon Anholt's strategies for emerging market nations to develop their economy through branding. In this way, he suggests that emerging markets can begin to close the economic gap with the nations that have powerful brands, which continue to make most of the profit while poorer nations that supply the raw materials and handle the manufacturing make little profit and are often on shaky economic ground. Additionally, not only can products be branded by these countries, but the countries themselves can be branded.

Anholt begins with a list of five conventional objections to why poor countries cannot develop their brands: they cannot produce high-quality goods, they cannot afford to promote them internationally, they do not have the expertise to build international brands, people in rich countries would not want to purchase these products anyway, and corrupt individuals would suck up any profit (p. 10). The fourth argument, that, for example, Americans would not be interested in buying designer anything from a poor, prestige-less country, seemed most important, but Anholt goes on to address and, to a great extent, refute all these statements throughout the rest of the book.

In his quest to teach emerging markets branding, Anholt seems to show little regard for the consumer. The tone of Brand New Justice suggests that the consumer will buy whatever product is marketed best. That is, the consumer is, at least to some extent, a slave to marketing, or else they are fish to be lured by the most tantalizing jig. Anholt says, "Either marketing works, and it is a powerful tool for change, in which case it must admit responsibility for the absolutely central role it has played in creating the ever-widening inequality between rich and poor during the last century; or it is nothing..." (p. 17). Brand New Justice makes it clear that Anholt believes the former. So while Anholt goes on at length about the moral possibilities of marketing, he has little to say about the moral implications of consumerism.

Anholt speaks generally about how brands from emerging markets can achieve international credibility. Perhaps specifics are impractical; certainly there is no hard-and-fast formula to follow for brand success, and each brand's scenario has myriad variables.

The task that Anholt proposes, to use branding to help emerging markets achieve economic stability, is a noble, difficult and complex one. Brand New Justice is merely the beginning of a discussion on the topic, not a treatise on how to implement this strategy. If taken as such, as an impetus for creative planning and strategizing rather than a full treatment of the problem, then this is quite a good book that could benefit anyone in marketing, advertising, or international diplomacy.

RECOMMENDED

Branding has taken its share of knocks over the last three years, but a few of us have retained faith in the profession as a tool that can aid humankind, rather than create bigger gaps between rich and poor nations. Brand New Justice is the best book of such techniques, designed to fast-track countries and ensure a fairer distribution of wealth, using free-market principles that support individual freedoms.

For those cynical after No Logo, believing that marketing is about 'adding worthless gloss to worthless products', Brand New Justice provokes thought. Anholt believes his work to be realpolitik, but there are still ideals behind it, with which almost all right-thinking people would agree. It is this combination - idealism mixed with reality, all delivered with lucid, intelligible English - that makes it one of the most powerful branding books written.

Even when business books contain good ideas they're often a turgid read. Simon Anholt's book is stuffed full of interesting and challenging ideas and it's also one of the best written business books I've read. What makes the book so interesting is that it challenges a developed world perspective on branding and suggests that branding can be the powerhouse to change the fortunes of the developing world. Rather than the familiar cry about the manipulation of brands and the damage they can do, this book demonstrates that brands can be a force for good. That should be an important message for businesses everywhere.

This book has given me a good background & examples.
It is devided as 3 parts (export, import, appendix), but the contents for export & import are almost same, I mean too much repeating.

Anyway what a good book!!
Today I have ordered other books related export & import, so we will see.

As the title suggests, this is a documentation book and does this job really well. I bought this book as a novice without any knowledge of the procedure and I can comment that now I have good knowledge of the process. Small companies can benefit and may need only 1/4 of this book and large organizations can search from the huge pile of information. Even if you are starting out a small export business, this is one book you should refer to.

Our copy of this book is being used constantly by our consulting staff. It covers the complicated process of shipping products to foreign markets. We recommend it to our clients, especially those who handle their own international shipping, insurance and payment processing. John R. Jagoe, Director, Export Institute.

I found this book to be very informative and a very good read in terms of the global perspective. The questions that come at the end of the chapter makes it easy to remember the important terms.

I purchased this textbook for an online class. Easy to read and has real world/modern day lessons.

Everything was great about the transaction, from the delivery to the Quality, I am very pleased.

This new edition of Marketing Across Cultures resonates with the great cases and great examples. It's a great stand-alone book for an international marketing course or even a supplimental text for a capstone strategy course. Not only does it gives a 'marketing immersion' but it also gives a 'cultural immersion' to undergrads or MBA students who don't have much out-of-country experience. The authors definitely walk their talk in terms of their professional experiences in the US and abroad.

One of the few marketing texts that discusses in detail the complexities of international and cross-cultural marketing. Thought-provoking. The case studies are interesting and unique, great material for class discussions and debates! A real resource for Master's level courses in marketing and international business. It's good for required reading or as a secondary text, to support a more step-by-step marketing text. The writing is sometimes a bit long-winded and not too easy to read, which is why I didn't give the book five stars.

Our staff includes this publication in our selected list of international trade publications that we recommend to our clients. It presents a clear picture of the many factors involved in marketing products, ideas and concepts in foreign countries. A good reference to keep within reach when planning to introduce a new product or service overseas. John R. Jagoe, Director, Export Institute.

Sicco Van Gelder has written the definitive textbook on analyzing global branding strategy. Packed with examples, in-depth case studies and hypothetical branding projects, this book will prove useful to companies entering global markets or launching global brands. From the stunning worldwide success of the Sony Walkman to the dismal global failure of New Coke, Van Gelder scrutinizes the factors that shape a global brand. He issues a timely reminder that local cultures and consumers differ, and that branding must account for local differences in multiple markets. Note that this is a textbook, not a manual. The author explains his "global brand proposition model" in minute detail, which can get a little dense and repetitive at times. While the final chapters contain several useful illustrations of the analytical model in action, this is not a how-to book. Nevertheless, we believe this thoughtful tome deserves a spot on the reference shelf of brand specialists and marketers, as well as the executives of any company that operates in more than one country.

Sicco van Gelder is the expert who runs Brand Meta, a Netherlands-based global branding consultancy. In Global Brand Strategy: Unlocking Brand Potential Across Countries, Cultures & Markets, Gelder draws upon his many years of experience and expertise to write an authoritative and "user friendly" business guide to creating brand expression, develop marketing strategies and implementations in a global market. Especially recommended reading for business managers seeking to master an international legacy of name recognition, individual chapters deftly cover the importance of brand reputation, affinity, name recognition, the unique roadblocks to making a local brand global, and so much more in this hands-on advisory guide written directly from experience and a proven record of corporate success.

Ayse Oge took a very complex subject feared by many of us, subdivided into smaller elements and prepared a handy guide. This guide is the product of her extensive experience in this field that she has acquired by working in different global organizations.She has also done long and tedious research and interviews on the subject. The guide also contains handy forms to evaluate your company's potential global success and a long list of usefull references. Congratulations for a very well done guide ,Ayse Oge !

"Go Global to Win" by Ayse Oge contains many invaluable tips for any business owner planning to take his or her business into the global market, set in a logical and concise framework. Ideas are presented and expanded upon, and then summarized in one or two sentences. There are sections dealing with types of businesses; use of the Internet as a resource; and discussions of several agencies that aid businesses that are trying to go international, as well as some private institutions and international organizations that do the same. The author identifies six "ingredients" for a successful business: quality (necessary for any business); employee empowerment; teamwork; customer satisfaction (again necessary for any business); innovation; and leadership. The author's ideas on employee empowerment are interesting; many companies ignore ideas and suggetions from employees, regarding them at best as inexperienced--often to their own detriment. Regular "brainstorming" sessions with all members of the company are advised. Entrepeneurs who want to get into the global market are advised to be sensitive to cultural differences--e.g. selling beef burgers in India where cows are sacred, is a no-no. There are chapters devoted to the exact methods needed to get into the international market--and on how to collect the money due. The book ends with a questionnaire for business owners planning to go into global marketing that will set them up for international commerce.

This is a well written book. It explains all the ends and outs of exporting. I would have given book 5*, but I don't like to read, and you have to read a lot in this book. End of chapter exercises are really good.

The book was delivered in a timely manner and was in great condition and well packaged. I was very pleased.

This book helped me know what to expect during my recent trip to the Philippines.

This book is not what I was looking for. I give it a 4 of 5 stars because it give me some insite to the 'Pilipina' (as the call them selves) at work and why they seem to be a polite people. I was looking for is dealing with the Philippina people on a personal basis. For the business person working or visiting the Philippines it is a highly recomended book. Thanks Amazon.com

Backman's Asian Eclipse is the kind of expose that newspaper editors in Asia can only dream about. Not only does it provide a framework for understanding Asian business culture, it reveals in excruciating detail of the shenanigans in Corporate Asia?s largest boardrooms.

As the latest attempt to offer reasons for the Asian Crisis of 1997, it goes further than most treatments by delving into the institutional, political and social causes that underlie the culture of corruption, cronyism and managerial incompetence in Asia's former 'tiger' economies. The surfeit of detail is also the book's greatest weakness as it sometimes reads like a genealogy. However, this weakness it is trivial compared to the rich descriptions of the family-based power structures that govern much of East Asia.

The central thesis of Backman's book is that poorly paid civil servants, opaque bureaucracies, antiquated government systems and a compromised media act to subvert capital markets so they act like free ATM machines to feed the empire building lusts of Asian conglomerates at the expense of minority shareholders, and local tax payers. To back up this claim, the author offers a grand tour of the history and development of business culture in Asia. In the process, he also reveals the complicity of the multinationals and their mad race toward the lowest ethical standards to buy the cooperation of local politicians, thus feeding the nascent culture of corruption.

Backman is not as sanguine about the 'Asian Way', as many writers on the region seemed to be. He traces the origins of Asian business culture to the Confucian system of responsibilities and obligations between superior and subordinate. In this system, he argues, are clearly established lines of authority and responsibility that engender trust. In an economic context where contract law is undeveloped and institutions are unstable, a reliance on Confucian ethics provided the only reliable form of governance. What this system cannot do, having been created in an era of village feudalism and not global business, is to set out a similar code of rights and responsibilities between insiders (the family) and outsiders (non-family stakeholders). Outsiders are treated with suspicion, deception, and guile. Extreme forms of opportunism, driven by Sun Tzu's Art of War tactics, are routinely encountered by minority shareholders, foreign business partners, taxpayers and other 'outsider' stakeholders. The Art of War is a treatise designed to win wars with mortal enemies and thus emphasizes the use of deception, subterfuge, and unscrupulous tactics. Little wonder that foreigners find doing in business in Asia such a legal and ethical minefield.

Thus, the Asian crisis of 1997 was not the result of a series of random events but the logical outcome of a corrupted system with minority shareholders, foreign companies, bank depositors, and taxpayers as its unwitting victims. The main players in this game are corrupt government officials at the highest levels, high-ranking military officers, and the Overseas Chinese families who provide the business networks through which expropriated public funds are sterilized.

While readers of the book should critically consider the author's conspiracy theory of the activities of the Overseas Chinese, there is no question that it offers some of the best treatments of business in Asia and of the 1997 crisis than any book that has been written on the topic. In addition to the fact that it is easy to read and highly entertaining, it's carefully researched and well-documented treatment allows the reader to go beyond the standard stereotypes of Asian business heretofore promulgated by a business press enamoured with the illusory growth of the 1980s. In short, the reader should conclude, as I did, that the Crash of 1997 was self-inflicted, and not the work of currency speculators, neo-colonialists, or the 'evil' IMF!

The book concludes with a startling analysis. Contrary to the more optimistic, the author depressingly suggests that countries have not learnt from the lessons of the Crash of 1997. He cites the continuing inability of the Indonesian government to enforce laws designed to hold businesses accountable for their problems, the continuing delay in enforcing bankruptcy laws in Thailand, the Renong (business arm of the ruling political party) bailout in Malaysia, and the pulling back from serious corporate reform by South Korea's chaebols, as evidence that the region is poised to repeat the same errors in the future by rebuilding 'along the same fault lines' (page 379).

While he doesn't suggest that foreign investors disengage from the region, he does offer some suggestions to reduce the inherent risks. Investors should pay attention to building relationships before engaging in business negotiations. Part of relationship building should be devoted to knowing one's local partner as transparency and disclosure are unfamiliar concepts to many Asian businesses. Investors should regularly conduct due diligence and independent audit exercises to verify partner claims. That cronyism costs more in the long term than it yields in the short term, as demonstrated in Indonesia, strongly suggests that foreign investors stay away from all temptations to play the political connection angle. Finally they should be wary of approaching local banks for financing since these banks may often be affiliated with local competitors.

This is a solid book and an entertaining read. The author is not particularly profound in his analysis, but at least he is not just another neo-liberal ideologue. He understands that business is embedded in wider society, and that this fact fundamentally influences the business culture. I especially liked the portraits of major players, and the other telling details. Overall, not really deep, but an interesting coverage of Asia's economic woes.

There is no doubt that this book was very well researched. The stories are very detailed and cover the most important companies in the Asian region. However, precisely because it was well researched, it is a dangerous book for unsuspecting minds.

The author may have stayed in Asia for a long time. He may also have written articles and books about the region. But like most western authors, he had falsely believe that such qualifications make him an expert on Asia. He clearly misunderstood Asia on many counts.

For example, he mentions that the Confucius believes in ancestor worship. That is incorrect. In the Analects, it was recorded that Confucius when asked about the afterlife would rather his disciples concentrate on matter of the living. He did not comment on anything related to ancestor worshipping at all.

It would have been inconsequential for the author to have such beliefs and the book would still have been great if the author had stuck to reporting the events surrounding Asian companies. However, he chose to inject his flawed beliefs into the book by explaining in flawed reasoning why the failures of Asian companies occurred.

Unsuspecting readers or readers who do not understand Asians well thus tend to fall for his flawed logic as factual events lends credence to his reasonings. The author should have stuck to being a journalist and not venture into being a socialogist.

I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Asian large business and the economic collapse of Asian countries in 1997-1998. It is a comprehensive book on the subject. However, when the author starts telling you why certain things happen or how asians think, skip those parts. Specifically, skip chapter 1 and the last chapter.

Unlike most readers of this text, I am very familiar with nearly all of the information presented here, as many of these stories have occurred in the same time frame as my professional and personal experience living and working in the Pacific Rim. As such, the content of this book is not new to me, or for that matter, anyone in Asian business circles, as all of the stories have appeared in one or more of the regional newspapers at some point in time. However, in the author's defense, those observing the region from the outside would have to read well over 100 sources, many of them in foreign languages, on a daily basis to get the information that is presented in this juicy, scandalous book.

Asian Eclipse presents the reader case after case detailing the more objectionable aspects of business in Asia. After reading many of the cases (presented by chapters devoted to each country in the Asian region), it becomes extremely difficult to distinguish any real differences, and I personally could not say if the individuals in question were Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Indonesian- the behavior in the end was virtually the same. Only the company name and the locality where the less-than-above-board behavior took place differed.

The book actually pays for itself in the first three chapters, for here is where the reader will learn the commonalities across the region. It is also the place in the book where Backman chooses to delineate, albeit very briefly, the underlying reasons for the under-handed and unsavory business practices that unfortunately typify, but as we are increasingly seeing with the spectacular financial skullduggery of US and European corporations, are not wholly limited to the Asian corporate landscape.

The author tells the would-be investor in Asia what it means to be a stakeholder in publicly listed and privately held companies in the region. Backman deftly delineates all of the obstacles one will face when doing business or directing investments toward Asia. Should you decide to invest in Asia be forewarned: Comprehensive due dilligence is paramount. Too many Western businesspeople who venture unaware into the region have found themselves holding the bag for the embarrassing things their so-called Asian partners have done before, during and after the partnership.

One very important point from the book is this: In Asia, those who enforce the rules are also the same people who make the rules...and break them with impunity (Modern Feudalism writ large). Thus, any attempt to enforce the laws written on the legal books protecting minority corporate stakeholders (and foreigners are definitely relegated to minority positions) or to uphold terms and conditions as stated in written contracts, would only result in one and only one outcome- nothing. In other words, any rights and protections that you take for granted in the Western hemisphere simply do not exist in Asia.

In sum, the book serves as a stern warning about commonplace business practices in Asia. It also serves as a good bit of contemporary regional financial history. Finally, I do not believe that any of the players learned the appropriate lessons from the various Financial Meltdowns, large and small and/or country-specific or regional. As is often the unfortunate case, the movers and shakers in this region of the world learned all the wrong lessons. Rather than opening up, reforming, and tackling their problems in a sincere and concerted fashion, they have chosen to insulate themselves, beseech their governments to bail them out, and spend precious time and resources shifting the blame- almost always to foreigners.

Backman clearly has extensive knowledge of the complex Asian business structures that encompass families, holding companies, cross holdings and often governments. Furthermore, he presents his detailed knowledge in an readable format that is relatively easy to follow. He gives excellent insight into the workings of Asian businesses, their unwillingness to disclose information and the dangers associated with hidden transactions, creative accounting and inefficient (family) management. The research Backman has gathered in this book is priceless and thorough.

Though I would never claim to be an expert on Asia myself, having lived more than 10 years in the region, I found that I was often grinning to myself in agreement with Backman's observations. Backman further managed to fill in many blanks I have in my Asian business knowledge, having grown up to realise only the social aspects of the various cultures here.

This book is an excellent read and a good reference guide for non-Asians doing business in Asia. I also suspect it's useful for Asians doing business outside their own countries, since often these sort of cross-border, cross-cultural relationships can be tricky in the region.