the case.

Market entry strategies for break out into international markets are evaluated, and particularly the balance of internal versus external factors in ensuring their success. The move to an international regional strategy offers potential benefits of scope and resource optimization, but places a further step function demand on internal organizational factors. Worldwide competitors are likely to hold significant advantages over national and international players. The effective global competitor has however to find a balance between a responsive and flexible local approach and effective global co-ordination. Different organizational approaches are considered, as is the role of international strategic alliances and collaborations. Each of the eight chapters contains a significant international case study of around 10 pp., as well as numerous illustrative examples in the text. Overall this book provides a good overview of its subject matter with good use of international business examples. It thus achieves its main purpose of providing an academic text and course companion. It is not the book to read for extending the boundaries of strategic knowledge. BARRYHOPEWELL,Vice President, System Strategy, ICL High Performance Systems, Manchester, UK

International Management: Cross Cultural Dimensions, RICHARD MEAD, Blackwell (1994) 525 pp., 19.99.
Any book with so ambitious a title will have its work cut out to satisfy a strategist or planner looking for insight on this enormous topic. The bold attempt by Richard Mead, a Fellow of Manchester Business School, to encompass the huge but somewhat amorphous concept of 'international management' can by its very nature only skim the surface. The book is mainly a digest of research on the topic, arranged as follows: O Culture and Difference (what constitutes a culture). Q Culture and Structure (organizations, patronage). Cl Culture and Relationships (communication, negotiation). 0 Culture and Organizational Policy (joint ventures, HQ and subsidiaries). O Culture and Change (planning change). The result--perhaps inevitable given the vast scope-is that the serious reader is given a useful overview of key topics and a huge number of anecdotes, examples and illustrations. Anyone looking for strategy specific analysis may however be left a little dissatisfied. Book Reviews and Review Briefs

Certainly, the importance of the topic of 'managing across borders' is likely to increase even further. More and more companies are appreciating the importance of having a truly 'international' management, open to all. At the same time, in the words of the slogan, 'being local world-wide' is also important. More and more customers expect a delivery attuned to their needs and nuances. No large company can claim to have solved this issue. Some, such as ABB, have made a bold stab at it. An interesting question not fully addressed in the book is whether some specific cultures are better able to adopt a truly international approach. Ironically, American companies, for all their supposed insularity and insensitivity, have often proved the best able to incorporate local cultures within their overall mix. Swiss companies, driven by a small local market, have also pioneered international management--Nestl6 being a prime example. In tackling the issue in all its complexity, the depth of Professor Mead's international experience shines through the pages. Unlike some similar books, which tend to concentrate on the best known cultural divides such as US/UK or Germany/Italy, examples are sourced from a very wide range of countries. A particularly rich seam of illustrations is mined from South-east Asia. His understanding and use of many lesser known business cultures seems almost encyclopaedic. The other main strength of the book is its emphasis on communication. In particular, the importance of understanding culture specific non-verbal signals and euphemisms in negotiations and dispute resolution is well developed. One nice example is the hilarious story of the Head of South West Airlines settling a legal dispute by arm wrestling the other side, contrasted with the basic misunderstanding in a Thai-American dispute caused by complete mis-comprehension of what the other side wanted. Anyone preparing to undertake a complex series of negotiations in a different culture could read the section on "Negotiations" with profit. Where the work is less convincing is when the author seeks to go beyond this 'organizational behaviour' type analysis of culture and deal with more specific and more strategic topics such as joint ventures or managing change. The reliance on citing the work of others begins to reach its limits and some real life case studies examined in more depth would be highly welcome. Where it does offer value is rather in pointing the reader to other work. Anyone grappling with the complex management issues of a very large multinational could be led to Bartlett and Ghoshal's incisive analysis after having read the potted version given here. Mead also argues persuasively that managing profound change in a large company operating in dozens of different countries has proved for some corporates a frustrating experience. A key issue it seems to me is the extent to which the local subsidiaries share or at least understand the cultural values of the

'mother'. Without a basic set of shared values, the 'cultural' noise between nationalities can easily drown out a valid message that change is needed. One way to resolve this is to give the core 'management cadre' experience of a truly multicultural environment, so that they can transcend the divides. However, this can be very expensive. Finally, we come to the closing section of the book on "Planning Change". This section is a little disappointing as it would seem a logical place to try and pull together all the rich and diverse threads in the rest of the book. It suffers from a fault that characterizes the whole work--possibly too much citing of models as opposed to evaluation of concepts and deepening of analysis through real cases to a level where the strategist will gain new insights. Without sufficient real examples considered in depth to anchor the concepts, the various models sometimes seem to exist in contradiction to each other. There are insufficient attempts at synthesis. Such a deepening or evaluating is perhaps however not the main purpose of the book. Viewed very differently, as a general introduction, and a thorough and wide ranging overview of organizational research in 'international management' it certainly has high value. It also serves as a most useful introduction to some important work on the topic, and could easily be used as an exhaustive reference book for anyone trying to delve more deeply into international management, perhaps from a research angle.

organization is. The theme is that it is all down to the attitude of the staff and the type of leadership that an organization is given. The examples used are excellent in getting the authors' point across and although some classic business school exemplars are used, such as GE and ABB, they also use many smaller companies to carry forward the messages such as "successful transformations share a common feature: rejuvenation was generated from within, using limited outside resources". The book includes much of the best in recent strategic thinking and clearly states that strategies need to be creative, dynamic and iterative. Success in business depends on the firm not the industry. Successful rejuvenators had low staff turnover, high morale and a line of people wishing to join them. I particularly liked the way the authors stated a problem and then broadened it with their research and explained what might be done about it. This is where their choice of examples was used to particularly good effect. The authors state that "their central theme is that managers need to take control of their destiny; strategy is not a question of fit where the economic environment is uppermost and the firm largely a passive actor. In our [the authors'] view the firm is a dynamic actor shaping its environment. In this conception, the task of the firm is to read the economic signals and recognize the potential opportunities to shape and harness tastes, technology, and competitive behaviour." In contrast they believe those who will not change are those to whom renewal and change appear very risky, much more risky than the status JEREMYMARSHALL,Credit Suisse, Zurich, Switzerland quo. If the last sentence applies to your organization and you feel frustrated about it, then buy the book and, if you cannot change the status quo, move elsewhere. If you would prefer that people did not harp on about the need to do the impossible I would suggest that you saved your money because you would not believe what Rejuvenating the Mature Business, CHARLES BADEN- all the companies, used to illustrate the points made FULLER and JOHN M. STOPFORD, Harvard Business by the authors, have achieved. There is so much of School Press/Routledge (1996), 2nd edition, 281 pp., value that I urge all those interested in strategy to read 12.99 pb. this book. This 2nd edition differs from the first in that it reads A superb book. It is as enjoyable and informative as much easier with a rewritten beginning and end, and Hamel and Prahalad's recent offering, Competing for the case studies are better utilized. Although, the 1st the Future. Although written utilizing the private sec- edition is essentially the same in terms of content. tor as examples, the book equally applies to all market segments including the public sector and not-for-profit GRAHAM HUTTON, Executive Director, Strategic Planorganizations. The last paragraph of the book says that ning Society the authors wrote it "for those who are adaptive, who strive for continual improvement of their firms and commit themselves to building their future. These are the winners." Although these people might be the ones who gain most from reading it, I believe that anybody Managing the Multinational, SAMUELHUMES, Prentice who works in an organization, regardless of its Hall (International) (1993), 406 pp., 19.95. maturity, ought to gain great insight from this book. The book starts with a clear statement of what a The globalization of products, markets and cormature business is and contrastingly what a dynamic porations has been a key feature of the second half of Long Range Planning Vol. 29 June 1996