If you are a manager anywhere in the world, you are almostcertainly dealing with people of nationalities and culturesdifferent from your own. In multinational business environments,communicating effectively with people who have languages, customs,and expectations different from yours is a necessary skill. If youare a manager anywhere in the world, you are almost certainlyfacing this kind of multicultural situation. This guidebookexplains how to become aware of cultural differences, how torecognize when cultural differences pose a leadership challenge,and how to adapt your communication style to enhance youreffectiveness as a manager.

There never has been a time when changes in taste, social outlook and lifestyle have been faster and more fundamental. Coolsearch shows that the revolution that is going on inside the workplace and that which is taking place in the marketplace are two sides of the same coin. Traditional divisions between work and play and between home and the office are being eroded. Twenties-somethings are using their mastery of new technology to transform product development, marketing and merchandising as consumers and ideas generation and decision making as workers. But how can older companies with deeper vested interests and complex hierachies keep in touch with the needs generated by the new generation? Syrett and Lammiman show how street-wise market research, better use of technology, shorter decision making hierarchies, corporate venturing and bottom up leadership has helped a variety of seeming dinosaurs get abreast of the trends. Stories and case studies of companies such as IKEA, GMT, 3M, and L'Oreal and their

Repositioning Asia: From Bubble to Sustainable Economy brings together two leading strategists with a unique vision for the future of Asia. Drawing on their extensive experience of marketing strategy,Philip Kotler and Hermawan Kartajaya outline a blueprint for the sustained success of the region. From national to corporate level, RepositioningAsia provides guidelines for sustainable growth in an increasingly turbulent global environment. Filled with fascinating case studies and thought-provoking business models, RepositioningAsia is a vital book for the region as it confronts the exciting challenges of the New Economy. This important book will provide inspiration for policy makers and executives seeking to lay the foundations of a new Asia. 作者简介： Philip Kotler, widely considered to be the world's leading marketing guru, is the S.C. Johnson Distinguished Professor of Interna- tional Marketing at Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. He is the author and co-author

A practical, straightforward guide to Six Sigma for employeesin organizations contemplating or implementing Six Sigma From notedSix Sigma consultant and author George Eckes, Six Sigma forEveryone explains the underpinnings of the revolutionary qualityassurance methodology, offers in-depth examples, and outlines theimpact and desired end result of implementation. Whereas, most SixSigma books are written for executives and practitioners of SixSigma and tend to be overly technical or strategically focused,this book is written specifically for employees of organizationsthinking about or already attempting implementation. George Eckes(Superior, CO) is founder, President, and CEO of Eckes andAssociates, Inc., a Colorado-based consulting group specializing inresults driven by continuous improvement, Six Sigma training andimplementation, organizational development, and change management.Among his clients in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Mexicoare Volvo Trucks North America, Honeywell, Wells Fargo, and General

prehensive text explores the mathematical models underlying the theory of scheduling. Organized according to scheduling problem type, it examines three solution techniques: algebraic, probabilistic, and Monte Carlo simulation by computer. Topics include problems of sequence, measures for schedule evaluation, finite sequencing for a single machine, and further problems with one operation per job. Additional chapters cover flow-shop scheduling, the general n/m job-shop problem, general network problems related to scheduling, selection disciplines in a single-server queuing system, single-server queuing systems with setup classes, multiple-server queuing models, and experimental investigation of the continu-ous job-shop process. An extensive bibliography is followed by helpful appendixes with information on the Laplace-Stieltjes transform of a distribution function and experimental results with the n/m job-shop problem and with the continuous-process job-shop problem.

A quirky and thought-provoking read for any budding econometrician. . . . Insightful and refreshing. -- James Davidson, Times Higher Education I'd recommend it to the entire range of empirical economists, from those still in training to those who, like me, have only a hazy memory of statistical theory and stick to our tried and tested methods of estimation . . . an excellent guide to how to do basic regression/IV/panel data estimation really well. In particular, it demonstrates through many examples how to bring about a happy marriage between one's underlying model and the data which might or might not confirm the researcher's hypotheses. -- Diane Coyle, The Enlightened Economist Blog The applied econometric methods emphasized in this book are easy to use and relevant for many areas of contemporary social sciences. -- Pavel Stoynov, Zentralblatt MATH

China is steadily emerging as the economic miracle of the 21st century. Its transition from a state-controlled to a capitalist economy has occurred at a remarkable pace. It is only twenty-five years ago that Deng Xiaoping initiated revolutionary economic reforms to open up China. The country’s unprecedented growth is nurturing a new wave of world-class companies that are beginning to make an impact on the world’s markets. But is China’s growth sustainable? And what are its implications for the world’s companies? 作者简介： Jonathan Woetzel is a director in McKinsey & Company's Greater China office (Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei), and leader of its corporate finance practice in China. A co-founder of McKinsey's Shanghai office, where he has been based since 1994, Dr. Woetzel has also worked in McKinsey's Hong Kong, Los Angeles, New York, and Zurich offices. Dr. Jonathan R. Woetzel, a Director in McKinsey & Co.’s Shanghai office, provides a fact-based perspective of China

Once the jewel in the crown of the formidable British Empire, India has been surrounded by myth for years. After gaining independence in 1948, this often misunderstood country found itself faced with a new sense of freedom -- and along with it, enormous burdens and challenges. While exotic, mysterious, and seductive, it has also become an economic force to be reckoned with. With the fourth largest economy in the world, the largest youth population on Earth, and a thriving middle class, India is the second-most-preferred destination for foreign investment. But very few Americans truly understand what a rich and powerful country it has become – or its role as a global power, center of outsourcing, and potential partner with the United States. From the country’s thriving film industry to its burgeoning high-tech industry as well as its attempts to stabilize its economy, India Arriving offers a fascinating glimpse into the real India, with all of its assets and all of its faults. Author Rafiq Dos

Twenty-five new runways would eliminate most air travel delays in America; fifty patent owners are blocking a major drug company from creating a cancer cure; 90 percent of our broadcast spectrum sits idle while American cell phone service suffers. These problems have solutions that can jump-start innovation and help save our troubled economy. So, what’s holding us back? Michael Heller, a leading authority on property, reveals that while private ownership creates wealth, too much ownership means that everyone loses. Startling and accessible, The Gridlock Economy offers insights on how we can overcome this preventable paradox.

Can Japan Competeg. will change the way we understand Japan's economic performance, and the way we think about competitiveness in any economy. Until recent years, Japan was seen as the world's most invincible economic power-where a postwar economic 'miracle' transformed the nation from poverty to fabulous wealth. Defying economic theory, Japan was credited with creating a system that was both more egalitarian and more efficient than the capitalism of the West. So, what went so terribly wrong? In Can Japan Compete?, the world's leading thinker on competitive strategy, Michael Porter, and his colleagues, Hirotaka Takeuchi and Mariko Sakakibara, draw upon a decade of research to untangle the mystery of Japan's economic difficulties. Doing so is critical to forecasting Japan's economic future, which is of enormous importance to companies and countries everywhere. At a deeper level, however, the book reveals the enduring principles of company strategy and economic policy in modern global competition.

In many countries, monetary policy decisions are made by committees. In the United States, these decisions are made by the Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which consists of the seven members of the Board of Governors and the presidents of the twelve district banks. This book examines the process by which the preferences of the FOMC's individual members are translated into collective policy choices. This focus on the aggregation of individual preferences into group decisions is unique and provides an important perspective on the evolution of monetary policy choices. To study decision making by the FOMC, the authors have used both formal voting records and detailed tran*s and summaries of deliberations contained in the committee's Memoranda of Discussion and FOMC Tran*s. The latter sources have been used to construct data sets describing individual committee members' policy preferences for the 1970-1978 and 1987-1996 periods when the FOMC was chaired by Arthur Burns and Alan Greens

What makes an employee great? According to Harris and Brannick, great employees are those who match the culture of the company they work for and whose personal values align with the organization’s core purpose. Finding & Keeping Great Employees identifies four basic organizational purposes—operational excellence, customer service, unleashing technology, and spirit. By focusing on one of these as their core purpose and using it to drive their selection and retention strategies, organizations will gain a long-term competitive advantage and create a workplace full of self-motivated employees who are highly purpose driven. Based on research into best practices at more than 250 companies, this breakthrough book shares how some of today’s most progressive organizations are doing just that—and shutting down the revolving door—by leveraging their core purpose and corporate culture to attract and retain great employees. Written in a crisp, reader-friendly style, with numerous examples and case st

The study of the electronic structure of materials is at amomentous stage, with the emergence of computational methods andtheoretical approaches. Many properties of materials can now bedetermined directly from the fundamental equations for theelectrons, providing insights into critical problems in physics,chemistry, and materials science. This book provides a unifiedexposition of the basic theory and methods of electronic structure,together with instructive examples of practical computationalmethods and real-world applications. Appropriate for both graduatestudents and practising scientists, this book describes theapproach most widely used today, density functional theory, withemphasis upon understanding the ideas, practical methods andlimitations. Many references are provided to original papers,pertinent reviews, and widely available books. Included in eachchapter is a short list of the most relevant references and a setof exercises that reveal salient points and challenge thereader.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist and best-selling author of The Lexus and the Olive Tree gives a bold, timely, and surprising picture of the state of globalization in the twenty-first century. In this brilliant #1 bestseller, "the most important columnist in America today" (Walter Russell Mead, The New York Times) demystifies the brave new world for readers, allowing them to make sense of the often bewildering global scene unfolding before their eyes. With his inimitable ability to translate complex foreign policy and economic issues, Thomas L. Friedman explains how the flattening of the world happened at the dawn of the twenty-first century; what it means to countries, companies, communities, and individuals; and how governments and societies can, and must, adapt. The World Is Flat is the timely and essential update on globalization, its successes and discontents, powerfully illuminated by one of our most respected journalists.

As China embarks on a stage of fast growth, or more accurately, continues on its path of rapid development, many of its industry sectors are undergoing drastic changes. Nowhere is this more evident than in the major adjustments made in the financial services industry. This guide is a comprehensive review of many critically important sub-sectors, such as banking, securities and insurance, and includes their development, changing regulatory environments, competitive landscapes, key statistical data and major players. Enhancing the depth of the guide are a set of special reports which address a range of hot topics: restructuring of the state-owned banks, "Going Public: Paths taken by the Big Four"; organization of stock markets, "Full Circulation: An Urgent Task Languishes on the Backburner"; and, market potential of the insurance industry, "Insuring a market of 1.3 billion people?" With the most updated data and comprehensive information, this is your quick guide and handy reference tool on China

In this book W. Edwards Deming details the system of transformation that underlies the 14 Points for Management presented in Out of the Crisis. The system of profound knowledge, as it is called, consists of four parts: appreciation for a system, knowledge about variation, theory of knowledge, and psychology. Describing prevailing management style as a prison, Deming shows how a style based on cooperation rather than competition can help people develop joy in work and learning at the same time that it brings about long-term success in the market. Indicative of Deming's philosophy is his advice to abolish performance reviews on the job and grades in school.

Writing performance appraisals is one of the most difficult and time-consuming tasks managers face. Perfect Phrases for Performance Reviews simplifies the job, providing a comprehensive collection of phrases that managers can use to describe employee performance, provide directions for improvement, and more. For example: Sets priorities well" Misses important deadlines" Thorough, reliable, and accurate" All managers and HR professionals will value the book for its: Hundreds of ready-to-use phrases, organized by job skill and performance level Tips for documenting performance issues and conducting face-to-face reviews Easily adapted performance review templates covering five performance levels.

The Asian life insurance industry is truly entering an inflection point. Coming off massive growth from the past several years, the industry has suffered greatly, along with the rest of the financial industry, in the 2008 financial crisis. Most life insurers across Asia have lost tremendous value in the wake of the crisis; a few are in significant distress. It is important not to lose sight of the longer-term outlook though: fueled by macroeconomic factors such as the emergence of the middle class, high savings rates, and the growing need to save and invest for retirement, Asia's life insurance market is expected to grow at double the rate of the US and European market over the next decade. The time now is ripe for insurers to establish regional partnerships to access these markets. This authoritative book analyses the life insurance landscape in Asia, including traditional life insurance, bancassurance, etc. It comprehensively overviews the Asian insurance industry, based on extensive research provided by th

Over its eighty-seven-year history,American International Group,better known as AIG,has achieved unparalleled success by adjusting to changing economic trends,regulatory rules,and political situations.While founder Cornelius Vander Starr—who led this Shanghai start-up for fifty years—built an extraordinary insurance franchise,it was his hand-picked successor,Maurice "Hank" Greenberg,who would turn that franchise into one of the world's most profitable and powerful financial services companies. Now,in Fallen Giant,author Ron Shelp—who worked alongside Greenberg and within the AIG organization for more than a decade—sheds light on AIG,the company,and Hank Greenberg,the man.Through in-depth research,candid interviews,and firsthand experiences,Shelp provides a detailed look at how AIG was originally created and reveals the trouble that Greenberg and company eventually ran into when New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer turned his sights on them. Entertaining and informative,Fallen Gian

A LIBRARY JOURNAL 2008 BEST BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR! Globalization. The Flat World. Outsourcing. Free Trade. Each of these phrases is a flashpoint in one of the most heated debates of our lifetime: Is globalization a force for good, or is it a policy that is sure to destroy the economic foundation of the United States and Europe while exporting our wealth and prosperity overseas? In The War for Wealth, leading intellectual and agenda-setting journalist Gabor Steingart examines how globalization has affected the state of the world's economy and returns with a bleak outlook for the West: our prosperity and wealth are disappearing faster than ever, and with it our political power and our long-held democratic ideals. But all is not lost; we can still stem the flow of capital and jobs and once again restore the West to its respected position of global leader in economics and politics. In this eye-opening and dramatic account, Steingart lays out the three potential scenarios the world faces -

Just a decade ago, the term "green building strategy" evoked visions of fringe environmentalism and a high cost for minimal good. More recently, there's been a large shift in perception, an awakening of social consciousness, and a realization that a strategy good for the world can also be good for your bottom line. Green Business Strategy is no longer an option; the future depends on it. This collection of HBR articles gets to the heart of why you should and must put a socially-responsible strategy at the top of your CEO's agenda.