Global Business Networks Research Articles

Selecting marketing managers to effectively control global channels of distribution

Globalization of organizations necessitates the development of a network organizational configuration. This new form of organization requires managers to become boundary spanners between the various organizations aligned in the global business network. The question becomes how are these boundary‐spanning managers going to be identified and selected for global assignments. This paper examines the staffing options for marketing managers of integrative (i.e. relational) and market (i.e. transactional) modes of norm‐based control of global channels of distribution. Both transaction cost analysis and focus theory are used to identify which control mechanism would be most appropriate for each inter‐organizational situation.

English and multilingualism in the South African engineering workplace

The engineering profession in South Africa is an interesting language environment to investigate because it operates from a knowledge base and a global business network dominated by English but in conjunction with a workforce which is most often multilingual. Against this background a survey of the language practices of 58 engineering personnel working on the Witwatersrand was conducted. These personnel included students with site‐work experience, Engineers‐in‐Training and experienced professionals. The information was gathered using focus groups, interviews, questionnaire and observation. It was found that a high standard of English is indeed crucial for professionals in a field with a policy of “English only” at management and inter‐departmental level and in written communication. However, Afrikaans and indigenous African languages were both perceived by more than 40 per cent of those surveyed to be important languages in the workplace to “get the work done” and it was found that black engineers function more efficiently if they use Afrikaans and other African languages on site. The research concludes that multilingual accommodation using English and other languages is a positive force for co‐operation in engineering and that multilingualism is a significant professional resource.

Hyderabad in the changing political economy

Hyderabad city had a distinct history and features of its own which have got significantly modified after the formation of Andhra Pradesh as a state. Located as a primate city in a backward region, the city had attracted a number of large industries and institutions and established strong linkages with big cities of the country rather than the region in which it is located. The rapid growth rate of the city has resulted in a decline in the quality of its environment. With the liberalisation policies going on in the country, and with the presence of trained technical manpower, the city has provided a ready base for the development of information technology. With a number of multinational corporations setting up their units here, Hyderabad appears to be poised to become an Informational City in India and integrate into the global business network. Large sections of people are going to be excluded from this process unless steps are taken to tackle the problems of illiteracy, poverty, environmental degradation, regional backwardness, and poor quality of infrastructure. Do you know that big cities like London have exploited India and the big cities of India in turn have exploited its villages? That is how palatial mansions have come up in big cities and villages have become impoverished. Mahatma Gandhi

Trading Networks of Chinese Entrepreneurs in Singapore

The entrenchment of entrepreneurs in local, regional, or global business networks based on kinship, clanship, territorial, or ethnic ties has often been cited as characteristic of Chinese business communities in Southeast Asia. Qualitative interviews with Singaporean Chinese merchant-exporters were conducted in order to examine this thesis. The findings reveal that there is a strong tendency among Chinese entrepreneurs in Singapore to rely on external commercial relationships with outsiders and friends rather with those related by blood or marriage. It is suggested that kinship reciprocity may under some circumstances curb the autonomy and freedom of the transacting actors, thus limiting their abilities to make decisions in the regional and international market-places.

Reluctant Exiles? Migration from Hong Kong and the New Overseas Chinese

The Kong Becoming China multi-volume series is published for an international readership. It aims to provide both expert analysis and the documentary basis for an informed understanding of Hong Kong's transition as a free society and capitalist economy toward socialist Chinese sovereignty under the country, Two systems formula. This series explores the crucial dimensions of Hong Kong's current developments in this transitional process, as well as their global implications. Emigration from Hong Kong in the second half of the 1980s and the early 1990s has given rise to considerable concern. This 5th volume in the series assesses the factors causing this migration, and examines the consequences for Hong Kong, for the various destination cities and countries, and for the migrants themselves. The characteristics of the migrants, their involvement in local economies and societies, and problems of adaptation are discussed. One of the themes of the book is the ambivalence between Hong Kong people seeing themselves as reluctant exiles on the one hand, and the drive to establish global business and professional networks on the other.

Getting the most out of scenarios: Some questions and answers

One of the sessions at the 1995 International Conference featured a panel of scenario experts: Bill Ralston, SRI International (SRI), Robert Wilson, Northeast Consulting Resources (NCRI), and Gerald Harris, Global Business Network (GBN). Audrey E. Schriefer, Strategic Management Associates, moderated the session. In the September/October issue of Planning Review, Ms. Schriefer summarized the opening remarks from this session. Here she presents the highlights of the question and answer portion of the discussion.

Getting the most out of scenarios: Advice from the experts

This conference session was an in‐depth discussion of how practitioners can get the most value from scenario planning. Participants were Bill Ralston, SRI International; Robert Wilson, Northeast Consulting Resources; and Gerald Harris, Global Business Network. Audrey Schriefer, Strategic Management Associates, moderated the session and has prepared this brief summary.

Peter Schwartz offers two scenarios for the future

In his keynote presentation “An Age of Instability?” Peter Schwartz, president of the Global Business Network and world‐renowned scenario planner, began by asking the audience how many thought their children's lives would be better than their own. A scant 10 percent raised their hands—a very different picture than would have been the case in past decades. This overwhelming pessimism is grounded in one of two disparate scenarios Schwartz outlined as likely for the year 2000. The hopeful and pessimistic signals driving these two scenarios are shown in Exhibit 1.

The ITU in a time of change

The advance of information technology and the growth of easily accessible infostructures are creating a new series of borderless interconnections between global business networks run by wealth-creating enterprises and community networks run by groups of like-minded individuals. In an increasingly borderless global village the ITU is still border bound, reflecting the era of nation states and administering regimes which were based on strict respect for national sovereignty. Over the next decade the relevance of the ITU will be increasingly dependent on the quality of the reciprocal relationships it can build both with the full range of administrative regulators and with business operators creating the new communications environment of the 21st century.