Satish Nambisan

Yadong Luo

How multinational companies can use digital technology to compete in a world where business is driven by the forces of both globalization and deglobalization. Digital technology has put globalization on steroids; multinational companies now account for one-third of world GDP and one-fourth of world employment. And yet complicating this story of unchecked global capitalism are two contradictory forces. Even as advances in digital technology enable borderless markets, a new nationalism has emerged, reviving protectionism and railing against digital colonialism. In The Digital Multinational, management experts Satish Nambisan and Yadong Luo examine how companies can adopt a dual strategy to cope with this new normal: harnessing the power of digital technology while adapting to the geopolitical realities of particular markets. Key to success, Nambisan and Luo explain, is the notion of tight and loose coupling to characterize the relationship of the digital multinational to its global partners and subsidiaries. Identifying the tightness-looseness requirements of global business connectivity leads to successful business strategy. Drawing on real-world examples that include Burberry’s entrance into the Chinese market, Unilever’s AI-powered global talent marketplace, and the Vocal for Local movement in India, they develop a typology of global business contexts; discuss digital strategies for entering new markets, establishing digital platforms, managing globally dispersed activities, and pursuing innovation; and explain how these strategies can be part of a business leader’s toolkit. The Digital Multinational is an essential guide to competing in a business world driven by both globalization and deglobalization.

Navigating the New Normal in Global Business

The Digital Multinational

China is the largest emerging market in the world, yet Western MNCs have invested significantly less there than their Asian MNC counterparts. Luo systematically compares Western and Asian investment strategies and their performance in the China market and finds lessons that Westerners must heed. He also reviews and analyzes new economic and regulatory environments (e.g., WTO) in China and their potential effect on all foreign investors. Clearly written and readable by anyone reasonably familiar with matters of world trade and investment, the book illustrates its points with case studies drawn from Luo's own research and is difficult to find elsewhere. The result is a needed contribution to the literature on international investment in the China market, primarily for upper level executives and scholars specializing in emerging markets and international business.

Strategy, Structure, and Performance of MNCs in China

Guanxi (interpersonal relationship) is one of the major dynamics of Chinese society. It has been a pervasive part of the Chinese business world for the last few centuries. It binds literally millions of Chinese firms into a social and business web. It is widely recognized to be a key determinant of business performance, because the life-blood of the macro economy and micro business conduct in the society, including local firms as well as foreign investors and marketers, inevitably faces guanxi dynamics. No company can go far unless it has extensive guanxi in this setting. In China's new, fast-paced business environment, guanxi has been more entrenched than ever, heavily influencing Chinese social behavior and business practice. Despite the current academic and practical interest in guanxi, there is no book-length treatment systematically and vigorously exploring the concept and practice from the business perspective. This book fills that gap by exploring the various social economic cultural, and business issues relating to the complex concept and practice of guanxi.

Guanxi and Business

Susan E. Jackson

Randall S. Schuler

Across the world, companies are forming some of the most complex and exciting collaborations in the business world: cross-border alliances (CBAs). Yet while this offers multinational companies a way into the global marketplace, there is no guarantee of success. This book looks at the business and human resource issues arising in these complex collaborations, putting forward the case that the handling of these issues can determine the CBA's success. The book takes readers through the two main kinds of CBA - International Joint Ventures (IJV), and International Mergers and Acquisitions (IMA) - explaining how each type works and which human resource issues will arise. As well as analyzing these issues and explaining the relevant management, economics and sociological theories, this impressive text uses short end-of-chapter case studies and in depth end-of-text case studies to provide numerous practical examples. The first major textbook that seriously studies human resource issues in a CBA context, this book offers both students of human resource / international business and practicing human resource professionals alike the frameworks for truly understanding the complexities of the area.

Yadong Luo

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