The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at

www.emeraldinsight.com/1352-7606.htm

Cross-cultural
Cross-cultural challenges for challenges
a global maritime enterprise
Gary A. Lombardo
Center for Maritime Studies and United States Merchant Marine Academy, 485
Kings Point, New York, USA

Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a hypothetical case study which provides an
opportunity for students to conduct realistic business analysis applying subject material related to
cross-cultural issues presented in the international business, international management and
management courses.
Design/methodology/approach The hypothetical case study requires students to review and
analyze cross-cultural issues related to the appointment of the senior executive for a foreign office of a
global business enterprise. A hypothetical Chinese maritime enterprise and its publicly-traded
subsidiary are profiled. Cross-cultural considerations come into play as the senior executive for two
foreign offices must be appointed.
Findings The case reflects refinements based upon its use during the past few years. Students are
provided a realistic experiential exercise. Student feedback indicates a heightened sensitivity to
cross-cultural considerations that transcends their assigned textbook readings and traditional testing.
Research limitations/implications As with any classroom exercise, differences do exist with
real-world business practice. Students do not fully appreciate the pressures and tensions experienced
by business professionals with respect to recruiting, selecting, appointing and developing a senior
executive for a foreign office assignment.
Practical implications The case study provides an experiential exercise for students to apply
theories and concepts learned from the textbook and the instructors lectures.
Originality/value The case study offers a complex view of myriad cross-cultural considerations
inherent in an international business firm, providing value to instructors and students as it reinforces
discipline theories and concepts in a meaningful way, creating an active learning environment fostering
academic excellence.
Keywords China, National cultures, International business, Business analysis,
Cross-cultural considerations, Cross-cultural leadership
Paper type Case study

1. Case description
The primary subject matter of this case involves the appointment of the senior
executives to administer the New York City and Malmo, Sweden offices of a Chinese
state-enterprise and its publicly-traded Hong Kong subsidiary. Issues include national
cultural considerations addressing the appointment of senior executives for foreign
offices. The case study analysis is based on Hofstedes cross-cultural research and
culturally influenced leadership styles and control paradigms as well as the nationality
of prospective senior executives. The case is appropriate for undergraduate
Cross Cultural Management
This case study and teaching note are prepared by the author and do not necessarily represent Vol. 18 No. 4, 2011
the views of the United States Merchant Marine Academy, the United States Maritime pp. 485-498
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Administration, the United States Department of Transportation, or any other United States 1352-7606
Government agency. DOI 10.1108/13527601111179537
CCM and graduate students. The case is designed to be discussed during a one-hour class
18,4 session. The student requirement is to submit an individual (or if the instructor prefers a
group) written report and prepare a classroom presentation. It is expected to require
substantial preparation by students outside of the class sessions. A supplemental
bibliography is provided at the end of the case study to assist students to develop a
sophisticated understanding of national cultural influences on business decision making.
486 The case is designed for use in the international business, international management and
management courses.

2. Case synopsis
A Chinese state-enterprise and its publicly-traded Hong Kong subsidiary engaged in the
maritime business sector are profiled. The Hong Kong subsidiary is directed to establish
offices in New York City and Malmo, Sweden. The Hong Kong senior management team
has appointed a rising subordinate as the lead person to analyze how the firm should
proceed to fill the senior executive position for each foreign office. Students are asked to
assume the role of the subordinate to review and analyze Hofstedes cross-cultural
research, leadership styles and control paradigms to identify the appropriate nationality
of the prospective senior executive to be appointed to administer the New York City and
Malmo offices. Students are required to work either independently or in groups, at the
instructors preference, to prepare the following case deliverables:
.
a written report to the Hong Kong senior management recommending the
appropriate leadership style, control paradigm and nationality of the senior
executive for the New York and Malmo offices; and
.
an oral presentation to the class based on the written report.

3. The company
This case study presents China International Shipping (CIS), a state-enterprise engaged
in the maritime sector, and its publicly-traded subsidiary, Hong Kong International
Shipping (HKIS). HKIS has been directed to establish two regional divisions to enter the
short-sea shipping sector of merchant shipping. One regional division will be located
in New York City to direct North American short-sea shipping operations. The
other regional division will be located in Malmo, Sweden to direct Northern European
short-sea shipping operations. The following public information about the parent
enterprise and the Hong Kong subsidiary is provided for review.

A. China International Shipping

CIS is a state-owned (Peoples Republic of China) enterprise that has developed into one
of the largest merchant shipping organizations in the world. CIS began its operations in
1956 with three aging merchant bulk cargo vessels of 18,500 dwt, 19,250 dwt and 24,000
dwt. Its sailing routes were from Tianjin, its home port, to ports in Southeast Asia.
Continually short of capital, CIS acquired a few additional aged merchant vessels during
the late 1950s. In 1962, the senior management team recognized that since the majority of
its shipping trade was between China and Southeast Asia it moved its enterprises home
office and home port to Guangzhou. As a result, the shipping routes radiated from
Guangzhou to Tianjin and key ports in Southeast Asia.
As time went on CIS reorganized and established its first subsidiary in Tianjin
(CIS-T) in 1965 and in Shanghai (CIS-S) in 1967 and added additional merchant ships
to its fleet. Most of the vessel additions were relatively aged ships that were acquired Cross-cultural
rather inexpensively. CIS faced a major challenge in acquiring capital to modernize its challenges
merchant fleet and grow its business.
CIS commissioned a major strategic study of the global merchant shipping industry
in late 1971 and convinced the officials at the Department of Water Transport, Ministry
of Communications (its government overseer) that without a large capital infusion to
modernize its fleet the state-owned enterprise would continue to be a minor regional 487
competitor and may very well lose sufficient potential business that its ability to
continue operations would be in jeopardy. The ministry officials and senior national
government leaders recognized the value of its state-owned enterprise and its ability to
earn hard foreign currency for its services. In early 1973 CIS was informed that it would
receive substantial government funding to expand its operations and acquire newly
constructed vessels. However, the Ministry also informed the CIS senior management
team that it would need to become a profitable venture that would contribute funding to
the national treasury on an annual basis.
In 1974, CIS began to order newly constructed bulk cargo and tanker vessels and
extended its sailing routes to additional ports in Southeast Asia as well as in South Asia
and the eastern coast of Africa. These new ports were the same ones that Chinese
merchants had sailed to at various times during the previous approximately 500 years.
Also, during this year, CIS reformed its operations and began to implement the business
practices of foreign maritime firms.
During the 1980s, CIS began to show modest annual profits facilitating two
significant financial decisions:
(1) retaining capital for furthering the enterprises fleet modernization program and
expansion of shipping routes; and
(2) contributing 33 per cent of its annual profits to the Chinese government treasury.

The state-owned enterprise developed a comprehensive plan to modernize its fleet

during the late 1980s as it grew to become an international maritime business on the world
stage. The enterprise added newly constructed container vessels to its fleet, replaced
aging vessels it had acquired during its infancy and established a ports and terminals
subsidiary to manage shipping operations at various locations in Asia and Africa.
During the early 1990s, CIS entered the South American merchant shipping market
and continued to expand its fleet both in terms of quantity and size of vessels and types
of vessels, now adding RoRo vessels to its fleet.
CIS-Logistics, a subsidiary, was established in 1997 to coordinate cargo movement
over the seas as well as provide inland transportation services to offer customers
door-to-door service. The subsidiary provided freight forwarding and freight tracking
services on a multi-modal basis as well as warehousing customer property and shipping
such property on customer demand.
In the late 1990s CIS began transatlantic container service from New York to England
and the European ports in the North Sea. CIS staff involved with the transatlantic
container service reported to the senior management team that the concept of short-sea
shipping was taking root in Europe as a profitable business venture and was in the
formative stage in North America. The senior staff commissioned a strategic study to
examine the prospects for CIS involvement in this service. The study identified
the importance of entrepreneurial behavior to make short-sea shipping profitable.
CCM The senior management team recognized that its entrepreneurial ability was quite
18,4 limited and pondered this issue for a considerable period of time.
CIS senior managers faced a crucial dilemma: they desired to control the operations
of a short-sea shipping venture; but realized that they must delegate sufficient
decision-making authority to facilitate entrepreneurial behavior to develop a profitable
venture. A decision was made to establish HKIS in 2001 as the subsidiary that would
488 be responsible for CISs world-wide short-sea shipping operations:
(1) formal name: China International Shipping;
(2) headquarters: Guangzhou, Peoples Republic of China;
(3) established: October 1, 1956;
(4) results of the fiscal year ended September 30:
.
number of employees: 62,888;
. revenue: 72.54 billion Chinese Yuan; and
.
profit margin: 3.2 per cent.
(5) services: ocean shipping, ports and terminals management, logistics support; and
(6) corporate values: service to the nation!

B. Hong Kong International Shipping

HKIS was assigned the world-wide responsibility for conducting short-sea shipping
operations due to the competitive nature of the services, the variance in the practices in
different areas of the world and the essential need to understand market conditions and
react in an entrepreneurial fashion with a sense of urgency.
The senior management team members of HKIS are all mainland Chinese nationals on
extended assignments to Hong Kong to administer the subsidiary. They developed their
careers in China advancing in the state enterprise parent and its mainland subsidiaries.
They were, as a result, neither educated in market-place business practices nor had
extensive contacts with non-Chinese business people. As a matter of fact, visiting foreign
delegations would be expected to follow a formal agenda when interacting with HKIS
senior management who were coached extensively by their subordinates during the
meetings. The subordinates are ethnic Chinese either from the mainland or Hong Kong
itself. These individuals have been educated either in China, Hong Kong or foreign
highly-reputed universities that have excellent business programs of study.
The HKIS senior management team recognizes the challenges involved to administer
a subsidiary of a Chinese state enterprise that is a publicly-traded corporation. Privately,
senior managers feel the pressure of serving two masters, that is the Chinese national
government and business investors. The senior management team members understand
fully the values and objectives of the Chinese government officials and recognize that
their subordinates understand fully the values and objectives of the business investors.
Thus, the senior managers work to achieve national objectives and delegate
considerable responsibility regarding business practices, operations and, ultimately,
profitability to their subordinates.
New vessels, with primary funding from CIS and secondary funding from the Chinese
Ministry of Communications, were constructed for the short-sea shipping trades and
proved ideally suited for operations. HKIS began short-sea shipping operations
in Southeast Asia in early 2004 calling on ports in the South China, Sulu and Celebes Seas Cross-cultural
as well as in the Gulf of Thailand. challenges
CIS realized that the capital required to finance its world-wide operations as well as
the short-sea shipping initiative was becoming a concern to the national government.
The enterprise reorganized its operations to be more consistent with industry best
practices, rationalized its operations to increase efficiency and began to market its
services to a world-wide audience. HKIS held discussions during 2006 and 2007 with 489
investment bankers and eventually contracted with a leading financial institution to
prepare an initial public offering (IPO) on the Hong Kong exchange to raise sufficient
capital to advance its operations. The IPO strategy was approved by CIS and the Chinese
Ministry of Communications during early 2008. HKIS, given the realities of the global
economic situation, delayed the IPO offering until October 2009 at which time Hong Kong
and foreign investors eagerly purchased the newly offered shares in the company:
(1) formal name: Hong Kong International Shipping, a subsidiary of CIS;
(2) headquarters: Hong Kong, Peoples Republic of China;
(3) established: October 1, 2001;
(4) results of the fiscal year ended September 30:
.
number of employees: 7,114;
.
revenue: 11.34 billion Chinese Yuan; and
.
profit margin: 6.8 per cent.
(5) services: short-sea shipping, logistics support; and
(6) corporate values: HKIS provides short-sea shipping transportation and logistics
support priced to earn attractive financial returns for investors.

4. The short-sea shipping initiative

Given the success of HKISs East Asia short-sea shipping venture, the subordinates
approached senior management with a potentially interesting proposal to develop
short-sea shipping in other promising locations. The subordinates recognized that
short-sea shipping from the port of New York/New Jersey to other Atlantic east coast
ports (both in the USA and Canada) and from the port of Malmo, Sweden to other
North and Baltic Seas ports in various countries were possibly commercially viable
extensions of the enterprises North Atlantic container service.
The short-sea shipping proposal, in effect a business plan, was reviewed for its
financial soundness by the HKIS subordinates who provided a written analysis that it
would return a profit margin of 9.7 per cenet based on its capital needs. Given the capital
reserves of both CIS and HKIS the financial resources were available within the
enterprise. This situation was quite attractive to the CIS and HKIS senior management
teams as it meant that a petition for additional national government funding was
unneeded and, as the HKIS senior management explained to the CIS senior management,
an additional stock offering was also unneeded thus the investors would not feel that
their equity in the subsidiary would be diluted. Also, untapped lines of credit with their
commercial bankers could be used for other projects.
As a result, HKIS senior managers recommended that the CIS senior management
team approve the initiative. The CIS senior management also recommended to the
national government ministries that the proposal be approved. The Chinese Ministry
CCM of Communications, the lead government agency overseeing CIS acquired the support
18,4 of all appropriate government agencies and approached the leaders of the government
with the proposal who, in turn, approved the initiative.
The HKIS senior management team, although not business experts, were quite
aware that due to the different national cultures and business practices in various
countries, the management of the two regional offices (in both New York City and
490 Malmo) and the relationships between each regional office and the home office in
Hong Kong were delicate issues that would influence the profitability of the initiative.
The senior managers held a series of discussions regarding the management of the
initiative. They came to the conclusion that Director of Ocean Shipping Practices
Jia Weiming, a subordinate who was particularly promising for advancement due to
his work during his years of employment at HKIS, should take the lead for the project.
Concern was apparent in that the individual was quite young, being only 31 years old.
However, Director Jai seemed to be the right candidate for assignment. He graduated
from Shanghai Maritime University with a Bachelors of Science in Navigation
Technology, sailed in the Chinese merchant service for five years, completed a Masters
of Business Administration from a prestigious university in the USA and earned a
Masters of Science in Shipping Management from the World Maritime University in
Malmo, Sweden. The senior managers thought Director Jai was an intelligent and
dedicated employee and rated his performance as outstanding. Further, by virtue of his
foreign education and living abroad he was well acquainted with the Unites States and
Swedish national cultures, languages and management practices.
Director Jia Weiming was summoned, without explanation, to the executive
conference room and when he arrived the senior managers were seated around the
conference table. Director Jia was informed of the short-sea shipping initiative, told that
he would lead the project, directed to speak with the financial analysts regarding
the budget and the human resource director concerning recruiting and hiring practices
and ordered to submit a proposal in 45 calendar days.
Director Jia left the conference room knowing immediately that he was given a
choice assignment; but one with high visibility and many risks. If he succeeded he
would advance his career; if he failed he would be looking for a new job.

5. Director Jia Weimings challenge

Director Jia sat at his desk and began to ponder the task at hand. He considered the
project in its entirety and realized that the complexity was such that he should identify
the major components and their interrelationships. Jia knew that he had limited time to
prepare his written report and oral presentation to the senior management team.
He also understood that given the senior managers experiences and expertise a written
report and oral presentation should not provide business jargon.
Jia considered his educational experiences in China, the USA and Sweden and his
professional experiences sailing as a mariner and working shore-side for HKIS. He then
identified the major issues, in the sequence that he thought most appropriate, that
should be addressed for each office:
.
implications of national culture on the organizational culture;
.
preferred leadership style;
.
preferred management control paradigm;
 .
preferred nationality of the senior executive; and Cross-cultural
. recruitment announcements. challenges
Jia knew that a rigorous approach to preparing his report would require that he
supplement his anecdotal experiences, both in China and abroad, with a more scientific
understanding of national cultures. He also knew that the HKIS senior management
would appreciate a concise written report and presentation. He decided that he would 491
develop a series of exhibits in a condensed written report.
Director Jia recalled that in his graduate business studies he was introduced to
the work of Hofstede regarding national cultures. Upon further contemplation he came to
the conclusion that Hofstedes research was the appropriate initial point for preparing his
report to the senior management team. Jia acquired a copy of Cultures and Organizations
by Geert Hofstede published by McGraw-Hill in New York during, 1997. He read and
reread the book and took extensive notes paying particular attention to the passages that
focused on Hong Kong, the USA and Sweden. As he reviewed his extensive notes he
realized that to reduce confusion and provide an understandable presentation to the
senior managers he should codify the information and prepared Table I.
Director Jia then decided to supplement Table I with information indicating
various leadership styles that should be considered for appropriateness in each foreign
office. He reviewed the leadership research that was presented in his graduate business
studies and decided that the Leadership Grid would serve as the basis for analysis.
Jia prepared Figure 1.
Jia recognized further that management control would be a highly important issue to
the HKIS senior management team. He considered what he had learned concerning this
crucial topic and decided to review more current management textbooks used

National cultural dimensions Hong Kong, PRC USA Sweden

PDI Country ranking: 15/16 Country ranking: 38 Country ranking: 47/48

PDI score: 68 PDI score: 40 PDI score: 31
IDV Country ranking: 37 Country ranking: 1 Country ranking: 10/11
IDV score: 25 IDV score: 91 IDV score: 71
MAS Country ranking: 18/19 Country ranking: 15 Country ranking: 53
MAS score: 57 MAS score: 62 MAS score: 5
UAI Country ranking: 49/50 Country ranking: 43 Country ranking: 49/50
UAI score: 29 UAI score: 46 UAI score: 29
Notes: A total of 50 countries and three multi-country regions were analyzed; power distance index
(PDI): a relative measure among countries/multi-country regions indicating the dependence
relationships; in a small power distance country/multi-country region limited dependence of
subordinates on bosses exists; individualism index (IDV): a relative measure among countries/multi-
country regions indicating societies in which the ties between individuals are loose; in a lower
individualism country/multi-country region a collectivism orientation among societal members is
valued; masculinity index (MAS): a relative measure among countries/multi-country regions
indicating whether gender roles are distinct or overlap; in a lower masculinity index country/multi-
country region gender roles overlap; uncertainty avoidance index (UAI): a relative measure among
countries/multi-country regions indicating the extent to which members of a culture feel threatened by
uncertain or unknown situations; in a lower uncertainty avoidance index country/multi-country the
weakest uncertainty avoidance exists Table I.
Source: Prepared based upon a review of Hofstede (1997) National culture profiles
CCM Exhibit 2
Leadership Grid
18,4 High 9 1,9 9,9
Country Club Team
8 Management Management

7
492
6
Concern
for 5 5,5
People Middle-of-the-Road Management
4

3
Authority-
2 Impoverished Compliance
Management Management
Low 1 1,1 9,1
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Low High
Concern for Production
Key:
Country-Club Management: emphasis on people rather than work outputs.
Team Management: emphasizes employees working together to accomplish tasks.
Middle-of-the-Road Management: moderate concern for both people and production.
Impoverished Management: lack of emphasis on either people or work outputs.
Authority-Compliance Management: emphasis on operations rather than people.
Source: Prepared based upon a review of The Managerial Grid III, Robert R. Blake and
Jane S. Mouton, Houston: Gulf Publishing Company, 1979 as revised by Leadership
Figure 1.
Dilemmas-Grid Solutions, Robert R. Blake and Anne Adams McCanse, Houston: Gulf
Leadership grid
Publishing Company (1991)

in graduate business programs in the United States. During his review, he obtained a
copy of Management by Richard L. Daft and found an exhibit in the textbook a perfect
presentation for his project report to the senior management team. Jia then replicated the
information found in Exhibit 19.6 in the Daft textbook and revised the presentation
format so it would be easier for the HKIS senior managers to understand. Jias effort is
presented in Table II.
Director Jia then turned his attention to the last component of his analysis which
was the nationality of the individuals to be appointed to the New York City and Malmo
offices. He recalled one of his graduate school professors lecturing on the topic of
the benefits and drawbacks of hiring home-country, host-country and third-country
nationals for senior foreign assignments. He consulted his notes from his graduate
business studies and prepared Table III.
Director Jia used the four tables to analyze HKIS. It was obvious that the ethnicity
and nationality of the leadership of his organization was Chinese. Upon examination
he realized that the senior management followed a team management (9,9 on the
leadership grid) style and the decentralized control paradigm currently. Upon reflection,
Jia remembered that when he joined HKIS the senior management followed
an authority-compliance management (9,1 on the leadership grid) style and
 Cross-cultural
Categories Bureaucratic control Decentralized control
challenges
Rules and Uses detailed rules and procedures; Limited use of rules; relies on values, group
procedures formal control systems and self-control, selection and socialization
Authority Top-down authority, formal hierarchy, Flexible authority, flat structure, expert
position power, quality control power, everyone monitors quality
inspectors 493
Job Task-related job description; Results-based job descriptions; emphasis
descriptions measurable standards define minimum on goals to be achieved
performance
Rewards Emphasis on extrinsic rewards Extrinsic and intrinsic rewards
(pay, benefits, status) (meaningful work, opportunities for
growth)
Reward Rewards given for meeting individual Rewards individual and team; emphasis on
recipients performance standards equity across employees
Employee Limited, formalized employee Broad employee participation, including
participation participation (e.g. grievance procedures) quality control, system design, and
organizational governance
Organizational Rigid organizational culture; distrust of Adaptive culture; culture recognized as
culture cultural norms as means of control means for uniting individual, team, and
organizational goals for overall control
Source: Prepared based upon a review of Management, Richard L. Daft, Eighth Edition, Mason, Ohio:
Thomson Higher Education, 2008. Daft credits Richard E. Walton, From control to commitment in the
workplace, Harvard Business Review (March-April 1985), pp. 76-84 and Don Hellriegel,
Susan E. Jackson, and John W. Slocum, Jr, Management, Eighth Edition, Cincinnati, Ohio: Table II.
South- Western, 1999, p. 663 as sources for the exhibit that appeared in his textbook Control paradigms

the bureaucratic control paradigm. Subsequently, the senior management recognized

that their expertise involved understanding the national and political policy goals of the
Chinese government although their business acumen was limited. The senior managers
relied on subordinate or second-level management contributions to provide HKIS with
a team-oriented approach to the two distinct demands (Chinese government policy and
market-place business strategy goals) on the organization. The Bureaucratic control
paradigm was in place originally; but the senior managers realized that HKIS was
established by the state-enterprise CIS and its customers were not other state-enterprises
but rather commercial firms. The younger, business educated subordinates were
hesitant to deviate from prescribed operating procedures and their job descriptions,
challenge poorly made decisions and volunteer information. Thus, in preparation for the
October 2009 IPO, the HKIS senior management tasked their subordinates to develop the
appropriate control paradigm to compete profitably in the market. The senior managers
were convinced that the original leadership style and control paradigm were the correct
choices for the newly created HKIS and believe that the merits of these approaches
outweigh any identified detractions for newly created organizations.
Director Jia was now satisfied that the four tables were essentially the core of his
written report and oral presentation to the senior managers. He knew that the difficult part
of his assigned project now had to be addressed. Jia pondered as he reviewed the assembled
information as to what his analysis would lead to in terms of his recommendation for
appointing the senior executives in the New York City and Malmo offices.
CCM Nationals Benefits Drawbacks
18,4
Home-country Low training costs Moderate recruiting/compensation costs
Potential for home-office senior Emphasizes foreign image of company
management positions Communications with host-country employees
Familiar with home office operations Difficulty in understanding local language and
Communications with home office same culture
494 Host-country
language and culture
Low recruiting/compensation costs High training costs
Enhances local image of company Limited understanding of home office operations
Communications with host-country
employees Communications with home office different
Understands local language and culture language and culture
Third-country Global search to appoint best person for the High recruiting/compensation costs
position High training costs
Projects a truly international image Limited understanding of home office operations
Emphasize foreign image of company
Communications with host-country employees
Difficulty in understanding local language and
culture
Communications with home-country office
Table III. different language and culture
Home-country,
host-country and Source: Prepared based upon analysis and synthesis of course notes regarding the literature
third-country nationals pertaining to hiring home-country nationals, host-country nationals and third-country nationals

6. Requirement
Students, either individual or in groups at the instructors preference, will prepare a
written report to the HKIS senior management team analyzing the information found in the
case and supplemented with appropriate external research that provides a
recommendation as to the leadership styles, control paradigms and nationality of the
senior executives for the New York City and Malmo offices. The written report should
include the following information pertaining to the senior executives for both the
New York City and Malmo offices:
.
national cultural influences and the resultant impact on the organizational
culture in each office as detailed in Table IV;
.
preferred leadership style;
.
preferred management control paradigm;
.
preferred nationality; and
.
recruitment announcements.

National cultural dimensions Hong Kong, PRC USA Sweden

Power distance index (PDI)

Individualism index (IDV)
Masculinity index (MAS)
Table IV. Uncertainty avoidance index (UAI)
National culture profiles:
organizational cultural Source: Prepared by , students name . based upon a review of Hofstede (1997) and additional
implications published research
Further reading Cross-cultural
Beamish, P.W. (2000), Asia-Pacific Cases in Strategic Management, Irwin, McGraw-Hill, challenges
Boston, MA.
Bigoness, W.J. and Blakely, G.L. (1996), A cross-national study of managerial values, Journal of
International Business Studies, Vol. 27, pp. 739-48.
Black, J.S. and Porter, L.W. (1991), Managerial behaviors and job performance: a successful
manager in Los Angeles may not succeed in Hong Kong, Journal of International 495
Business Studies, Vol. 22 No. 1, pp. 99-113.
Brake, T., Danielle Medina, W. and Thomas (Tim), W. (1995), Doing Business Internationally:
The Guide to Cross-Cultural Success, Irwin, Burr Ridge, IL.
Busenitz, L.W. and Lau, C.M. (1996), A cross-cultural cognitive model of new venture creation,
Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, Vol. 20 No. 4, pp. 25-39.
Chen, M. (1995), Asian Management Systems, Routledge, London.
Ford, D.P. and Chan, Y.E. (2003), Knowledge sharing in a multi-cultural setting: a case study,
Knowledge Management Research & Practice, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 11-27.
Hofstede, G. (1980), Cultures Consequences: International Differences in Work-related Values,
Sage, Beverly Hills, CA.
Hofstede, G. (1983), The cultural relativity of organizational theories, Journal of International
Business Studies, Vol. 14 No. 2, pp. 75-90.
Hofstede, G. (1997), Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, McGraw-Hill,
New York, NY.
Hofstede, G. (2007), Asian management in the 21st century, Asia Pacific Journal of
Management, Vol. 24 No. 4, pp. 411-20.
Hofstede, G. and McCrae, R.R. (2004), Personality and culture revisited: linking traits and
dimensions to culture, Cross-Cultural Research., Vol. 38 No. 1, pp. 52-88.
Kanungo, R.N. and Wright, R.W. (1983), A cross-cultural comparative study of managerial job
attitudes, Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 14 No. 2, pp. 115-29.
Krokosz-Krynke, Z. (1998), Organizational structure and culture: do individualism/collectivism
and power distance influence organizational structure?, Academy of Business
& Administrative Sciences: Emerging Economies, International Conference Proceedings,
Budapest, Hungary: July 13-15, available at: www.sba.muohio.edu/abas/1998/titles.htm
Laaksonen, O. (1988), Management in China: During and After Mao, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin.
Lane, H.W., DiStefano, J.J. and Maznevski, M.L. (2000), International Management Behavior:
Text, Readings and Cases, Blackwell, Oxford.
Morris, M.H., Davis, D.L. and Allen, J.W. (1994), Fostering corporate entrepreneurship:
cross-cultural comparisons of the importance of individualism versus collectivism,
Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 25, First Quarter, pp. 65-89.
Morris, T. and Pavett, C.M. (1992), Management style and productivity in two cultures, Journal
of International Business Studies, Vol. 23 No. 1, pp. 169-79.
Oviatt, B.M. and McDougall, P.P. (1994), Toward a theory of international new ventures,
Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 25 No. 1, pp. 45-64.
Quanyu, H., Andrulis, R.S. and Tong, C. (1994), A Guide to Successful Business Relations with the
Chinese, International Business Press, New York, NY.
Shane, S. (1995), Uncertainty avoidance and the preference for innovation championing roles,
Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 26, First Quarter, pp. 47-68.
CCM Shenkar, O. (2005), The Chinese Century, Wharton School Publishing, Upper Saddle River, NJ.
18,4 Tayeb, M. (1994), Organizations and national culture: methodology considered, Organizational
Studies, Vol. 15 No. 3, pp. 429-46.
Trompenaars, F. and Hampden-Turner, C. (1998), Riding the Waves of Culture, 2nd ed.,
McGraw-Hill, New York, NY.

496