Adopting an international business perspective, this book surveys recent business developments in Asia, and the activities of multinational firms in the region, focusing in particular on the changing nature of organizational and institutional relationships, including intra- and inter- organizational relationships, business relationships with institutions, and relationships with stakeholders. The international team of contributors discuss the current and future trends in a wide range of business sectors across the region, as well as assessing how the nature of multinationals' activities in the region is changing as the business environment evolves and becomes more globalized.

This casebook demonstrates that the future of global business lies in how well the multinational landscape is charted and how the importance of Asian market leaders is deeply embedded in it. It offers international management students and researchers an extensive guide to the business history, strategy development, and foreign market entry modes used by emerging Asian multinationals. The cases focus on well-known companies such as Lenovo, Alibaba, Infosys, Huawei, Panasonic, and Rakuten. These companies, all of which generate huge revenues in their own countries (e.g. in China, India, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam), are now becoming increasingly sophisticated and striving to become global brands, while also enjoying the active support of their governments in terms of their international business. Readers will learn about the current multinational landscape in Asia, the management challenges, and the future implications for traditional western companies seeking to retain their market share. Chapters on corporate entrepreneurship, human resource management and intercultural competence, and current branding trends in Asia will provide a cutting-edge update on international business strategy for students and practitioners alike.

Examines how and why corporate strategy, structure and culture is continuing to change markedly in Southeast Asia.

Multinationals and East Asian Integration

This collection explores the expansion of Japanese multinational firms into Asia, a process which paralleled the region's growth as a major economic region. The contributors discuss a wide range of topics, including the reasons for moving manufacturing to other countries, the flow of trade between Japan and these countries, technology transfer within firms, the impact of Japanese management practices in other Asian countries, and competition between Japanese and American firms in Asia.

The rise of the Japanese multinational company (JMNC) marked, from the 1980s onwards, an historic change in the structure and in the dynamics of the international economy. For the first time, businesses from a non-Western nation established a competitive global presence, and they did so by bringing their advanced products and management systems to the developed economies of Europe and North America. In the last 30 years, our interpretations of JMNCs have undergone a series of revisions. Korean firms followed JMNCs in the 1990s and the Chinese likewise in the 2000s. A seeming decline in JMNC competitiveness and developments in the structure of the international economy challenged a business model of parental company direction, control and capabilities. Both trends asked questions about how Japanese subsidiaries should operate in global production chains increasingly reliant on contracting out and off-shoring, and how JMNCs might engage more in strategic cooperation and empower subsidiary decision-making. The contributors to this volume consider a wide range of relevant issues: they demonstrate the long-term evolution of JMNCs; they compare the experience of JMNCs with firms from the other two major Asia Pacific economies, Korea and China; they evaluate the applicability of established foreign direct investment (FDI) theory to MNCs from Japan and the Asia Pacific; and they reflect on the internal organization of JMNCs at the global, national and subnational level. This book was originally published as a special issue of Asia Pacific Business Review.

Corporate Strategies for South East Asia After the Crisis presents an in-depth analysis by experts from Europe, Japan and South East Asia who have long-standing research experience in Asian economies and international business. The authors draw upon empirical research to analyze the questions facing multinational corporations active in the region, and go on to examine their strategies in production, marketing and corporate finance. They present a comprehensive overview of the current activities of multinational firms from Europe and Japan in South East Asia. The authors address both questions of international strategy and the role of multinational companies in a global economy, while taking into account how national differences affect strategic decision making. More than an essential reader for business people in Southeast Asia, the book will strongly influence policy makers and all those interested in the shift from national to transnational business.