Business Life & Skills, Ethnic & Race Relations, Anthropology, International Business, Media & Communications, Management & Leadership

Managing Cultures

Name: Managing Cultures
Author: Wendy Hall
ISBN: 9780471955719

by Wendy Hall

Write a review

Overview

If your working life is affected by the "culture thing" - then this book will offer you wisdom and practical tools to handle cultural behaviour and bring compatibility where before there was disharmony. Cultural differences are one of the main causes of failure for corporate partnerships. In alliances, mergers, and acquisitions companies just can't seem to get along with each other. Unintentional misunderstandings lead to mistrust. Result: friction! As relationships deteriorate, synergy becomes impossible to achieve. But with the appropriate tools, cultural differences can be managed. The book presents five essential cultural skills which executives should master; from "photographing" differences and assessing cultural strengths and weaknesses, to estimating cultural costs and benefits, to modifying management behaviour. As preparation for these critical aspects of partnerships, Managing Cultures is invaluable for, amongst others, European firms merging across borders, investment banks involved in alliances, mergers and acquisitions in Europe, USA and Japan, company groups formed of multiple partners, and companies whose partnerships are already experiencing cultural friction. And of course, those who have failed and still don't know what went wrong! "Managing Cultures leads to a surprising but highly important conclusion:

* cultural behaviour is manageable

* you can learn how to manage culture

Executives and managers reading the ten point summary in the introduction will want to see whether Dr Wendy Hall can substantiate her claims." ...from the Foreword by Professor H. Meij, Unilever.

About the Author, Wendy Hall

Wendy Hall has had extensive experience within the field of strategic management throughout Europe and America. Born in Pittsburgh, USA, she pursued undergraduate studies at Michigan State University in Health Economics and International Business. She moved to Europe in 1985, first to the Netherlands, then to France, Belgium, Switzerland and returning to the Netherlands in 1988, having worked on a number of projects. She attained a graduate degree in health economics at the University of Geneva Medical School and worked for a short while on a strategy project for the World Health Organization in Geneva. She then attended Nijenrode University of International Business in the Netherlands where she completed her international MBA and Drs degree. Her master's thesis won the Hewlett-Packard and the Society of Strategic Policymaking Strategy Prize in 1989. Since 1989 the author has worked full time at KLM Royal Dutch Airlines in Corporate Strategy and Planning working on international alliances, mergers, and acquisitions. Wendy Hall has recently obtained her PhD and is now advising companies and nations on improving the management of their strategic relationships.