1st Edition

Small Business Management in Cross-Cultural Environments

By Per Lind Copyright 2012
    368 Pages 89 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    362 Pages 89 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Products and services created by small and medium sized organizations account for the vast majority of economic activity across the globe. These organizations will prove vitally important to the emerging and developing economies that will shape future decades.

    Small Business Management in Cross-Cultural Environments is one of very few books to take the cross-cultural context as an opportunity to analyse and discuss the key concepts of small firm management in different parts of the world. This textbook covers important topics, such as:

    • the global economic development process
    • entrepreneurship
    • the role of government
    • SME growth and collaborations in a global context.

    By explaining how culture shapes and conditions the reality of small businesses and how organizational theories and models fail as management tools, this book fills a significant gap. Supplemented by a compendium of compelling case studies, drawn from across the world, and based upon 25 years of international research by the author, Small Business Management in Cross-Cultural Environments is a useful guide for students and practitioners of SME and International Management

    Part 1: The Cross-Cultural SME Environment  1. Small Business in the World  2. The Economic Development Process as a Framework for Small Business  3. The Contribution of Small Firms to Economic Development  4. Entrepreneurship and Small Business  5. Government: Facilitator or Trouble Maker for SME Growth?  Part 2: SME Management in a Cross-Cultural Perspective  6. Small Business Growth: Measures and Means  7. Managing the Small Firm: Theory and Practice  8. The SME Manager's Roles: Strategist, Operator and Mentor  9. Strategic and Operational Tools for SME Management  10. Networking and other Forms of SME Collaboration  11. The Small Firm in a Global Context: Opportunities and Threats  Part 3: Case Studies  1. Freight Enterprise S.A. (Argentina)  2. Alstermo Bruk AB (Sweden)  3. Olympia International (South Africa)  4. Viettuan Trading: Technology and Product Co. Ltd. (Vietnam)  5. Polmarco (Poland)  6. Lokal Industries Inc. (The Philippines)  7. Ningxia ABC Environmental Equipment Co. Ltd. (China)  8. IE Electronics (Pvt) Ltd. (Sri Lanka)  9. Mandelay Coating (South Africa)  10. Carbex AB (Sweden)  11. Kun Mining Company Ltd. (China)  12. Doradca Consultants (Poland)  13. Bernard Botejue Industries (Sri Lanka)  14. My Anh Garment Manufacture and Export Co. Ltd. (Vietnam)  15. Sterisol AB (Sweden)

    Biography

    Per Lind is Professor of Industrial Development at Gotland University, Sweden. He has published several books, and made contributions to many others, on management and developing countries. He is married and has two sons and a daughter

    ‘This is a reader-friendly book providing information for managing and keeping the small business beautiful using a number of tables, figures and boxes… Reading this book may be useful to the teachers and students concerned with the development of small business enterprises in different cross-cultural environments.’ - M.S. Chikara, The Journal of Business Perspective

    'The book is an excellent book for academics, and will provde firm preparation for those wishing to start their own businesses as well as guidance for business owners.'- Peter Merill, Quality World, December 2912

    'This book offers a much needed single source text to SMEs from a cross cultural perspective. The book presents a comprehensive and concise introduction to contemporary developments in this emerging field of research.' - Paul Manning, Leeds Metropolitan University, UK