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Recent debates concerning transnational firms (TNCs) have been preoccupied with the question of whether, and to what extent, the world's largest companies are becoming 'global corporations'. This paper argues that this debate is epistemologically misguided and that the theoretical framework in use is unable to adequately capture the complex nature of connectivity and spatiality developing in and between firms. It argues that instead of a continued and increasingly fruitless debate around the nature of the relationship between firms and territorial spaces, empirical and theoretical enquiry needs to shift to issues of 'corporate globality'. The paper thus develops an alternative relational and nonscalar theoretical approach as it presents research into nature of corporate globalization within firms in two advanced business service sectors: investment banking and management consultancy. It uses this research as a basis to make arguments concerning how the role of large firms in the wider tendencies of economic globalization might be better theorized.

Management Practices in China draws on real business case studies created by senior managers, many of whom are studying on or alumni of Executive/International MBA (EMBA/IMBA) Programmes in Mainland China. It captures unique, actual, operational and strategic business cases, written to reflect and learn from real-world problems and challenges. Good quality case studies are always hard to find, and this book creates a unique contribution, in providing real-world cases produced by and for practising managers. It will be of great benefit to teachers, researchers and practitioners (including EMBA/IMBA students) both in China and internationally, and provides important and valuable insights into decision-making in China-based companies. The book features up-to-date cases from a wide range of China-based companies, from multinationals to small and medium-sized enterprises, including for- and not-for-profit organisations, a significant proportion of which are China-owned. Management Practices in China is the second title in The China Business Case Study Series. It is published in association with the University of Aberdeen (UK), and Webster University (USA).

The global offshore outsourcing market for IT and business services exceeded $55 billion in 2008 and some estimates suggest an annual growth rate of 20% over the next five years. Furthermore, over 200 firms from the Forbes 2000 companies and 50 per cent of the Fortune Global 500 had offshored IT and business process activities through captive centres, making a total of about $9bn of business. The phenomenon of offshoring and offshore-outsourcing is certainly expanding. It has become increasingly important to understand the phenomenon, not least as a basis for suggesting what directions it will take, its impacts, how it has been conducted, and how its management can be better facilitated. This book offers a broad perspective on various issues relating to the sourcing of systems and business processes in a national and global context. The authors examine both the client's and the vendor's involvement in sourcing relationships by putting the emphasis on the capabilities that each side should develop prior to entering a relationship but also that they should develop as a result of their interactions with each other.

The Uppsala internationalization process model is revisited in the light of changes in business practices and theoretical advances that have been made since 1977. Now the business environment is viewed as a web of relationships, a network, rather than as a neoclassical market with many independent suppliers and customers. Outsidership, in relation to the relevant network, more than psychic distance, is the root of uncertainty. The change mechanisms in the revised model are essentially the same as those in the original version, although we add trust-building and knowledge creation, the latter to recognize the fact that new knowledge is developed in relationships.

This paper empirically studies determinants of decision by companies to offshore innovation activities. It uses survey data from the international Offshoring Research Network project to estimate the impact of managerial intentionality, past experience, and environmental factors on the probability of offshoring innovation projects. The results show that the emerging shortage of highly skilled science and engineering talent in the US and, more generally, the need to access qualified personnel are important explanatory factors for offshoring innovation decisions. Moreover, contrary to drivers of many other functions, labor arbitrage is less important than other forms of cost savings. The paper concludes with a discussion of the changing dynamics underlying offshoring of innovation activities, suggesting that companies are entering a global race for talent.

Contemporary Environmental Accounting: Issues, Concepts and Practice has been written by two of the world's leading experts in the field in order to provide the most comprehensive and state-of-the-art textbook on environmental accounting yet attempted. The book is suitable for both undergraduate and graduate students and their teachers, professional accountants, and corporate and organisational managers. Although no prior knowledge of environmental accounting is necessary to understand the critical issues at stake, academic accountants will also find that the book provides a useful introduction to the topic. The goals of the book are to discuss and illustrate contemporary conceptual approaches to environmental accounting; to make readers aware of crucial controversial topics; and to offer practical examples of how the concepts have been applied throughout Europe, North America and Australia. In order to increase the usefulness of the book for relevant courses, each chapter concludes with a set of questions for review. This book is essential reading for all those who are interested in how environmental issues influence accounting.A solutions manual is available on request with the purchase of this book. ... as a reference text and as a text to stimulate and to prompt us into other ways of thinking, this book is a really substantial addition to the literature and deserves very serious attention. - Social and Environmental Accounting || The authors have compiled and structured the existing concepts of environmental accounting very thoroughly ... The book addresses students, controllers and business leaders equally. Although the structure helps readers without any prior knowledge of environmental accounting to get an overview, the book also provides a compendium for experts who want to look up something ... the book is therefore a clear buy. - Ökologisches Wirtschaften || ... two of the world's foremost experts on the subject have come together to write the definitive book on environmental accounting. Engaging and accessible, this book is suitable for academics and professionals alike. - World Resources Institute's Envirolink Newsletter || It provides a comprehensive and well structured overview. - Corporate Environmental Strategy || In essence, this book is essential reading for all those who are interested in how environmental issues influence accounting. - Sustain magazine || This is a new and welcome addition to the growing material on environmental accounting ... whilst hardly the lightest of topics the writers manage to break down the concepts into fairly user-friendly form, drawing out principal ways for incorporating environmental elements into accounting systems. - Connections – UNED Forum Quarterly Newsletter || ... it is a book worth taking seriously ... Anyone who is not sure of what is meant by \"eco-efficiency\" will be hard pressed to find a better explanation ... In particular, there is good, balanced discussion of life cycle assessment as the most common model in use in environmental information management, and how it might be improved to make it a more effective and efficient management tool ... this book is an invaluable resource for anyone who is involved or interested in how accounting is influenced by environmental issues. - Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management <

Recent developments in the global economy and in multinational corporations have placed significant emphasis on the cognitive orientations of managers, giving rise to a number of concepts such as 'global mindset' that are presumed to be associated with the effective management of multinational corporations. This paper reviews the literature on global mindset and clarifies some of the conceptual confusion surrounding the construct. We identify common themes across writers, suggesting that the majority of studies fall into one of three research perspectives: cultural, strategic, and multidimensional. We also identify two constructs from the social sciences - cosmopolitanism and cognitive complexity - that underlie the perspectives found in the literature. We then use these two constructs to develop an integrative theoretical framework of global mindset. We then provide a critical assessment of the field of global mindset and suggest directions for future theoretical and empirical research.

The development and spread of 'smart city' technologies, policies and practices is now an important element of contemporary urban governance, given the role of powerful global firms such as IBM, Siemens and Cisco in their authorship. Developing a relational ontology of global 'smart city' firms, the paper explores the origin and development of IBM's pervasive and influential Smarter Cities strategies. The paper argues that for IBM, Smarter Cities represents an attempt to solve three strategic problems that face the firm: how to maximise its stored knowledge and ensure its labour costs deliver significant added value; how to construct new sectoral and geographic markets for this knowledge; and how to reduce, standardise and simplify the object of that knowledge – the city – as a scaleable commodity. To illustrate these issues, the paper first explores the strategic direction of IBM from being a loss-making computer hardware manufacturer, to an information technology consultancy, identifying the role of acquisitions, city partnership, and research and development in that process. Second, it identifies how IBM has constructed a market for city or municipal services within its suite of vertical specialist markets. Third, it describes the relationship between the marketing, modelling and visualisation practices that reduce and simplify urban problems for solution through the sale of proprietary software packages, consultancy services and hardware to their clients in city government. The paper concludes by arguing that the future of smart cities is inextricably linked to the internal knowledge organisation of a small number of global technology firms.

The volumes in this set, originally published between 1955 and 1993, draw together research by leading academics in the area of multinationals and provides a rigorous examination of related key issues. The volumes examine foreign investment and currency translation, environmental control issues and the impact of multinationals on the British economy. This set will be of particular interest to students of business studies. 1. Multinationals as Mutual Invaders: Intra-Industry Direct Foreign Investment Edited by Asim Erdilek (1985), 2. How Participatory Evaluation Research Affects the Management Control Process of a Multinational Nonprofit Organization Gail J. Fults (1993), 3. Foreign Currency Translation by United States Multinational Corporations: Toward a Theory of Accounting Standard Selection Dahli Gray (1993), 4. The Export of Hazard: Transnational Corporations and Environmental Control Issues Edited by Jane H. Ives (1985), 5. Multinationals and Transfer Pricing Edited by Alan M. Rugman and Lorraine Eden (1955), 6. The Multinational Construction Industry Howard Seymour (1987), 7. Employee Consultation and Information in Multinational Corporations Edited by Jacques Vandamme (1986), 8. Foreign Multinationals and the British Economy: Impact and Policy Stephen Young, Neil Hood and James Hamill (1987) Multivolume collection by leading authors in the field.

Today, more corporations disclose information about their environmental performance in response to stakeholder demands of environmental responsibility and accountability. What information do corporations disclose on their websites? This paper investigates the environmental management policies and practices of the 200 largest corporations in the world. Based on a content analysis of the environmental reports of Fortune's Global 200 companies, this research analyzes the content of corporate environmental disclosures with respect to the following seven areas: environmental planning considerations, top management support to the institutionalization of environmental concerns, environmental structures and organizing specifics, environmental leadership activities, environmental control, external validations or certifications of environmental programs, and forms of corporate environmental disclosures.