International Mangement

Given Puerto Rico’s colonial exclusion from Latin American and Caribbean regionalism and its ruling parties’ disregard for stimulating an industrial base of small and medium-sized local enterprises rather than U.S. multinational corporations, Puerto Rico needs to construct new pathways to inclusive socioeconomic development. One approach is articulating strategic and industrial policies to stimulate these enterprises from below by promoting value chains focused on exports or export potential. A proposed systematization draws on the experience gained in a project carried out under an agreement between the University of Puerto Rico and Puerto Rico’s Trade and Export Company to generate strategic export plans and map value chains for small and medium-sized enterprises. Dada la exclusión colonial de Puerto Rico del regionalismo latinoamericano y caribeño y el desprecio de sus partidos gobernantes por estimular una base industrial de pequeñas y medianas empresas locales en lugar de corpo...

Multinational corporations (MNCs) are constantly undergoing a process of standardisation and reorganisation (S&R), which is fuelled by the rapid development of information technology (IT). These developments require an in-depth and systematic inquiry as they have serious ramifications for labour and workers’ participation across Europe. Moreover,there is a lack of systematic research into the effects of these new, and especially IT based, S&R measures on the quality of labour and labour relations in European MNCs. This report provides a comprehensive overview of new (and renewed) S&R trends in European MNCs and their effects on labour. It draws on a systematic analysis of relevant literature and expert interviews. Departing from an overview on the various phenomena related to S&R processes to be found in the literature, the expert interviews led to the identification of six main S&R trends: 1) the renewed impact of ‘lean production’ principles and ‘lean thinking’ on standardisation; 2) the critical role of outsourcing for standardisation processes; 3) new developments in HRM process standardisation; 4) IT-based standardisation; 5) standardisation by Big Data and Industry 4.0; and 6) compliance-induced measures of process standardisation. In practice, all six trends often interconnect to exert a strong impact on labour and labour relations in contemporary MNCs. Hence, the report explores the critical impact of the six trends on labour and workers’ participation across Europe, and also addresses their interconnectedness in relation to the powerful managerial rationales which trigger the observed new (and renewed) S&R moves.

The evolution of globalisation in recent decades has contributed to the growth in relationships and interactions among different countries. These interactions are impacted by the country's cultural history and the structure of rules and ideologies. As businesses explore the opportunities to expand their operations globally and penetrate new markets, they are faced with many risks and challenges. One major risk that international businesses face is corruption. Throughout this paper, we will address and examine corruption as it pertains to religion and cultural dimensions and capture its economic impacts.

Only in recent years have self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) been distinguished from assigned expatriates (AEs). But there is still a lack of empirically based comparative results. Statistical analysis, performed on data from 193 expatriates (NAE = 67; NSIE = 126), indicates that self-initiated foreign work experience is significantly more likely to be chosen by women and those having lower job levels. Furthermore, boundaryless and protean

This article attempts to compare the processes of modern economic globalization with analogous processes that have taken place in the past. The socio-economic, political and business changes taking place in the global dimension since the middle of the last century have contributed to a significant modification of the contemporary dominant market structures and models of financial systems. The main determinants of modern globalization pro-cesses include the third technological revolution that took place in the second half of the twentieth century and mainly concerned the multifaceted development of information technology and the implementation of information technologies for many different industries and also other spheres of human life. The processes of globalization in a more distant past were somewhat different in nature, when other factors of production prevailed in the production of goods, and economics was not yet a separate science.

Corporate Social Responsibility commonly known as CSR has been defined by many world organizations and at present its definition has been practiced and adopted by corporations based on individual's belief and understanding. Every corporation has its own definition of CSR and what is deemed CSR has always been philanthropy, cause-related marketing, green, community outreach or piecemeal solution. This paper will examine the understanding of CSR between the current and future corporate leaders and to analyze the challenges of its applications and implications in Malaysia. Through interviews and surveys, we analyze how CSR is perceived and how the dynamics are influenced by the interest of a corporation itself. In this paper we hope to highlight that the future of CSR is in the hands of the younger generation as they take on the role of corporate leaders. The corporate leaders of today's economy will have a distinctive role in accompanying the younger generation into the arena of CSR to establish a foundation for the future of CSR in Malaysia that will take shape as a culture and identity. In conclusion, based on the Malaysian understanding of CSR, the authors suggest CSR approaches that will respond to the needs of communities in emerging economies.

Only in recent years have self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) been distinguished from assigned expatriates (AEs). But there is still a lack of empirically based comparative results. Statistical analysis, performed on data from 193 expatriates (NAE = 67; NSIE = 126), indicates that self-initiated foreign work experience is significantly more likely to be chosen by women and those having lower job levels. Furthermore, boundaryless and protean

Given Puerto Rico’s colonial exclusion from Latin American and Caribbean regionalism and its ruling parties’ disregard for stimulating an industrial base of small and medium-sized local enterprises rather than U.S. multinational corporations, Puerto Rico needs to construct new pathways to inclusive socioeconomic development. One approach is articulating strategic and industrial policies to stimulate these enterprises from below by promoting value chains focused on exports or export potential. A proposed systematization draws on the experience gained in a project carried out under an agreement between the University of Puerto Rico and Puerto Rico’s Trade and Export Company to generate strategic export plans and map value chains for small and medium-sized enterprises. Dada la exclusión colonial de Puerto Rico del regionalismo latinoamericano y caribeño y el desprecio de sus partidos gobernantes por estimular una base industrial de pequeñas y medianas empresas locales en lugar de corpo...

"Globalization and the development of multinational organizations have led to an increase in the number of people spending part of their lives living and working in foreign countries. While the contemporary literature has focused on organizational expatriates sent overseas by their employers, self-initiated expatriation is becoming an important area of study in its own right. Studies on self-initiated expatriation explore the labor market positions of individuals who have relocated under their own initiative. However, no comprehensive book exists on the dynamics that underlie this type of mobility. This edited volume offers a holistic picture of self-initiated expatriation and the groups that pursue it, emphasizing many aspects for departure including career development and career capital. It is the first book on the market to explore the issues pertaining to self-initiated expatriation from a variety of perspectives with important theoretical and practical implications. In an era of global war for talent, companies face difficulties in finding highly skilled employees. Self-initiated expatriates have the potential to fill this talent gap. National economies thus have an interest in creating favorable conditions to attract self-initiated expatriates and provoke their repatriation, and this book explores the conditions that achieve the return of employees with skills that are in demand outside of their home countries. "

Africa, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in particular, has for more than 10 years recorded a steady economic growth since the advent of the new millennium. Yet, despite this stellar economic growth, it faces challenges such as rapid population growth, persistent economic inequality, climate change threats, droughts, youth unemployment, undernourishment, and food insecurity. Understanding the state of food security in Africa, and addressing the above-mentioned challenges, should be the highest priority for Africa's Political Leadership. Not doing so will forever make Africa fail to achieve a sustainable economic development and create an inclusive shared-prosperity for its people. The African Union (AU), as well as respective national governments and regional organizations, and the international community at large, have in recent decades launched a multitude of policy initiatives aimed at addressing and tackling Africa's food insecurity and nutrition challenges. Despite those effort...

Las pautas del actual desarrollo tecnológico junto a la inminente necesidad de salvaguardar el planeta encontraron hoy en día un poderoso aliado, el litio. Es el metal más ligero del mundo y su elevado coeficiente de reactividad electroquímica lo convierte en un material extremadamente útil en numerosas industrias claves de la economía mundial.
El siguiente artículo analiza la industria del litio, examina sus aplicaciones y sus múltiples implicaciones proponiéndose describir y entender su actual y futuro protagonismo estratégico, con el fin de comprender las acciones de la comunidad internacional y la dirección de nuestro próximo futuro. Primero se observa como la importancia de este recurso hunde sus raíces en el siglo XIX y, desde su descubrimiento, generó interés en varios sectores económicos e industriales. Segundo, se analiza la situación actual de la industria minera sea a nivel económico que a nivel político en los tres países del Triángulo. Tercero, el enfoque se concentra en las implicaciones internacionales de la industria de litio y, por último, se desarrollan las consecuencias sociales, políticas y medioambientales de este negocio.

Purpose – This is a special issue introduction on cross-cultural and comparative diversity management (DM). The purpose of this paper is to present five articles that explore and examine some of the complexities of equality and DM in various countries around the world. Design/methodology/approach – In this introductory paper, the authors provide an overview and the current state of literature on comparative research on equality and diversity. The authors also gathered a list of indices that is helpful as secondary data for informing comparative and crossnational research in this domain. Findings – To date, comparative work involving two or more countries is scarce with Canada/USA comparisons first appearing in the 1990s, followed by other groupings of countries a decade later. Existing comparative work has started to uncover the dialectics of voluntary and mandated action: both complement each other, although the order in which they appear vary from context to context. This work also acknowledges that there are varying degrees of intensity in the way that legislations may constrain employer action in encouraging a more diverse workforce, and that there is more than a binary choice between blind equality of rights (identity blind) and quota-based policies (affirmative action) available to decision makers. Originality/value – The comparative nature of these papers allows the reader to compare and contrast the different approaches to the adoption and implementation of DM. The authors also draw attention to several areas in cross-cultural DM research that have been understudied and deserve attention. Keywords Transnationalism, Diversity management, Comparative study, Cross-cultural management, Equality diversity and inclusion

Author preprint available: https://orbilu.uni.lu/handle/10993/44134 Critical sociolinguistics has demonstrated that the social construct of the ‘native speaker’ has a strong impact on people's lives, but research on ‘native speaker effects’ in the workplace remains rare. This article examines such effects from the perspective of four ‘native English speaker’ trainees on temporary contracts in a multilingual European Union institution in Luxembourg. Applying the framework of sociolinguistic stance to interview data and drawings, we examine how the participants position themselves towards the ‘native English speaker’ construct at work, and how they think others position them. According to our participants, ‘native English speaker’ positioning confers privilege but restricts opportunities, demonstrating that the interest of a multilingual organisation in using the ‘native English speaker’ as a resource does not automatically provide a powerful position to ‘native English speaking’ workers. Our results featuring trainees in precarious labour conditions raise broader issues regarding the precaritisation of language work in the EU.