Operations Management in a Global Context

An answer book for entrepreneurial executives seeking to take their companies global, Schniederjans's concise presentation gets to the heart of the problem: What will globalization mean, once you have achieved it, and how are you going to get there? How do you make an organization global, and, in fact, what is the difference between global and international? The author sees global firms not simply as big international organizations, but as unique, living organisms that can be managed for everyone's benefit. With two useful appendices and full coverage of the critical functions involved in globally managing a company, this book is an enlightening guide to the intricacies of establishing and developing a profitable global business. Readers will find here the answers to such questions as: How do you get started in going global? What should a global operation be? How should it be structured organizationally? What should its information system do to support its global network? How should its human resources be managed? Its technology? How should it undertake the acquisition of supplies in a global context? How should it conduct R&D and benchmarking? In Part I the author provides an introduction to the basic premise of the book and the necessary terminology. Part II focuses on managerial issues that help the organization globalize operations. In Part III readers get a series of popular tactics they can use to implement the approaches laid out in Part II. Finally, the two appendices help readers locate new information and test the knowledge contained in the book. An important, useful read for professionals, academics, and students.