In his best selling book The World is Flat , Friedman (2005) argues that many more countries and companies now compete in global markets than ever before. The effects of globalization are pervasive and are leading to the emergence of new social, political and business models. This flattening of the world represents a fundamental change and requires that managers of organizations throughout the world develop and use a global mindset. A global mindset is ‘a set of individual attributes that enable an individual to influence individuals, groups, and organizations from diverse socio/cultural/institutional systems’. The importance of this global mindset suggests that we need to better understand both its theoretical base and its practical relevance. The purpose of this book is to explore the content of a global mindset, how it is developed, when and how it should be applied, and what its consequences are. Therefore, a new source of competitive advantage is emerging: the ability to integrate players from many parts of the world faster and more effectively than others. The challenge to global corporations is increasingly to create seamless globally integrated systems to satisfy diverse customer needs in diverse global markets. Corporations ability to create globally integrated systems depends to a large extent on their success in getting their employees, managers, and executives to understand and adapt to a flat world. Thus, the new competitive advantage of global corporations lies in their ability to shape the minds and actions of their employees to ensure successful performance. The contributions in this volume suggest that the concept of global mindset represents an important competitive tool for today’s managers. Corporate leaders are advised to develop, exhibit and act with a global mindset in order for their firms to achieve and maintain a competitive advantage in international markets. Without such a mindset, such firms are likely to encounter better prepared and more knowledgeable global competitors, thereby threatening their very survival. This work gives a detailed account of the global mindset as an important competitive tool. It is international in scope and is edited by field leaders. This book series is available electronically at website.
