Intended audience and level of reading
International Business: The Challenges of Globalization (Wild et al., 2009) is a comprehensive manual for business students. This book reveals major trends in international business in concise and accessible way. The use of illustrations, anecdotes, various interactive activities makes this manual not only very informative, but very interesting for students.
By all means it is a very helpful source of theoretical and practical knowledge on international business. The manual is cited by many scholars considering international business. For instance, Tipton (2006) refers to these authors while portraying the peculiarities of business held in Asian countries.
The authority and/or qualifications of the authors
It is important to state that the authors are respectful and honored scholars (Barnes & Noble, 2010). Thus, Professor John J. Wild got numerous teaching honors, such as “Mabel W. Chipman Excellence-in-Teaching Award, the Teaching Excellence Award from the 2003 graduation class, and the Beta Alpha Psi Excellence in Teaching Award” (Barnes & Noble, 2010). He has written more than 50 publications and is often invited as a speaker to various conferences.
Dr. Kenneth L. Wild is a committed educator which contributed greatly into the development of the international business study. He is a frequent speaker at the largest universities of the world and various conferences. He is a member of several organizations, such as the Academy of International Business, and he is also an Associate Editor of the Middle East Business Review (Barnes & Noble, 2010).
Professor Jerry C.Y. Han (who died in 2002) wrote more than forty publications on international business. He is a recognized educator who proved to be one of the most creative in business education. Han was also President of the North American Chinese Association (Barnes & Noble, 2010). He also consulted various international companies and was an active member of many organizations.
Summary comment
As has been already mentioned International Business: The Challenges of Globalization (Wild et al., 2009) is a very informative and precise manual for business students. It highlights the most important point and prepares students for various issues they may come across in the real life. Thus, Part 1 of the book deals with the issues of globalization. In fact, it introduces the notion and main peculiarities of the process of globalization.
It is important that students may refer to the map (available in Appendices) so that they can better understand international business outline. After introducing details on globalization the authors consider peculiarities of national business environments, studying cross-cultural relations and various factors influencing national business in major areas of the world. The authors go into detail considering international investment issues which is very important for successful business.
One more valuable set of information is Part 4 of the book where the authors consider international financial system and depict peculiarities of international monetary system. Finally, the book provides the necessary information on business planning, implementing business strategies and analyzing the effectiveness of business models. Of course, this part provides many precise and helpful strategies to start and manage international business.
Main purpose of the work
Due to their creative approach and concise writing the authors succeeded to achieve the major goal, i.e. the main purpose of the book which is to assist students (educators, businessmen, managers, etc.) to cope with numerous issues emerging in international business.
Reference List
Barnes & Noble. (2010). International Business: The Challenges of Globalization / Edition 4. Web.
Tipton, F.B. (2006). “Thumbs-up is a rude gesture in Australia”: The Presentation of Culture in International Business Textbooks. AIB Insights, 6(2), 10-16.
Wild, J.J., Wild, K.L. and Han, J.C.Y. (2009). International Business: The Challenges of Globalization, 5/E. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.