Overview

In today's globalized world, a deep understanding of how culture affects international business phenomena is critical to scholarship and practice. Yet, armed with only superficial measures of national cultural differences proliferated by easy-to-use, statistically testable, generalized classifications, scholars and practitioners find themselves stereotype rich and operationally poor where culture meets real-world international business context. “Culture” is much more complex: made up of various multifaceted and interacting spheres of influence – national, regional, institutional, organizational and functional – and enacted by individuals, many who are multicultural themselves. International business settings are therefore rife with multilevel cultural interactions as individuals with differing cultural assumptions work together in real time (often virtually) across distance and differentiated contexts. Ethnography is the most effective approach for gaining insights into such microlevel embedded cultural phenomena. This coursebook provides detailed examples of three types of ethnography especially suited to researching and building theory in today's complex cultural environments.

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9781009224963

Table of Contents

Reviews

'This is the most comprehensive scholarly book on ethnography in international business. Mary Yoko Brannen offers her original insights into intracultural, intercultural and strategic ethnography by drawing on her own rich multicultural background. A must-read for everyone interested in gaining an in-depth understanding of ethnography in the international business context.' Kazuhiro Asakawa, Professor, Keio University Graduate School of Business Administration, Japan 'In today's fractured business world, it is more important than ever to understand differences in national culture.  This new book by Mary Yoko Brannen is a tour de force. Building on more than thirty years' experience, she provides a definitive guide to conducting ethnographical research on international business topics. A must-read book for anyone interested in really understanding culture in international business.' Julian Birkinshaw, Dean, Ivey Business School 'International managers still operate on the basis of a sketchy understanding of complex local knowledge inhibiting sustainable growth and innovation. Professor Brannen's book addresses this challenge head-on and deserves a place on every inquisitive manager's desktop.' Michael Hill, Senior Director of Talent & Organization Development, Applied Materials 'Debunking the persistent myth of ethnography as mere description, this book demonstrates the value of ethnography for theory building. Written by a pioneer of ethnographic research in our field, it breaks a methodological glass ceiling for aspiring ethnographers and introduces a rich variety of ethnographic approaches available for scholars interested in studying culture in complex global organizations. I can wholeheartedly recommend this book for colleagues interested in producing paradigm-challenging research.' Rebecca Piekkari, Marcus Wallenberg Chair of International Business, Aalto University

Author Information

Mary Yoko Brannen is Professor Emerita at San José State University and Honorary Professor of International Business (IB) at the Copenhagen Business School. Professor Brannen is a pioneer in the use of ethnographic methods in IB research and credited with broadening the range of research methods recognized by IB scholars to embrace qualitative mixed methods studies, ethnography, semiotics, and linguistical analysis. After serving two consecutive elected terms as Deputy Editor of the Journal of International Business Studies (2011-2016), she was appointed Fellow of the Academy of International Business in 2016. She currently sits on the Advisory Boards of the Master of International Business at the Stockholm School of Economics in Sweden, the Groupe d'Études Management & Langage (GEM&L) in France, and the Center for Japanese Studies at Portland State University in the US.

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