International Business: The Challenge of Global Competition (8th Edition) [Hardcover]

Donald Ball (Author), Wendell H. McCulloch (Author), Paul L Frantz (Author), Michael Geringer (Author), Michael S Minor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 26, 2001 | ISBN-10: 007248554X | ISBN-13: 978-0072485547 | Edition: 8

International Business: The Challenge of Global Competition, 8e, continues to be the textbook of choice for instructors who want comprehensive coverage. It is the textbook of choice for adopters who like to cover a broad range of topics and to show students the steps a business must take to go global. International Business, 8e, describes international business concepts in a pedagogically rich and straightforward style. In response to reviewer feedback, a new, clearer design and expanded web site can be found with the 8th edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

J. Michael Geringer is a professor of strategy and international management at California Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo. He earned a BS in business at Indiana University and MBA and PhD degrees at the University of Washington. He has authored or edited 14 books and monographs, over 110 published papers, and over 35 case studies; he serves on the editorial boards of several leading international academic journals; he served as the Saastamoinen Foundation Chair at the Helsinki School of Economics in Finland; he was the founding chair of the Strategic alliances Committee of the Licensing Executives Society; he served as the chair of both the International Business and the Strategy and Policy divisions of the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada; and he is past chairperson of the Academy of Management’s International Management division. His research has appeared in the Strategic Management Journal, Academy of Management Journal, Journal of International Management, Columbia Journal of World Business, Management International Review, Journal of Management Studies, Human Resource Management Journal, Long Range Planning, Organisation Studies, and Journal of Applied Psychology, among others. He has received 11 “best paper” awards for his research, including the Decade Award for most influential article from the Journal of International Business Studies. His teaching performance has earned numerous awards in the U.S., Canada, Asia, Africa, Australia, and Europe, including the University Distinguished Teacher Award. He was the first recipient of the International Educator Award from Cal Poly, and he endowed a scholarship for students to work and study internationally. He has been active in a range of charitable and service activities, including spearheading the adoption of a school in Soweto, South Africa, and fund-raising for public radio. In addition to his working teaching with universities around the world, Geringer is active in consulting and executive development for multinational corporations and executives from six continents. His clients have included Nokia; Lucent; Eastman Kodak; Sonera; Northern Telecom; Rautaruukki; Eastman Chemical; UPM Kymmene; Industry, Science & Technology Canada; Jiangsu Telecom Industrial; California Highway Patrol; Economic Council of Canada; Perlos; YIT; California Department of Transportation; and Okobank, among others. For relaxation, he enjoys daily Stairmaster workouts, along with hiking, camping, gardening, cooking spicy vegetarian foods, and music.

Michael S. Minor is professor of marketing and international business at the University of Texas, Pan American. He was educated at the University of North Carolina, American University, and Cornell and holds a PhD from Vanderbilt University. His research focuses on comparative consumer behavior, international marketing strategy, political risk, and the consumption of high-technology experiential products. He has published in the Journal of International Business Studies, the Journal of Consumer Marketing, International Studies of Management and Organization, the Journal of Services Marketing, International Business Review, Journal of Interactive Advertising, and elsewhere. He has written for business and popular media from PCWeek to Tennessee Business Magazine. He is past chairperson of the Consumer Behavior Special Interest Group, and past vice chair of the Technology and Marketing Special Interest Group of the American Marketing Association, as well as a former member of the Global Marketing SIG’s board of directors. He is active in DOCNET, the association of business doctoral program administrators. He serves on multiple editorial advisory boards and is the coauthor with John C. Mowen of several consumer behavior books. He has won multiple master’s-level teaching awards and was recently the doctoral program professor of the year. His consulting experience includes work for UNCTAD’s Division on Investment, Technology and Enterprise Development and several U.S. and state government agencies. He has reviewed grant proposals for the Research Council of Norway as well as several U.S. agencies. He lived in Asia for a number of years, and speaks Chinese. He relaxes by playing the mandolin and harmonica for the country/classic rock groups RiverRock and Coastlands.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 710 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill/Irwin; 8 edition (June 26, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 007248554X
• ISBN-13: 978-0072485547
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,208,832 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars International Business, 9th edition, March 23, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: International Business: The Challenge of Global Competition with PowerWeb, CD, and CESIM (Hardcover)

As a first time instructor using this book, I was floored by the amount of useless data in the book that students must dig through to get to the important points of each chapter. Since the power point slides provided with the book only did an outline of the chapters, they were not of much help in giving a lecture. It was also absolutely amazing that a book that bills itself as being published in 2004 (but I received in 2003) is behind the times in a significant number of topics (e.g. it still refers to the G7 - not even mentioning the G8 even though I think it was about 1997 that the G8 became official). The section on religion was a perfect example of how to offend someone in another culture. The author needs to attend a diversity training course! A majority of the questions in the sample tests did not deal with topics that were significant in the chapters, but rather minor insignificant points. It may be the best book out there for an international business class but it shouldn't be priced the way it is for what is clearly an outdated edition.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding overview of international business, May 20, 2003

By 

Bill Davidson (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: International Business: The Challenge of Global Competition with PowerWeb, CD, and CESIM (Hardcover)

I just finished reading the new 9th edition of this book and it is excellent, containing many improvements on what was already an outstanding book for introducing international business issues to students and businesspeople.

The strengths of this book include its extensive coverage of the various environments of international business, such as the cultural, political, legal, financial, competitive, and physical environments. Each of these chapters has practical examples to supplement the discussion of key issues and concepts, as well as highlighting points of relevance for businesspeople. The discussion of these various dimensions of international business environment is superior to alternative books, such as Hill or Daniels, that I considered using in my teaching (I teach international business for undergraduate students and also offer executive development courses for universities and businesses).

Another strength of this book is its coverage of issues associated with the operations of an international business. The strategy chapter provides a concise and useful overview of concepts in a way that is superior to most strategy books. Other chapters provide detailed and practical discussion of issues such as how to participate in importing and exporting (presented in a manner that sets this book apart from other books that generally provide only a few general pages on the merits and challenges of exporting but provide minimal guidance regarding how to actually do it!). The discussion on international operations is unique compared to other introductory international business books, and provides an insightful review of operations practices in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.

There is also a simulation that is provided with this book, allowing users to practice the management of an international business within the global cell phone industry. As part of the 8th edition of Ball et al, I used this simulation with my undergraduate and graduate classes and their response was outstanding. They felt that the experience was one of the best in the entire program, and that they not only learned very much about international business (market analysis, selecting products, pricing, promotion, managing exchange rates, etc.), but that they learned more practical information about functions such as finance, marketing, operations management, and strategy than they had in their earlier coursework.

Teaching or learning the material for an introduction to international business can be a complex and daunting challenge. The Ball et al book helped me and my students to minimize thse challenges, making international business a relevant and enjoyable topic for study, and practice.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great text for first-timers. Clear, with lots of cases., October 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: International Business: The Challenge of Global Competition (Hardcover)

Better than their 6th edition, with appropriate updates and improved chapter organization. I've used this title for four years in my intro course and the students love it.