Summaries: legendary standard works, literature and manuals about international relations and politics
Summary with International Economics and Business. Nations and Firms in the Global Economy by Beugelsdijk
CHAPTER A: ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION- WHAT, HOW AND WHEN?
§A.1 ‘The global economy- Some general information’
There is no one standard answer to the question: “What is globalization?”. Globalization means different things to different people. Take farm leaders, trade unionists and human rights activists as an example ; they all see different pros and cons for globalization.
Based on this argumentation, there are five key issues to be considered:
- Cultural globalization > Which is about the debate whether there is one big global culture or a set of universal cultural variables, and the degree to which these universal cultural variables displace embedded national cultures and traditions.
An example that illustrates this debate: there are people afraid of ‘McDonaldization’ (hige multinationals are the carriers of culture globalization) and there are people seeing enough room for local traditions.
- Economic globalization > Which is about the decline of national markets and the rise of global markets. Drivers for economic globalization are fundamental changes in technology which permit more efficient ways of internationally organizing production processes.
- Geographical globalization > Which is about the result of ‘joint time and space’ due to reduced travel times and the rapid (electronic) exchange of information. Some neo-liberals named this development the ‘end of geography’ in which location no longer matters.
- Institutional globalization > Which is about the spread of universal institutional regulations across the world, triggered by US President Reagan’s and UK Prime Minister Thatcher’s ‘revolution’ of neo-liberalism. These neo-liberal policies are represented by institutions such as the IMF (International Monetary Fund), the WB (World Bank) and the WTO (World Trade Organization). These universal institutional regulations are not only on macro-economic level, but also on the micro-economic level: multinationals adopt similar policies under the pressure of competition and regulation.
- Political globalization > Which is about the relationship between the power of the market (multinational corporations) versus the nation-state, which continuously has to make changes and updates in reaction to economic and political forces. Popular anti-globalists stress that large multinationals become more and more powerful, out-powering the majority of nation-states. In contradiction, others point out that real evidence for these fears is lacking, as the state has to provide security, a legal system, education and infrastructure, which are all of vital importance for economic activity and growth.
Keynes once said that the master economist should “examine the present in light of the past, for the purpose of the future”, by which the common opinion about economic globalization was that it was a totally new.....read more
International Human Resource Management
Summary of: Ewards, T. & Kuruvilla, S. (2005). International HRM: National Business Systems, Organizational Politics, and the International Division of Labour in MNCs. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 16(1)
INTERNATIONAL HRM
Strategic human resource management: The RBV suggests that the firm’s human resources can be used to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. But failures by the HRM policy can turn human resources into a major source of disadvantage. Considering transaction cost economics, the decision to add one or more factory workers on the assembly line might be made using the logic of transaction cost analysis. But maybe not when we talk about skilled workers and probably even less again when we’re talking about workers core to our firm.
Human resource management (HRM) is a field of theory and practice that deals with decisions related to policies and practices, that together help to shape the relationship between the firm and its employees. It is suggested that:
Human capital can be a source of competitive advantage; and
HR practices have the most direct influence on the human capital of an organization.
Most conceptual models provide grounds for expecting MNCs to adopt a global element to the way they manage their international workforces to reap the benefits from coordination and integration; consistency and contribution; and learning lessons across operation (transferring knowledge). Another pressure for global HR policies is the country of origin effect (i.e. export the home country style). In contrast, there are also a variety of grounds expecting MNCs to adopt a local element in their HR policies. Decentralization is pressed for by differing national cultures (i.e. multi-culturalism) and national-level regulations and institutions.
A variety of authors argue for a middle way, a combination of the global and local pressures. Yet, the tension between integration (consistency of HR practices in the MNC) and differentiation (local adaptation) is determined by a list of endogenous and exogenous factors, so many in fact that the models are difficult to operationalize.
There are three significant weaknesses and problems to the existing literature:
1. Inadequate conceptualization of national influences
The weak explanatory power of the precise origins and nature of both global and local effects. Importantly, where there is an attempt to analyze a national system it is often couched in terms of culture.
This can take two forms:
Either culture is used in a loose way to capture all aspects of national differences
Use is made of a particular typology of culture, such as Hofstede’s.
Apart from the utility for HR policy, perhaps the major problem with these cultural approaches is that they explain relatively little.
An alternative approach is to focus on the key institutions within a nation. Focus on a national business system, which is a set of interlocking structures and institutions in different spheres of economic and social life that combine to create a nationally distinct pattern
.....read more Summary: Law of Public International Organizations
- Chapter 1: Introduction
- Chapter 2: The creation of international organizations
- Chapter 3: The legal position
- Chapter 4: The doctrines of powers
- Chapter 6: Membership issues
- Chapter 7: Funding
- Chapter 8: Immunities
- Chapter 9: Institutional structures
- Chapter 10: Legal instruments
- Chapter 11: Decision making & judicial review
- Chapter 12: Dispute settlement
- Chapter 13: Treaty-making
- Published in
Chapter 1: Introduction
The activities of international organizations are subject to law, and give rise to law. Each and every international organization has a set of rules relating to its own functioning. As international organizations do not exist in a vacuum, their activities are also bound to exercise some influence on other legal systems, and absorb the influence of such systems. While it is possible that international organizations are influenced by, and exert influence on, the law of individual nation-states, the more direct and influential links usually exist within the body of rules known as international law.
Critical legal theory
The law of international organizations is still somewhat immature. On numerous points the law lacks certainty. In particular, international legal doctrine has a hard time coming to terms with the relationship between an international organization and the very states which are its members. On the one hand, the law is supposed to respect the interests of individual states. Yet at the same time, the law must also take the interests of the international community into account. Following the critical legal tradition, international law is bound to swerve back and forth between these two poles of sovereignty and community. It is this tension which makes international legal rules often ultimately uncertain. This tension also reflects in the law of international organizations, for example regarding the so-called principle of attribution of powers. Strict adherents to the notion of state sovereignty will not easily admit the existence of implied powers; yet for the protection of community interests, an implied power may well be deemed desirable.
The main benefit of critical legal theory is its capacity to make visible the inherent tensions and contradictions which help shape the law. In this way it can provide great services in understanding international institutional law.
Defining international organizations
What exactly is an international organization? While it is structurally impossible to define in a comprehensive manner, something which is a social creation (social constructs, created by people in order to help them achieve some purpose) to begin with, it is common in the literature to delimit international organizations in at least some ways. One delimitation often made depends on the body of law governing the activities of the organization. If those activities are governed by international law, we speak of an international organization, or at least of an intergovernmental organization. If those activities are governed by some domestic law, we usually say that the organization in.....read more
Summary: Financial Accounting: An International Introduction
This summary was written in the year 2013-2014.
- 1. Introduction to Financial Accounting
- 2. Some Fundamentals
- 3. Frameworks and Concepts
- 4. The Regulation of Accounting
- 5. International Differences and Harmonization
- 6. The contents of financial statements (newly added chapter)
- 8. Recognition and measurement of the elements of financial statements
- 9. The Intangible and tangible fixed assets
- 10. Inventories
- 11. Financial assets, liabilities and equity
- 12. Cash flow statements
1. Introduction to Financial Accounting
Definitions
Accounting has evolved over the years based on a response to different perceived needs in that field. In different countries and in different environments accounting has developed in different ways. Because of this there is not one single definition for the word accounting. Generally speaking, accounting exists to provide service for different types of people dealing with business entities, such as managers, investors, lenders, employees, suppliers, customers, governments, and the public.
There are key words for accounting which are:
- Process
- Information
- Economic nature
- Enable decision making
Managerial accounting (internal)
Managerial accounting targets at management within organizations, therefore no commercially confidential information needs to be kept secret. No external checking is needed for the reporting. Compared with financial reporting, it is more detailed, more frequent, and involving forecasting all the important figures for next year. It is concerned with the provision of information intended to be useful to management within the business
Financial accounting (external)
Accounting for users outside of the business itself (examples are listed in the definition, excluding managers). According to IASB, financial reporting is largely designed to provide investors with useful information, concentrating on immediate past. External checking is needed.
Users of financial statements:
- Investors
- Employees
- Suppliers
- Governments
- Public
- Customers
- Other lenders
Auditing
A control mechanism made to provide both external and independent checks on the published financial statements and reports of organizations.
- Finance: looks at the optimal means of raising money
- Financial management: the optimal means of spending it
- Financial accounting: reporting on the results of having used it
Bookkeeping
Records data and keeping records of money and financially related movements. It is financial and management accounting that takes the raw data, chooses and presents it as appropriate. Therefore, financial accounting acts as the communicating process to those outside the enterprise.
Regulation
Market forces, the 'state' and accountancy profession together determine accounting regulation. The accounting profession is organized in associations. The European Union requires two types of organization: qualifying bodies (exams & technical rules) and regulatory bodies which are under government control. The coordinating organization for the accountancy profession around the world is IFAC (International Federation of Accountants). The purpose of IFAC is “to develop and enhance a coordinated worldwide accountancy profession with harmonized standards”. IASB (International Accounting Standards Board) is independent and has total autonomy in the setting of.....read more
Internationale communicatie en interculturele communicatie: De beste studieboeken samengevat
Samenvattingen en studiehulp bij Internationale communicatie en interculturele communicatie
Internationale Bedrijfskunde en Strategie: De beste studieboeken samengevat
Samenvattingen en studiehulp bij Internationale Bedrijfskunde en Strategie
Wat is internationale bedrijfskunde en strategie?
- Internationale bedrijfskunde is de studie en praktijk van het besturen van bedrijven in een wereldwijde context. Het richt zich op het begrijpen van verschillende culturen, economieën en markten om succesvol zaken te doen over de grenzen heen. Internationale strategie is een plan van aanpak dat een bedrijf volgt om zijn doelen te bereiken op de wereldmarkt. Het houdt rekening met de specifieke uitdagingen en kansen die internationale handel met zich meebrengt.
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