Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
A group of 21 Pacific Rim countries whose purpose is to improve economic and political ties.
Association of Southeast Asian Nations
A trading bloc consisting of 11 countries in Asia.
Central America Free Trade Agreement
Trade Agreement involing the United States and Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicarugua and which is intended to reduce tariffs and other barriers to free trade.
Countertrading
Bartering goods for goods
Culture
The shared set of beliefs, values, knowledge, and patterns of behavior common to a group of people.
Dumping
The practice of a foreign company's exporting products aborad at a lower price than the price in the home market--or even below the costs of production--in order to drive down the price of the domestic product.
Embargo
A complete ban on the import or export of certain products.
Ethnocentric Managers
Managers who believe that their native country, culture, language, and behavior are superior to all others.
European Union
Union of 27 trading partners in Europe
Exchange Rate
The rate at which the currency of one area or country can be exchanged for the currency of another's.
Expatriates
People living or working in a foreign country.
Exporting
Producing goods domestically and selling them outside the country.
Franchising
A form of licensing in which a company allows a foreign company to pay it a fee and a share of the profit in return for using the first company's brand name and a package of materials and services.
Free Trade
The movement of goods and services among nations without political or economic obstruction
Geocentric Managers
Managers who accept that there are differences and similarities between home and foreign personnel and practices and that they should use whatever techniques are most effective.
Global Economy
The increasing tendency of the economics of the world to interact with one another as one market instead of many national markets
Global Outsourcing
Also called offshoring; use of suppliers outside the United States to provide labor, goods, or services.
Global Village
The "shrinking" of time and space as air travel and the electronic media have made it easier for the people around the globe to communicate with one another
Globalization
The trend of the world economy toward becoming a more interdependent system.
GLOBE Project
A massive and ongoing cross-cultural investigation of nine cultural dimensions involved in leadership and organizational processes. Started by Robert J. House, GLOBE stands for Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness.
Greenfield Venture
A foreign subsidary that the owning organization has built from scratch.
High-Context Culture
Culture in which people rely heavily on situational cues for meaning when communicating with others.
Import Quota
A trade barrier in the form of a limit on the numbers of a product that that can be imported.
Importing
Buying goods outside the country and reselling them domestically.
International Monetary Fund
One of three principal organizations designed to facilitate international trade: its purpose is to assist in smoothing the flow of money between nations.
Joint Venture
Also known as a strategic alliance, a US firm may form a joint venture with a foreign company to share the risks and rewards of starting a new enterprise together in a foreign country.
Licensing
Company X allows a foreign company to pay it a fee to make or distribute X's product or service.
Low-Context Culture
Culture in which shared meanings are primarily derived from written and spoken words.
Maquiladoras
Manufacturing plants allowed to operate in Mexico with special privileges in return for employing Mexican citizens.
Mercosur
The largest trade bloc in Latin America with four core members--Argentia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
Monochromatic Time
The standard kind of time orientation in US business; a preference for doing one thing at a time.
Most Favored Nation
This trading status describes a condition in which a country grants other countries favorable trading treatment such as the reduction of import duties.
Multinational Corporation
A business firm with operations in several countries.
Multinational Organization
A nonprofit organization with operations in several countries.
North American Free Trade Agreement
A trading bloc consisting of the US, Canada, and Mexico.
Offshoring
Also called global outsourcing; use of suppliers outside the United States to provide labor, goods, or services.
Outsorcing
Using suppliers outside the company to provide goods and services.
Parochialism
A narrow view in which people see things solely through their own perspective.
Polycentric Managers
Managers who take the view that native managers in the foreign offices best understood native personnel and practices, and so the home office should leave them alone.
Polychronic Time
The standard kind of time orientation in Mediterranean, Latin Americans, and Arab cultures; a preference for doing more than one thing at a time.
Tariff
A trade barrier in the form of a customs duty, or tax, levied mainly on imports.
Trade Protectionism
The use of government regulations to limit the import of goods and services.
Trading Bloc
Also known as an economic community, it is a group of nations within a geographic region that have agreed to remove trade barriers with one another
Wholly Owned Subsidary
A foreign subsidary, or subordinate section of an organization, that is totally owned and controlled by an organization.
World Bank
One of three principal organizations designed to facilitate international trade: its purpose is to provide low-interest loans to developing nations for improving transportation, education, health, and telecommunications.
World Trade Organization
One of three principal organizations designed to facilitate international trade: its purpose is to monitor and enforce trade agreements.