In this chapter we have examined the problems of organizations 'going

international' and the implications for managers. We began by examining the notion of the liability of foreignness and the practical problems to which that concept gives rise, such as whether firms should expatriate their own home country managers or use mainly local managers in overseas operations. Decisions such as these depend on the different entry strategies used by internationalizing firms and on the experience and values of senior managers in the parent company.

They also depend on whether the parent company managers see the countries into which they are entering as convergent with or divergent from their own in terms of culture and institutional frameworks. So, in the middle section of the chapter we examined the nature of national cultural differences and applied them to the analysis of different countries and their organizational and management practices. We also examined the idea of national business systems and applied these to the analysis of Wal-Mart's entry into Germany to show how a lack of understanding of institutions, as well as culture, can seriously hamper ambitions to develop overseas markets. Indeed, one of the most practical exercises you can do as a manager charged with developing overseas markets or working overseas is to undertake an institutional and cultural analysis of the target country. It is also extremely beneficial for you to undertake a similar exercise on your own country, to understand more fully your own idiosyncratic views and to compare...