STEVEN L.

ROSEN
Global Business English

The Main Features of American
Business Culture and Customs

GLOBAL- BUT NATIONS ARE STILL
IMPORTANT
Even though we live in globalized economy, nations
and cultures are very different:

American, Japanese, Russian, Chinese, French
businesses are all quite different:
management systems and governance
national laws and regulations about commerce
business culture
THE (GLOBAL) ENTREPRENEUR


Important idea in (global) business very American

Entrepreneurship

Especially America
The U.S.A. has a long business
history with many great
entrepreneurs.
Thomas Edison
Henry Ford
BUSINESS LEADERSHIP: THE ENTREPRENEUR

Entrepreneurial spirit---

What is it???
WHAT IS AN ENTREPRENEUR?



Avisionary:hasinnovativeideas
Takesrisks(riskshisorherowncapital)
Guts/courage/motivationsnevergiveup

Who is he?
University of Texas, Austin student
As a young man at the
University of Texas he
designed a high quality PC
Michael Dell
He successfully used global supply-
chains to build one of the most
successful companies in America.

Supply chain-

In 1984, Dell's first full year in
business, he had $6 million in
sales.
Its all about cutting
costs.
Why are global supply chains
important???
KEY POINT: MAIN ECONOMIC
FEATURE OF GLOBALIZED
ECONOMY
WHO IS THIS WOMAN?
She started a new type of
company: based on fair trade and
sustainability.
A new type of global business
Green business

Fair trade (trade not aid)

Corporate social responsibility (CSR)
STARTED IN THE UK, BUT AMERICAN
BUSINESS SCHOOLS STUDY THE BODY
SHOP
1980s under the brand name Body
Shop

Grew 50% annually

Stock grew 500% on the London Stock
Exchange
A new approach to business in America?
/stakeholder
The old style American
corporation: profits over
people
Concerned only with
stock price, stockholder
profits

New business model in the USA
New approach for modern
globalized business:
stakeholder profits


Anita Roddick
The business has existed for one
reason only to allow us to use our
success to act as a force of
change

..to help protect people and
the environment.
IN BOTH BRITAIN AND AMERICA
And other countries, too:


Companies now must give value,
not just to the customer or the
stockholder, but to society.
American entrepreneur: Steve
Jobs
Desktop PC with graphical interface: this
machine changed the world!






Small businesses and homes and schools could
now have a computer!
He saw the next wave of computing was
music.

Steve Jobs was a visionary.

The iTunes music library
Now: in terms of revenue,
Apple changed from
being a computer
company to a music
entertainment company!

iPhone: June, 2007
Market capitalization :
$623 billion one of the
highest ever by publically
traded corporation.

A company with innovation
and value
SAM WALTON: AMERICAN RETAIL
GENIUS
What company did he start?


The Worlds third largest
corporation according to the
Fortune 500 list

The biggest private employer in
the world with over 2 million
employees



American retail giant
2.5% OF U.S. GDP IS WAL-MART


-- 70% of merchandise is
imported from China!....
11% of U.S. trade deficit
with China is because of
Wal-Mart!

Customer service/ customer first

Conservative corporate culture

Effective Strategies to dominate the retail
market


AND: EFFICIENT GLOBAL SUPPLY
CHAINS
Very efficient
manufacturing operations
in China with strict
inventory control
IN THE 1980S..
Sam Walton was the
richest man in the world

Company operates in 15
international markets


NEGATIVE SIDE
The loss of U.S. jobs


Manufacturing is done in China but sales
are mostly in the U.S.


SO..
American dollars
and jobs flow to
China.
The American consumer is
helping China.


But this is the nature
of global business today
What global company did he start?
What global brand did he make?


A truly global brand
Unique marketing mix

Unique management structure

Unique product line

Unique corporate philosophy
Companies like Starbucks
and Apple and others
have changed the way we
do business, the way we
think about business.
These entrepreneurs and their companies have change
our lives.
In America-

The MBA is still the foundation for
most business practices.



The MBA gives you the tools
you need to operate in the
business world.
An executive degree
Now you can even do it online!
Would you like to get an MBA?
-marketing
-operations
-accounting
-economics
-finance
- human resource management
- leadership
-quantitative analysis
Leadership is important
In business schools this course
is called Organizational
Behavior.
OB classes help deal with the human
challenges. ..

..Good managers need to be good
leaders..how to set goals and reach
people, motivate them.

*Organizational behavior
Most MBA course
use the case study
method--
The case study method:
Using specific cases to study
such things as
Supply-chain management (Wal-Mart, Dell)

Marketing (Coca Cola, Starbucks)

Management strategy (Google)

Finance (Enron, Bear Stearns)
Students of business English
Should also study business cases of modern
global businesses.


With special focus on innovation
AMERICAN BUSINESS EDUCATION:
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Exploring new opportunities in
business

New markets, new
products.how to develop
ENTREPRENEURIAL SKILLS
Passion (motivation)

Intensity (mental focus)

Fearlessness (risk taker)

Vision (creativity)
In the global economy,
the American model is
changing.. Becoming
more international,
more global
The business world is
changing.
Leadership rather than
management!

[what does this mean?]
A new world!
A quiet revolution in business
New models like systems thinking,

New philosophy like sustainability,

New ideas about leadership and
entrepreneurship

Corporate social responsibility (CSR)


Knowledge-based
enterprises.

Silicon Valley and the digital
revolution
Systems thinking focuses
on the whole, not the
parts, of a complex system.
Systems thinking
OLD STYLE BUSINESS ORIENTATION
Focus on profit maximization:
making as much money as
possible for shareholders
The modern global economy
Communication is much more important-
cross-cultural communication

And of course, English language ability is
key- from Singapore to Dubai, from
London to NY to Tokyo-- the language of
business is English.
How to study:
There are many good website for business
case studies and business studies in
general
Many online resources.
Aegis global
www.bized.co.uk


U.K. business
BBC Learning (business)
Who is this man? (1984)
Sir Richard Branson (1984)
Virgin Records
Branson started a successful music
company recording new artists

Then, in the early 1980s he decided he
wanted to start an airline!


No experience running and airline!

Also, it was almost impossible to
get hangers () or runways
at Heathrow Airport.



Virgin Atlantic Limited
He breaks all the rules.
Virgin spaceship
Do you want to reserve a seat?

A truly global entrepreneur
Today over 250 companies under the
Virgin brand with over $8 billion a year in
revenue ()


He challenged the tradition in business
schools that a business should focus on
one thing only.