Global Business Midterms

achievement vs. ascription

What a person does contrasted with who a person is

Aesthetics

A culture’s sense of beauty and good taste

Communitarianism

Belief that the group is the beneficiary of actions

Context

The relevant environment

cultural paradox

Contradictions in a culture’s values

Ethnocentricity

The belief that your own culture is superior to other cultures

global mind-set

Involves an openness to diversity along with an ability to synthesize across diversity

material culture

All human-made objects

Monochronic

Having to do with linear time, sequential activities

neutral vs. affective

The withholding of emotion contrasted with its expression

Particularist

Condition in which context determines what concepts apply

Polychronic

Having to do with simultaneous activities, multitasking

specific vs. diffuse

Life divided into public and private spheres contrasted with life undifferentiated

Universalist

Condition in which concepts apply to all

controllable forces

Internal forces that management administers to adapt to changes in the uncontrollable forces.

domestic environment

All the uncontrollable forces originating in the home country that surround and influence the life and development of the firm.

economic globalization

The tendency toward an international integration and interdependency of goods, technology, information, labor and capital, or the process of making this integration happen.

Environment

All the forces influencing the life and development of the firm.

Exporting

The transportation of any domestic good or service to a destination outside a country or region.

foreign affiliate

A company controlled by another company that is located in a foreign land, and this control may be exercised by a variety of means, both those involving stock ownership and those involving nonownership mechanisms.

foreign business

The operations of a company outside its home or domestic market.

foreign direct investment (FDI)

Direct investments in equipment, structures, and organizations in a foreign country at a level sufficient to obtain significant management control; does not include mere foreign investment in stock markets.

foreign environment

All the uncontrollable forces originating outside the home country that surround and influence the firm.

Importing

The transportation of any good or service into a country or region, from a foreign origination point.

international business

Business that is carried out across national borders.

international company (IC)

A company with operations in multiple nations.

multinational corporation

A corporation that owns or controls the production of goods or services in at least one nation outside its home nation.

multinational enterprise (MNE)

An enterprise made up of entities in more than one nation, operating under a decision-making system that allows a common strategy and coherent policies.

self-reference criterion

Unconscious reference to your own cultural values when judging behaviors of others in a new and different environment.

uncontrollable forces

The external forces that management has no direct control over.

Biomass

A category of fuels whose energy source is photosynthesis, through which plants transform the sun’s energy into chemical energy

Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)

Organization that provides reporting frameworks for greenhouse gas emissions and water use

carbon footprint

A measure of the volume of greenhouse gas emissions caused by a product’s manufacture and use

Climate

Meteorological conditions, including temperature, precipitation, and wind that prevail in a region

Climate Disclosure Standards Board

An organization that provides a framework for reporting environmental and climate change information with rigor comparable to the standards used for financial reporting

concentrating solar thermal power (CSP)

A system using mirrors or lenses to collect sunlight for heating water that powers an electrical generator

cradle-to-cradle (C2C) design model

A closed-loop design that recycles and reuses products

Desertification

Permanent transformation of habitable or arable land to desert.

environmental sustainability

State in which the demands placed upon the environment by people and commerce can be met without reducing the capacity of the environment to provide for future generations

geothermal power

Power from heat stored in the earth

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)

Sustainability reporting framework developed among stakeholders

heavy oil

Oil that does not flow easily, presently sourced from oil sands and oil-bearing shale

inland waterway

Waterway that provides access to interior regions

life cycle assessment (LCA)

An evaluation of the environmental aspects of a product or service throughout its life cycle

natural capital

Natural resources such as air, land, and water that provide us with the goods and services on which our survival depends

natural resources

Anything supplied by nature on which people depend

nonrenewable energy

Energy that comes from sources that cannot be replenished, such as the fossil fuels—petroleum, coal, and natural gas—and nuclear power

rare earths

Seventeen elements used in defense and technology applications

renewable energy

Energy that comes from sources that are naturally replenished, such as sunlight, wind, and water flow

Shale

A fissile rock (capable of being split) composed of laminated layers of claylike, fine-grained sediment

solar photovoltaic power (PV)

Power based on the voltage created when certain materials are exposed to light

stakeholder theory

An understanding of how business operates that takes into account all identifiable interest holders

Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB)

A nonprofit organization developing a 77-standard framework to enable companies to explain sustainability and its financial impact

Topography

The surface features of a region

triple-bottom-line accounting (3BL)

An approach to accounting that measures the firm’s social and environmental performance in addition to its economic performance

United Nations Global Compact

A voluntary reporting scheme for businesses that covers critical areas affecting the conduct of international business— human rights, labor, the environment, and anti-corruption efforts

water footprint

A measure of the amount of water used in a product’s manufacture and use