“There are no management textbooks for developing countries,”
“All our management material is North American based,”
“How do we teach management in the rest of the world when all the texts are western?”
For those of us teaching outside of the so-called ‘western world’ these are common complaints. There are many calls for research and teaching that focuses on the non-western world, particularly developing countries. Managing in Developing Countries aims to begin to fill this need, in the classroom, by addressing management issues from the perspective of those who are managers in developing countries. The book will be available in early September from the Taylor & Francis Group (Routledge). It is primarily intended as a text for a basic management course at the undergraduate level; however, it has also been used at the graduate level, along with other materials. The text gives an overall explanation of the terminology of development and the characteristics of developing countries, along with explanations of economic development, and it considers a variety of other indices that measure other facets of development.
Most importantly, it considers management processes from a developing country manager’s point of view. It is full of examples drawn from developing countries around the world, and addresses many issues of special interest to students and lecturers in the developing world. Of course, the developing world is made up of many diverse countries, and the book stresses this throughout, while identifying similarities across countries and how these impact on management.
I hope my colleagues around the world will consider using this new book, and enriching their classrooms by broadening the thinking of their students, beyond the standard western ways of thinking. Having spent most of my academic career doing research and teaching outside of North America, writing this book was a special undertaking for me. I have too often made the comments quoted at the beginning and I felt it was time to address the issue directly, rather than simply continuing to complain! I look forward to your feedback on my new text Managing in Developing Countries.
Betty Jane Punnett
eureka@caribsurf.com
Managing in Developing Countries
Betty Jane Punnett, University of the West Indies – Cave Hill, Barbados
This book considers management theories and approaches specifically in the context of developing countries. In recent years, international business scholarship has increased its focus on the developing world, which represents eighty percent of the global population and has doubled its share of value-added trade in the past two decades. This text will help readers to manage successfully in this region by learning to assess, apply, and adapt established practices in developing countries.