Informal Networks in International Business

English | 2022 | ISBN: 183982879X | 265 pages | True PDF EPUB | 8.52 MB
Informal networks can be a major obstacle to the effectiveness of managers. At the same time though, they can enable and facilitate business activities and support the efficiency and effectiveness of managerial actions. Since informal ties and networks can have a bright and a dark side, it is important for international managers to understand the way they work in the respective cultural context. Informal networks are often perceived as pervasive in emerging markets such as China or Russia, to be used to instrumentalize social capital and develop a relational competitive advantage or to simply circumvent formal rules. Contrary to this perception, they often stand for sociability and social cohesion, antecedents of a strong society. To date it remains unclear whether multinational enterprises have processes in place to identify, control, and manage informal ties and networks.