Resources

In our globalized world, the ability to navigate cultural differences has become a critical skill. Paula Caligiuri's recent book provides a valuable framework for achieving this goal, by emphasizing the need to build cultural agility through social learning. Her Cultural Agility framework provides executives and managers with the tools needed to build trust, gain credibility, collaborate, and communicate across cultural boundaries. It is all the more important for managers of companies in and from emerging markets, who may be facing unique cultural barriers through foreign expansion.

The future of health in Sub-Saharan Africa is both uncertain and promising. Life expectancy in this region has increased significantly, and growing economies may provide opportunities for increased financing for health. To effectively improve health in Sub-Saharan Africa, deliberate political investments and African-led models are necessary, as well as robust health systems that can adapt to changing disease and demographic patterns. Community health workers will play a crucial role in achieving universal health coverage and combating pandemics. However, Sub-Saharan Africa remains reliant on foreign financing and must combat corruption and improve domestic health governance to achieve autonomy. Ultimately, interventions to improve health in the region must target the population's changing needs and infrastructure demands.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant shifts in how companies manage their supply chains, with three major changes emerging. First, reshoring is becoming a dominant trend, with companies shifting production and manufacturing to domestic locations from overseas factories to reduce risk and maintain business continuity. Companies are also investing in digital technologies to improve visibility and transparency along their supply chains. Finally, firms are becoming more flexible in their supply chain management by diversifying their sources of supply and holding more inventory. These shifts are likely to have a significant impact on the way goods are produced, distributed, and consumed in the years to come, with government policies playing an important role in managing the impact of these changes.

Reverse innovation, which involves transferring new ideas and innovations from emerging economies to developed economies, can help fix the American healthcare system, which suffers from high costs, uneven quality, and less-than universal access. Developing countries like India are under great pressure to use their very limited medical resources to serve the greatest number of people, at the lowest cost, while maintaining quality. As a result, a handful of Indian healthcare exemplars have mastered clever ways to simultaneously lower healthcare costs, improve quality, and expand access. Govindarajan and Ramamurti identify their secret sauce and recommend that healthcare organizations in the US and elsewhere consider emulating those strategies and practices.

Read the second issue of Insights @ Center for Emerging Markets, bringing together researchers from the fields of corporate governance, accounting, entrepreneurship, international business, and legal studies to explore topics such as corruption in transition economies, how blockchain is modernizing global supply chains, and the impact of developmental assistance on entrepreneurship.

Emerging countries have been able to make use of the liberal trade and investment regime to support their development strategies without having to adopt the full gamut of neoliberal prescriptions. This is evident in a number of ways, including dispute settlement, the use of flexibilities such as trade remedies, and resistance to the expansion of free trade disciplines. Recent research explores how different emerging countries are positioned in regards to trade and investment law, how tensions develop between development policies and the demands of trade and investment legal frameworks, and how alternative visions will be driven by pragmatism and strategic self-interest rather than neoliberal orthodoxy.

Recent research examines 310 privately owned small and medium-sized companies from 22 transition economies in Eastern Europe and Former Soviet Republics to see how the payment of bribes affects entrepreneur perceptions of the business environment. Those who more frequently pay bribes create a “new normal” business environment that is perceived as increasingly harsh. However, for entrepreneurs who infrequently bribe, their “new normal” is likely to be perceived as more supportive of business.

Recent research examines business practices in the Arab world and how they differ from Western practices. Wasta is a practice in Arab society where people use their personal relationships to gain favor. The practice is seen differently by different groups, with some seeing it as generally desirable and others seeing it as generally undesirable but potentially necessary. Foreign firm managers operating in Arab societies will need to develop a solid understanding of the practice and its different perceptions among varying Arab groups in order to be successful in conducting business in the Arab world.

In recent years, private entities are providing more aid to less developed countries relative to foreign governments. Recent research seeks to understand how different types of aid affect the strategic choices local firms and entrepreneurs make in the assisted markets, as well as the resulting outcomes. This will allow for better informed policy decisions that consider a more nuanced understanding of the entrepreneurial process.

Blockchain solutions can overcome the shortcomings of current supply chain processes. They enhance reliability and efficiency by providing transparent and secure tracking of goods and related digital documentation. One example of a blockchain solution is TradeLens, which provides accurate real-time supply chain visibility, together with collaboration and analytics tools. Another example is Ambrosus, which links Internet of Things (IoT) real-time sensors and electronic IDs with blockchain to improve supply chain monitoring, provide quality assurance, and prevent counterfeiting.