Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Countries, Within-Country Regions, and Multiple-Country Regions in International Management: A Functional, Institutional, and Critical Event (FICE) Perspective

  • Guest Editors' Introduction
  • Published:
Management International Review Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We introduce the focused issue by offering a functional, institutional and critical event or FICE perspective on the relationship between cultural boundaries and the boundaries of modern nation states (termed countries here). Our perspective draws from three kinds of theory that suggest how governmental boundaries have come to be connected in different degrees and in different ways to cultural groups. We use the FICE perspective to integrate the four articles in the focused issue that speak to whether boundaries around countries matter as compared to boundaries around religious groups, within-country geographic regions, and groups of multiple countries.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Amann, B., Jaussaud, J., & Schaaper, J. (2014). Clusters and regional management structures by Western MNCs in Asia: overcoming the distance challenge. Management International Review (this issue, in press).

  • Anderson, B. (2006). Imagined communities, Revised edition. London: Verso.

  • Au, K. Y. (1999). Intra-cultural variation: evidence and implications for international business. Journal of International Business Studies, 30(4), 799–812.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cattell, R. B. (1950). The principal culture patterns discoverable in the syntal dimensions of existing nations. The Journal of Social Psychology, 32(2), 215–253.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, D., & Nisbett, R. E. (1997). Field experiments examining the culture of honor: the role of institutions in perpetuating norms about violence. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23(11), 1188–1199.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Commager, H. S., & Giordanetti, E. (1967). Was America a mistake? New York: Harper.

  • Diamond, J. (1997). Guns, germs and steel. New York: Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunlop, J. T., Harbison, F. H., Kerr, C., & Myers, C. A. (1975). Industrialism and industrial man reconsidered. Princeton: Inter-University Study of Human Resources in National Development.

    Google Scholar 

  • Esmer, Y. (2003). Is there an Islamic civilization? In R. Inglehart (Ed.), Human values and social change: findings from the values surveys (pp. 35–68). Leiden: Brill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Findley, C. V. (2005). The Turks in world history. Oxford: Oxford University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, D. H. (1989). Albion’s seed: four British folkways in America. New York: Oxford Univ.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flora, P. (1999). Introduction and interpretation. In P. Flora et al. (Eds.), State formation, nation-building, and mass politics in Europe: the theory of Stein Rokkan (pp. 1–91). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  • Ghemawat, P. (2001). Distance still matters: the hard reality of global expansion. Harvard Business Review, 79(8), 137–147.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gupta, A., & Ferguson, J. (1992). “Culture”: space, identity and the politics of difference. Cultural Anthropology, 7(1), 6–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gupta, V., & Hanges, P. J. (2004). Regional and climate clustering of societal cultures. In R. J. House et al. (Eds.), Culture, leadership, and organizations: the GLOBE study of 62 societies (pp. 178–218). Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gupta, V., Hanges, P. J., & Dorfman, P. W. (2002). Cultural clusters: methodology and findings. Journal of World Business, 37(1), 11–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haire, M., Ghiselli, E. F., & Porter, L. W. (1966). Managerial thinking: an international study. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton, A., Jay, J., & Madison, J. (1788/1886/1937). The federalist. New York: Modern Library.

  • Hinds, P. J., & Bailey, D. E. (2003). Out of sight, out of sync: understanding conflict in distributed teams. Organization Science, 14(6), 615–632.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hinds, P. J., & Mortenson, M. (2005). Understanding conflict in geographically distributed teams: the moderating effects of shared identity, shared context, and spontaneous communication. Organization Science, 16(3), 290–307.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hofstede, G. (1980/2001). Culture’s consequence (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hofstede, G., Minkov, M., & Hofstede, G. J. (2010). Cultures and organizations: software of the mind. New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • House, R. J., Hanges, P. J., Javidan, M., Dorfman, P. W., & Gupta, V. (2004). Culture, leadership, and organizations: the GLOBE study of 62 societies. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, S. P. (1993). The clash of civilizations. Foreign Affairs, 72(3), 22–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, S. P. (1996). The clash of civilizations and the remaking of the world order. New York: Simon and Schuster.

    Google Scholar 

  • Inglehart, R. (1997). Modernization and postmodernization: cultural, economic and political change in 43 societies. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Inglehart, R., & Baker, W. E. (2000). Modernization, cultural change, and the persistence of traditional values. American Sociological Review, 65(1), 19–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Inkeles, A., & Levinson, D. J. (1969). National character: the study of modal personality and sociocultural systems. In G. Lindzey & E. Aronson (Eds.), Handbook of social psychology, (Vol. 4) (pp. 418–452). Reading: Addison-Wesley.

  • Kaasa, A., Vadi, M., & Varblane, U. (2014). Regional cultural differences within European countries: evidence from multi-country surveys. Management International Review (this issue, in press).

  • Kara, A., & Peterson, M. F. (2012). The dynamic societal cultural milieu of organizations: origins, maintenance and change. In Tihanyi et al. (Eds.), Institutional theory in international business and management: advances in International Management (25(1)) (pp. 341–372). Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing.

  • Keohane, R. O., & Martin, L. L. (1995). The promise of institutionalist theory. International Security, 20(1), 39–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kirkman, B. L., Lowe, K. B., & Gibson, C. B. (2006). A quarter century of culture’s consequences: a review of empirical research incorporating Hofstede’s cultural values framework. Journal of International Business Studies, 37(3), 285–320.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kluckhohn, F. R., & Strodtbeck, F. L. (1961). Variations in value orientations. Evanston: Row, Peterson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krasner, S. D. (2001). Rethinking the sovereign state model. Review of International Studies, 27(5), 17–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lampel, J., Shamsie, J., & Shapira, Z. (2009). Experiencing the improbable: rare events and organizational learning. Organization Science, 20(5), 835–845.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lenartowicz, T., & Roth, K. (2001). Does subculture within a country matter: a cross-cultural study of motivational domains and business performance in Brazil. Journal of International Business Studies, 32(2), 305–325.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leung, K., & Peterson, M. F. (2011). Managing a globally distributed workforce: social and international issues. In S. Zedeck et al. (Eds.), APA handbook of industrial-organizational psychology (pp. 771–805). Washington: APA.

    Google Scholar 

  • McSweeney, B. (2009). Dynamic diversity: variety and variation within countries. Organization Studies, 30(9), 933–957.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Minkov, M. (2011). Cultural differences in a globalizing world. Emerald: Bingley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Minkov, M., & Hofstede, G. (2012). Is national culture a meaningful concept: cultural values delineate homogeneous national clusters of in-country regions. Cross-Cultural Research, 46(2), 133–159.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Minkov, M., & Hofstede, G. (2014). Nations versus religions: which has a stronger effect on cultural values at the group level? Management International Review (this issue, in press).

  • Moschieri, C., Ragozzino, R., & Campa, J. M. (2014). Does regional integration change the effects of country-level institutional barriers on M&A: the case of the European Union. Management International Review (this issue, in press).

  • Ohmae, K. (1985). Triad power. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, M. F., & Barreto, T. S. (2014). The like it or not proposition: implications of societal characteristics for cultural expertise and personal values of organization members. Journal of Organizational Behavior (in press).

  • Peterson, M. F., & Søndergaard, M. (2011). Traditions and transitions in quantitative societal culture research in organization studies. Organization Studies, 32(11), 1539–1558.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, M. F., & van Iterson, A. (2014). Differences in work goals among regions of the Netherlands and Germany: functional, institutional and critical event influences. International Journal of Human Resource Management (in press).

  • Plaut, V. C., Markus, H., & Lachman, M. E. (2002). Place matters: consensual features and regional variation in American well-being and self. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(1), 160–184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Powell, W. W., & DiMaggio, P. J. (1991). The new institutionalism within organizational analysis. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ronen, S., & Shenkar, O. (1985). Clustering countries on attitudinal dimensions: a review and synthesis. Academy of Management Review, 10(3), 435–454.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ronen, S., & Shenkar, O. (2013). Mapping world cultures: cluster formation, sources and implications. Journal of International Business Studies, 44(9), 867–897.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruggie, J. G. (1993). Territoriality and beyond: problematizing modernity in international relations. International Organization, 47(1), 139–174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rugman, A. M., & Verbeke, A. (2004). A perspective on regional and global strategies of multinational enterprises. Journal of International Business Studies, 35(1), 3–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rugman, A. M., & Verbeke, A. (2007). Liabilities of regional foreignness and the use of firm-level versus country-level data: a response to Dunning et al. (2007). Journal of International Business Studies, 38(1), 200–205.

  • Sackmann, S. A., & Phillips, M. E. (2004). Contextual influences on culture research: shifting assumptions for new workplace realities. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 4(3), 370–390.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, S. H. (2004). Mapping and interpreting cultural differences around the world. In H. Vinken et al. (Eds.), Comparing cultures (pp. 43–73). Leiden: Brill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, W. R. (1995). Institutions and organizations. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spruyt, H. (2002). The origins, development, and possible decline of the modern state. Annual Review of Political Science, 5(1), 127–149.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sterman, J. D., & Wittenberg, J. (1999). Path dependence, competition and succession in the dynamics of scientific revolution. Organization Science, 10(3), 322–341.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taras, V., Kirkman, B. L., & Steel, P. (2010). Examining the impact of culture’s consequences: a three-decade, multilevel, meta-analytic review of Hofstede’s cultural value dimensions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95(3), 405–539.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Toynbee, A. J. (1946). A study of history. Oxford: Oxford University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wallerstein, I. (1976). The modern world-system. New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber, M. (1947). The theory of social and economic organization. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber, M. (1951). The religion of China: Confucianism and Taoism. H. H. Gerth, trans. New York: Macmillan.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, USA

    Mark F. Peterson

  2. Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Mark F. Peterson

  3. Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

    Mikael Søndergaard

Authors
  1. Mark F. Peterson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mikael Søndergaard
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mark F. Peterson.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Peterson, M.F., Søndergaard, M. Countries, Within-Country Regions, and Multiple-Country Regions in International Management: A Functional, Institutional, and Critical Event (FICE) Perspective. Manag Int Rev 54, 781–800 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11575-014-0228-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11575-014-0228-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation