Asian Tigers

I am these days reading a Book titled Revolutionary Wealth, by Heidi and Alvin Toffler. Since I havent even gone through 1/3rd of the Book, it wouldnt be right to comment of the Book right now. But, an interesting statistic caught my eye ...

In 2003, the combined GDP of China, South Korea, Singapore, Japan, and India was greater than that of the EU (not my research, I am quoting!). But a whole host of these organizations have adopted an American approach to Management, which, I think, is alien to the cultures of these economies, and which needs to be "localized" to bring them into the cultural context of the country.

Japanese companies have done this to some extent. And, they have seen the results. One could argue that end of the day, business is business, and hence, whats good for the goose is good for the gander. But having said that, business is getting to be more and more about people, and people live in their respective cultures. And, it is to address this aspect of management that more and more management thought would need to emerge out of these countries, which identifies with the cultural milieu of the country.