The first current comprehensive treatment of comparative management available in a single-authored package, Global Comparative Management: A Functional Approach offers an interdisciplinary discussion of management functions, practices, patterns, and problems relating to a wide variety of national and regional settings. Author Ralph Edfelt places management concepts into temporal and contextual perspective, gives broad overviews of management theory, and describes global macroenvironmental trends. Readers will gain the knowledge and insight necessary for becoming effective managers, employees, and citizens in today's increasingly interdependent world. Global Comparative Management covers the United States, Latin America, Western Europe, Japan, and East Asia (China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and South Korea). Each chapter includes a management section that focuses on region-specific topics, such as the managerial functions of planning, controlling, organizing, directing, and staffing in that region; CEO backgrounds, career paths, and pay scales; and higher-management education. Key Features Broadens readers' worldviews through discussions of global contexts and experiences Synthesizes information from many sources, including academic research and contributions by practicing managers, consultants, and other professionals Explores two special topics: management-by-democracy (transcending several countries, regions, and eras) and management in a state-socialist system (the former Soviet Union), noting implications for contemporary capitalist settings Defines current cultural, economic, and political terminology Includes pertinent case studies and exercises, lists of terms and concepts, and study questions Designed for students and practitioners of management and international business, Global Comparative Management can be used as a stand-alone text or as supplementary reading in Comparative Management courses. It is also an ideal supplement for Introduction to Management, International Management, and Global Studies courses.