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1. Assume for a moment that you're a manager going to work for a branch of a global organization in a foreign country. You know that your environment will differ from the one at home, but how? What should you be looking for?
1. 此刻(for a moment)假设(assume)你是一位美国经理，你准备到一家全球组织的国外分支(a branch of)机构工作。你知道你的环境将与国内的不同，但二者的差异会达到什么程度呢？你应当注意些什么？
2. Any manager who finds himself or herself in a foreign country faces new challenges. In this section, we'll look at some of those challenges and offer guidelines for responding. Although our discussion is presented through the eyes of a U.S. manager, our analytical framework could be used by any manager who was to manager in a foreign environment, regardless of national origin.
2.任何一位发觉自己处于一个陌生国家的管理者都面临着新的挑战。在这一节中，我们将考察（look at）这些挑战，并对如何做出反应提供一些指导(guidelines)。虽然(although)我们将以一位美国管理者的视角来展开(present)我们的讨论，但是我们的分析框架能为任何在国外环境中经营的管理者使用，不受国籍之限。
3. The Legal-Political Environment 法律-政治环境
4. U.S. managers are accustomed to stable legal and political systems. Changes are slow, and legal and political procedures are well established. Elections are held at regular intervals. Even changes in political parties after an election do not produce radical or quick transformations. The stability of laws governing the actions of individuals and institutions allows for accurate predictions. The same can't be said for all countries. Managers in a global organization must stay informed of the specific laws in countries where they do business.
4.美国的管理者习惯于(be accustomed to)稳定的法律和政治体系。在这一体系中，变化是缓慢的，法律和政治程序是完善的(established)，选举定期举行，即使总统大选后的政党变化也不会引起快速的、根本的(radical)改变(transformations)。由于支配个人和机构行为的法律是稳定的，因此就可以进行准确的预测(predictions)，而其它国家并非都是如此。在全球组织任职的管理者必须熟知(stay informed of)他们经营业务的国家所特有的法律体系。
5. Also, some countries have a history of unstable governments. Managers of businesses in these countries face dramatically greater uncertainty as a result of political instability. For instance, political interference is a face of life in some Asian countries.
5.一些国家的政府在相当长的历史时间内都是不稳定的。这些国家的企业管理者由于(as a result of)政治不稳定而面临高度不确定性(uncertainty)。政治干预(political interference)也是一些亚洲国家现实生活的一个方面（a face of life）。
6. The legal-political environment doesn't have to be unstable or revolutionary to be a concern to managers. Just the fact that a country's laws and political system differ from those of the United States is important. Managers must recognize these differences if they hope to understand the constraints under which they operate and the opportunities that exist.
6.法律-政治环境并非只有不稳定或具有革命性才会引起管理者的注意。事实上，一个国家法律或政治体系与美国的差异才是重要的。管理者如果希望了解他们经营中的(under which they operate)约束(constraints)以及存在的机会(opportunities)，就必须认识这些差异。
7.The Economic Environment 经济环境
8. The global manager must be aware of economic issues when doing business in other countries. One of the first is understanding the type of economic system under which the country operates. The two major types are a market economy and a command economy. A market economy is one in which resources are primarily owned and controlled by the private sector. A command economy is one in which all economic decisions are planned by a central government. In actuality, no economy is purely market or command. For instance, the United States and the United Kingdom are two countries at the market end of the spectrum but they do have minimal governmental control. The economies of Vietnam and North Korea, however, would be more command-based. Then there's China, a country that's more command based, but is moving to be more market-based. Why would managers need to know about a country's economic system? Because it has the potential to constrain decisions and actions. Other economic issues a manager might need to understand include currency exchange rates, inflation rates, and diverse tax policies.
8.全球管理者在其它国家开展业务必须了解一些经济因素(economic issues)。首先，要知道所在国家的经济体制类型。两种主要的经济体制是：市场经济和计划经济(a market economy and a command economy)。在市场经济中，资源主要是由私营企业(the private sector)所掌握和控制。在计划经济中，经济决策由中央政府决定。事实上，没有一种经济是纯市场或纯计划的。例如，英美两国都处在市场经济的一端，但是他们还有少量的政府控制。又如，越南和朝鲜的经济在更大程度上以控制为基础。还有中国，这个国家的经济正从偏重以计划为基础(more command-based)向偏重以市场为基础(more market-based)转化。为什么管理者必须了解一个国家经济体制的情况呢？因为这可能会约束他们的决策和行为。管理者必须了解的其它经济因素包括汇率(exchange rates)、通货膨胀(inflationrates)和不同的税收政策。(constraint n. 强制; 限制, 约束; constrain vt. 强迫; 限制, 约束)
9. A global firm's profits can vary dramatically depending on the strength of its home currency and the currencies of the countries in which it operates. Any devaluation of a nation's currency significantly affects the level of a company's profits. The strength of a foreign nation's currency can also affect manager's decisions.
9.一个全球化公司的利润会受到本国货币(its home currency)及其经营所在国货币(the currencies of the countries in which it operates)的比值的影响而发生剧烈的变化（vary dramatically）。一国货币任意幅度地贬值(devaluation)都能影响管理者的决策和公司的利润水平。
10. Inflation means that prices for produce and services are going up. But it also affects interest rates, exchange rates, the cost of living, and the general confidence in a country's political and economic system. In most developing countries, consumer prices are rising more slowly than they were in the late 1990s, although inflation rates can, and do, very widely. Managers need to monitor inflation trends so they can make good decisions and anticipate any possible changes in a country's monetary policies.
10.通货膨胀意味着产品和服务价格持续上升(are going up)。同时，它还会影响利率(interest rates)、汇率、生活成本(the cost of living)和对国家政治经济体制的总体信任(the general confidence)。在大多数发展中国家，物价比20世纪90年代末要上涨得慢，尽管通货膨胀率(inlfction rates)也确实发生了剧烈的变化(can and do very widely)。管理者必须密切关注通货膨胀趋势以做出明智的决策，并预测(anticipate)国家货币政策任何可能的变化。
11. Finally, diverse tax policies are a major worry for a global manager. Some host countries are more restrictive than the organization's home country. Others are far more lenient. About the only certainty is that tax rules differ from country to country. Managers need exact information on the various tax rules in countries in which they operate to minimize their business's overall tax obligation.
11.最后，不同的税收政策也是全球管理者的一个主要担忧。一些东道国比该组织母国的约束(restrictive)更多，而有的则宽松(lenient)一些。仅有一点可以肯定的是，国与国之间的税收规则不尽相同。管理者需要准确地知道他们经营所在国的各种税收规则，从而将企业的全部税收义务(their business's overall tax obligation)减至最少(minimize)。
12.The Cultural Environment 文化环境
13. A large global oil company found that employee productivity in one of its Mexican plants was off 20 percent and sent a U.S. manager to find out why. After talking to several employees, the manager discovered that the company used to have a monthly fiesta in the parking lot for all the employees and their families. Another U.S. manager had canceled the fiestas saying they were a waste of time and money. The message employees were getting was that the company didn't care about their families anymore. When the fiestas were reinstated, productivity and employee morale soared.
13.一家大型的国际石油公司发现它在墨西哥一个工厂的员工生产率下降了20%，它派一名美国管理者去查明原因(find out why)。在与一些员工交谈之后，这位管理者发现，公司过去每个月(monthyly)都会在停车场为所有员工及其家属举办一个喜庆日(fiesta)。另一名美国管理者取消了这个喜庆日，认为那是在浪费时间和金钱。而员工从中捕获到的信息是，公司再也不关心他们的家庭。当恢复(reinstate)喜庆日后，生产率开始上升，员工士气(employee morale)开始高涨。
14. At Hewlett-Packard, a cross-global team of U.S. and French engineers were assigned to work together on a software project. The U.S. engineers sent long, detailed e-mails to their counterparts in France. The French engineers viewed the lengthy e-mails as patronizing and replied with quick, concise e-mails. This made the U.S. engineers think that the French were hiding something from them. The situation spiraled out of control and had a negative effect on output until team members went through cultural training. (reply with 以…作答; hide from 把…藏起来; 不让…发现; go through 经历; 经受)
14.在惠普，由美国和法国工程师组成的跨国团队(a cross-global team)被委派共同开发一个软件工程。美国的工程师给法国的同事(their counterparts in France)发送了长篇幅、详细的邮件。法国工程师认为冗长的邮件是美国人自认为高人一等的表现。他们快速、简短地回了邮件。这使得美国工程师认为法国人向他们隐瞒了一些情况。局面的失控(out of control)对产出(output)产生了消极的影响(had a negative effect on)，直到团队成员经历(go through)了文化培训之后才有所改善。
15. As we know, organizations have different cultures, countries have cultures too. National culture is the values and attitudes shared by individuals from a specific country that shape their behavior and their beliefs about what is important.
15.我们知道，组织有不同的文化。人类学家也一直在告诉我们，国家也有文化。民族文化是一个国家的居民共有的(shared by individuals from a specific country)价值观(the values and attitudes)，这些价值观塑造了他们的行为以及他们看待世界的方式。
16. Which is more important to a manager-national culture or organizational culture? For example, is an IBM facility in Germany more likely to reflect German culture or IBM's corporate culture? Research indicates that national culture has a greater effect of employees than does their organization's culture. German employees at an IBM facility in Munich will be influenced more by German culture than by IBM's culture.
This means that as influential as organizational culture
may be on managerial practice, national culture is even more influential.
16.对于管理者来说，国家文化和组织文化哪一个更为重要呢？例如，德国的一家IBM公司是更有可能反映德国的民族文化，还是IBM的公司文化呢？研究表明，民族文化对员工的影响要大于组织文化的影响。在慕尼黑的一家IBM公司工作的德国雇员，受德国文化的影响比受IBM文化的影响大。这就意味着，与组织文化对管理实践的影响相比，民族文化更具有影响力。
