In International Multi-Unit Leadership, Chris Edger builds on his earlier Effective Multi-Unit Leadership. First - showcasing up-to-date, contemporaneous case studies of market-leading international organisations - the book takes a cross-border perspective on leading from the middle in international subsidiaries that are committing significant capital to land-based multi-unit infrastructures. Secondly, it captures the zeitgeist of internationalizing hospitality, retail, service and leisure organizations facing challenges in relation to multi-channel/smart technology spread, divergent national cultures and emergent, imitative local competition. Thirdly, it addresses the conundrum that most subsidiary multi-unit leaders (regional, area and district managers) face, generating commitment amongst their unit managers and team members, whilst coping with their firm's country of origin-based control and change agendas. Continuing the themes that emerged in his earlier book, particularly around how multi-unit leaders (MULs) and directors are expected to expedite a number of competing and contradictory functions, the author finds that in subsidiary-based international situations, complexity and ambiguity escalates due to 'distance decay' and the level of internal and external contextual turbulence. Based on exemplary case studies, the author examines how high-performance MULs manage paradox and ambiguity within an international context and how organizations can deliver local effectiveness within a strategic framework determined by a policy-making centre hundreds or thousands of miles away. The research and case studies in this book will appeal to managers within international multi-unit enterprises, service directors wishing to train and coach others, students on any of the increasing number of multi-unit management programmes being run in business schools, and academics with an interest in internationalizing service-based enterprises.
Replete with international case studies, International Multi-Unit Leadership looks at 'leading from the middle' in international service-based subsidiaries. The book captures the zeitgeist of internationalizing hospitality, retail, service and leisure organizations facing challenges in relation to technology spread, divergent national cultures and emergent local competition. It addresses the conundrum that most regional, area and district managers face, generating commitment amongst unit managers and team members, whilst coping with their firm's country of origin-based agendas. Multi-unit leaders (MULs) and directors are expected to expedite competing and contradictory functions and in subsidiary-based international situations, complexity and ambiguity escalate due to 'distance decay' and the level of internal and external contextual turbulence. The author examines how high-performance MULs manage paradox and ambiguity in an international context and how organizations can deliver local effectiveness within a strategic framework determined by a policy-making centre hundreds or thousands of miles away.
