This study does not support the generally accepted theory that transnational corporations (TNCs) use different criteria to evaluate managers based on their location (host or home country). If it is assumed that a major TNC strategy is to maximize profits, thus maximizing returns to shareholders, it follows that management decisions are made with this strategy as the desired outcome. Current theory does not address the more global view of the TNC where subsidiaries act in concert to maximize profits, and therefore can be evaluated in a similar fashion. There is some evidence, however, that specific performance evaluation criteria do vary in importance by country.

This study examines the influences on the international standardization of corporate visual identity for a sample of U.K. multinationals. The results suggest that market entry form and equity holding are associated with the degree of corporate visual identity standardization. Further findings show the influence of culture, nationalism and product attributes on corporate visual identity standardization.

Guanxi refers to a Chinese system of doing business on the basis of personal relationships, and it is representative of the way that business is done throughout much of the non-western world. In this paper we first evaluate guanxi from an ethical perspective, and then attempt to shed light on the sources of its economic advantages and disadvantages through the use of a simple mathematical model. Finally, we point out how eastern and western business practices may already be converging toward systems based on more complete models of trust to deal with the conditions of progress coupled with uncertainty that form our new economic reality.