What is the role companies play in a shifting global environment? This is the central question Stefano Valdemarin (ESSCA) and Maria Giuseppina Lucia (University of Turin) want to answer in their new book. Three questions to Stefano on this high-level international publication:
1) How did you go about to answer such a vast research question?
We conducted a broad and detailed analysis of strategies companies design and implement to internationalize and coordinate their activities abroad. In doing so, we merged two different, complementary research perspectives. On the one hand, we looked at internationalization processes from a managerial point of view to identify the strategies that companies put in place to face a global context marked by rapid economic, geopolitical and technological changes. On the other hand, we complete this analysis by presenting major contributions in the field of economic geography to understand how companies shape their environment, transforming the economic system itself.
2) The book is the fruit of a long-standing international cooperation. Tell us more about it.
I met Professor Lucia at the University of Turin when I was a Ph.D. student. Our cooperation is based on our complementarity: I am working in the domain of Strategy and International Management, while she is a specialist in the field of Economic Geography. This can provide interesting insights on topics that are usually studied just from a single perspective. I think that there are many possible synergies between our research fields. Prior to this co-authored book, we already published together a study on network development, and I wrote an article in a book she was coordinating on sustainability and change management.
3) Who is the target of your book? Students or managers, or both?
The book is of interest to different categories of readers. It provides university professors and students with useful insights for understanding the international development of companies and their role in the global economic system. The book also offers advanced managerial and analytical tools to active managers who are facing the challenges linked to the international development of their organizations.
This book project was born in order to answer a need on the Italian market for a complete book presenting, step by step, the strategies companies develop to enter foreign markets and manage their activities abroad. Our project started two years ago and, a few days after the publication, we can say that it is already successful as it was chosen by many Italian universities as a reference book for courses in International Management and Economic Geography.
However, this is part of an international project that is still in process. We are currently working to a new English book on global strategies, that we hope to publish in two years!
M. G. Lucia, S. Valdemarin, L’imprese nel sistema economico mondiale (2020, 275 pages) is published by the academic publishing house EGEA editore.
