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Innovation is a growing source of strategic advantage across a variety of industrialized cultures. Top managers often seek to influence or champion strategic innovations. This study examined the extent to which executive characteristics explains top management influence on product/market (PM) and administrative (A DM) innovations in four Western cultures. The results support the proposition that different executive characteristics explain influence on each type of innovation. The influence process differed across cultures for A DM but not for PM innovations. The implications of this study for practice and research are discussed.

About a decade ago positive predictions were made regarding the international growth of franchising. This study was undertaken to examine the actual growth and development of franchising globally during the nineties. Using survey and archival data findings regarding the state of franchising in 40 countries are presented. Franchising has met or exceeded the growth expectations, generating an average of $3.7 billion in annual sales in the nations investigated. However, considerable regional differences in franchising activities do exist. The business sectors experiencing the most franchising growth are retail and restaurants. Franchising firms tend to export their business formats to neighboring countries or to countries with similar cultural characteristics. Operational concerns regarding legal and social issues across borders are also examined. Implications for practice and research are discussed.

Multinationals increasingly require a cadre of skilled managers to effectively run their global operations. This exploratory study examines the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and managerial effectiveness among three cultures. EI is conceptualized and measured as selfother agreement concerning the use of managerial skills using data gathered under a 360-degree feedback process. Three hypotheses relating to managerial self-awareness of both interactive and controlling skills are examined using data from 3,785 managers of a multinational firm located in the United States (US), United Kingdom (UK), and Malaysia. The two sets of managerial skills examined were found to be stable across the three national samples. The hypotheses were tested using polynomial regressions, and contour plots were developed to aid interpretation. Support was found for positive relationships between effectiveness and EI (self-awareness). This relationship was supported for interactive skills in the US and UK samples and for controlling skills in the Malaysian and UK samples. Self-awareness of different managerial skills varied by culture. It appears that in low power distance (PD) cultures such as the United States and United Kingdom, self-awareness of interactive skills may be crucial relative to effectiveness whereas in high PD cultures, such as Malaysia self-awareness of controlling skills may be crucial relative to effectiveness. These findings are discussed along with the implications for future research.