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Changing Horizons in Geography Education - HERODOT Network ...

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Why Managers from Mult<strong>in</strong>ational Companies MustHave Specialization <strong>in</strong> <strong>Geography</strong>Kliment Naydenov, Peter SlaveykovSofia University “St.Kliment Ohridski”, Faculty of Geology and <strong>Geography</strong>,Bulgaria, Sofia 1000, Tzar Osvoboditel blvd. 15e-mail: naidenov@gea.uni-sofia.bg slav@gea.uni-sofia.bgAbstractMany mult<strong>in</strong>ational companies make bus<strong>in</strong>ess <strong>in</strong> different regions <strong>in</strong> the world. In thisway they prevent risk from mak<strong>in</strong>g bus<strong>in</strong>ess <strong>in</strong> only one geographical market. Many mult<strong>in</strong>ationalcompanies have a geographical organizational structure. They work with peoplefrom different cultures, religions and economies and that is a holdback to development ofthis companies. Many of them want to know the spatial behavior of their customers. Thoseare the reasons <strong>in</strong> brief which makes us consider that managers must have specialization<strong>in</strong> <strong>Geography</strong>.Key words: <strong>Geography</strong>, Geographical organization structure, Managers, Culture, Religion,Spatial BehaviorWe eat Mexican, Asian and Italian food. We wear shoes manufactured <strong>in</strong> Italy, shirtsfrom Taiwan, jeans and trousers made <strong>in</strong> Ch<strong>in</strong>a. Most of the parts for automobilesare produced <strong>in</strong> Japan. Most of the mult<strong>in</strong>ational companies and to be more precisetheir enterprises operate beyond the borders of their own counties. Most of thesecompanies operate on the different cont<strong>in</strong>ents. In that way they escaped from therisk of operation on only one geographical market.Dur<strong>in</strong>g the creation of the organizational structures of mult<strong>in</strong>ational companies,support<strong>in</strong>g the <strong>in</strong>formation is very difficult, because they come from scatteredgeographically decision mak<strong>in</strong>g centers. Mult<strong>in</strong>ational companies usually used threema<strong>in</strong> organization structures for overcom<strong>in</strong>g this problem (Herbert, 1984):a) production structuresMult<strong>in</strong>ational companies used this structure, when its markets are dist<strong>in</strong>guishedby production l<strong>in</strong>es <strong>in</strong> scattered geographically regions.b) geographic structureMult<strong>in</strong>ational companies group all functional and organizational responsibilitiesby geographical regions. That is the “geographical design” andc) functional structure.There are many conflicts between the goals of corporations and the economic andpolitical goals of the countries <strong>in</strong> which companies work. The effective <strong>in</strong>ternationalmanager must carefully recognize and evaluate potential differences <strong>in</strong> culture,economy, policy and ideology. This provides opportunities for the development ofcourses and tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> economic and political geography. On the other hand, the180

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