Martin Gannon’s latest book on global cultures, Paradoxes of Culture and
Globalization, coupled with his earlier works on cultural metaphors, gives
both the academic and practitioner a complete pedagogical toolkit for the
study of cross-cultural management issues. The paradox paradigm provides
two very important things for the classroom instructor. First, it provides
a framework for the application of critical thinking, and thus
illumination, to what can be a very complex if not overwhelming operational
environment for players in the global business arena. Second, it gives the
instructor a methodology for linking the foundational elements developed by
Gannon’s previous works on cultural metaphors to the macro-phenomena that
traverse multiple national, ethnic, and industrial regimes. Gannon’s body
of work, which draws on the fields of sociology, anthropology, economics
and business, is one of the most integrated and thus one of the most
useful, allowing the business world to better understand the cross-cultural
phenomenon.