Peter Lawrence is Emeritus Professor of International Management at Loughborough University, UK. He was educated at the Universities of London, Cambridge, Essex and Konstanz in Germany. In the course of a long academic career he has lived or worked in Canada, Israel and the United States, as well as in several European countries including France and Germany, Sweden, Holland and Switzerland. This experience has given rise to a number of books on management in other countries, including the first book about German management by a non-German, the first book about business and management in Israel, Management in the USA and Management in Western Europe.

Throughout his career Peter has gone for a 'hands on' approach, spending time in companies, working in other countries and endlessly interviewing executives and business owners about their work and companies. His extensive international teaching, research and consultancy experience has earned him recognition for his unique appreciation of global business at both a macro and a micro level.

A popular speaker at international conferences, he is also a frequent contributor to the academic and business press. There are a number of inputs to this book, but first and foremost it has been shaped by interviews with owners, executives or other organizational officers at some 130 companies, mostly in the United Kingdom and the United States.