Carry a Chicken in Your Lap

In this summary you will learn

• Why going global makes sense for North American firms
• Why most foreign job postings fail
• Why you must select the right people to fill international positions
• What qualities to look for in candidates for overseas assignments

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Why you should read Carry a Chicken in Your Lap

In The Music Man, the 1950s Broadway musical, a chorus of traveling salesmen sings, “You’ve got to know the territory!” in an old-time train car chugging toward Iowa. The drummers’ point is that you’ll never get ahead if you don’t understand the region where you work, its people and its customs. If this is true of rural Iowa, it’s even more true of Bahrain, East Timor or Botswana. Unfortunately, many companies fail to prepare their employees for overseas assignments, or they send people who are completely wrong for the jobs. In this book, international commerce experts Bruce Alan Johnson and R. William Ayres explain what kinds of people are suited for overseas jobs, what kinds are not and the training international employees require. getAbstract recommends this book to executives and managers responsible for overseas assignments and staffing, as well as to anyone who plans to work abroad.

About the Authors

Bruce Alan Johnson’s company helps business clients tap international markets, earning them more than $330 million in financial engineering and countertrade programs. R. William Ayres is an academic whose discipline is international relations.