International Business: Opportunities and Challenges in a Flattening World

Mason Carpenter (PhD University of Texas at Austin) was the M. Keith Weikel professor of leadership at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Wisconsin School of Business. His research in strategic management concerned corporate governance, top management teams, social networks, and the strategic management of global startups and was published widely in leading management and strategy journals. He was also author of numerous books used in leading undergraduate, MBA, and education courses around the world, including Principles of Management published by Flat World Knowledge. He was associate editor of the Academy of Management Review and served on the editorial board of the Strategic Management Journal. At the University of Wisconsin, he was responsible for the undergraduate, MBA, and ExecMBA courses in business, corporate, and global strategy. With others, he had also advised the top management teams and business unit leaders of Fiskars, SABMiller, GE, Harley Davidson, Rockwell International, Vivendi, Kerry Ingredients, Covance, Danisco, Badger Meter, and Banta in the areas of strategy formulation, strategy implementation, and strategic change. His teaching accomplishments included MBA Professor of the Year, notoriety as one of the two most popular professors in several BusinessWeek MBA program polls, the Larson Excellence in Teaching award from the Wisconsin School of Business, and, most recently, a Distinguished Teaching award from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also worked to integrate experiential and behavioral perspectives of strategic management into the classroom through positions on the BPS and SMS Executive Committees, Doctoral and New Faculty BPS consortia, and the widely-used BPS Strategy Teaching Toolkit. He passed away in 2011 and is survived by his wife and two sons.

Sanjyot Dunung is CEO and founder of Atma Global, a leading-edge developer of innovative learning content and solutions, focusing on countries, cultures, and global business topics. The firm’s mission is to develop best-of-class, engaging learning solutions and products to help people of all ages understand and successfully interact with people from other cultures. Atma Insights, a digital streaming service, enables users to access essential culture, country, and global business learning videos. The firm’s Cultural Advisory Services provides thought leadership and assists institutions in understanding the impact of culture on their global business operations and objectives.

Sanjyot is a recognized leader in the field of cross-cultural learning and has extensive experience in developing innovative multimedia learning and content solutions. Sanjyot also periodically authors articles on international business and entrepreneurship. She has appeared on CNBC-TV, CNN International, Bloomberg TV, and various radio programs and is often a guest speaker at conferences and seminars addressing international business, global cultures, and entrepreneurship. 

Sanjyot has written sixteen books including International Business: Opportunities and Challenges in a Flattening World (FlatWorld); Global Business Management (FlatWorld); Straight Talk About Starting and Growing Your Own Business (McGraw Hill); and Doing Business in Asia: The Complete Guides (Simon & Schuster). Sanjyot began her career as a banker in New York with American and Japanese banks.

Sanjyot serves as the co-chair and mentor for Afghan women entrepreneurs through Project Artemis. Her first young-adult novel, Maddie & Sayara (Full Circle Media), explores the diverging paths of young girls around the world. Sanjyot is on the board of the Vote Mama Foundation, focused on removing legal, structural, and cultural barriers for working mothers, enabling them to run for elected office at every level of government. Sanjyot was selected as a Protégé member of the Committee of 200. She also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Committee for UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund).

Sanjyot’s academic history includes a BA from Northwestern University and an MBA with an emphasis in International Finance from Thunderbird, the American Graduate School of International Management. She is a recipient of the school’s Distinguished Alumni Award and serves on the Thunderbird TGAN Advisory Board. Sanjyot was born in India and raised in Liverpool, England, and Chicago, USA. She now lives in New York with her three sons.