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 P. Dunung (MBA Thunderbird School of Global Management) is a serial entrepreneur and global business executive with expertise in managing businesses through economic cycles and transformational change. A business evangelist and catalyst of growth, she has multidisciplinary skills in strategic planning, business development, raising venture and private capital, proprietary product development, channel partner strategy, and leading global teams. Sanjyot has a track record of helping businesses optimize costs and efficiencies by developing and implementing innovative digital learning and content solutions, including SaaS B2C and B2B, across multiple vertical markets.

Sanjyot has extensive global expertise with intuitive and seasoned in-depth knowledge of the intersection of business, global affairs, culture, technology, and education. She is a recognized thought leader integrating strategic global business and cultural leadership. Additionally, blending the practitioner-academic mindset, she provides consultative mentoring and problem-solving to boards and senior management.

Sanjyot is currently CEO and founder of Atma Global, an award-winning developer of innovative learning content and solutions, focusing on countries, cultures, business and global topics for the corporate, education, government, and travel markets. The firm recently launched Atma Insights, an award-winning digital streaming subscription service, featuring proprietary engaging and essential culture, country, business and global topics learning videos. 

She leads Atma Cultural Advisory Services, which provides thought leadership to global institutions, including the Fortune 500 and the government, on the impact, effectiveness, and cultural suitability of marketing, advertising, communications, and business processes and programs in target groups and across borders. The firm develops cost-effective learning solutions, enhancing the effectiveness of institutional initiatives and improving overall profitability.  

Sanjyot writes articles, appears on global media, and is often a guest speaker at conferences and seminars addressing international business, global cultures, and entrepreneurship. She has written sixteen business books including International Business: Opportunities and Challenges in a Flattening World (FlatWorld) and Global Business Management (FlatWorld). Sanjyot began her career as a banker in New York with American and Japanese banks.       

Sanjyot currently serves on the Board of Advisors, Truman Center for National Policy, Advisory Board of the Thunderbird School of Global Management and the Board of Trustees, National Small Business Association. Previously, she served as a member of the Board of Directors of UNICEF USA. She mentors entrepreneurs around the world. Her first activist young adult novel, Maddie & Sayara, explores the diverging paths of young girls around the world.

Sanjyot has received several awards, including the 2021 Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business Award and the 2021 AmChamRepresent Business Transformation Award: Women in Business. Her academic history includes a BA from Northwestern University and an MBA with an emphasis in International Finance from Thunderbird School of Global Management. She is a recipient of the school’s Distinguished Alumni Award and is a Professor of Practice. Sanjyot was born in India and raised in Liverpool, England, and Chicago, USA. She now lives in New York with her three sons.