Globalization and the Small Open Economy investigates the specific role of small open countries in a globalizing economic system and assesses the unique pressures and opportunities afforded them by globalization. Traditionally, in contrast to large countries, small open economies (SOEs) have relied on international economic policy rather than domestic policy as a means to foster national economic development. Their firms also have a far greater reliance on host countries to gain competitive advantage than those of larger nations. This would suggest that globalization has potentially a far greater impact on SOEs than on large countries. The contributors to this volume concur with this view and seek to outline the challenges and opportunities faced by policymakers and managers of multinational enterprises from SOEs. They examine the role of government, environmental policy, inward and outward foreign direct investment and multinational management and conclude that, on balance, globalization provides more of an opportunity than a threat to economic growth in these countries. An innovative collection with fascinating new insights on the present and future role of small, open countries in the global economy, this will be an important new reference source for academics and students, public policy research institutes, international business scholars and trade economists.

This innovative Handbook draws together and reflects on the specific methodological challenges that an international business scholar is likely to face when undertaking a qualitative research project. With a practical, hands-on approach to methodological debates, the Handbook raises concerns specific to international business scholars. Covering the entire life cycle of a research project from its philosophical underpinnings to publication hurdles, the book explores existing practices and gives voice to multiple, even contrasting perspectives. This invaluable source of experiential knowledge, as well as conceptual understanding, has been achieved by a truly international authorship. Including fascinating vignettes written by senior academics, the result is a guide that will be indispensable. Capturing the experiences and practices of qualitative researchers, the Handbook of Qualitative Research Methods for International Business should be on the bookshelves of students and scholars of IB, researchers in international management and marketing, and teachers of cross-cultural and IB research methods.

In contemporary economies, businesses must consistently make strides to remain competitive and profitable at both national and international levels. Unlike in the developed world, corporations in developing nations face a different set of challenges for achieving growth. Multinational Enterprise Management Strategies in Developing Countries is an authoritative reference source for the latest scholarly research on diverse opportunities and obstacles facing multinational corporations in emerging economies. Highlighting innovative perspectives and real-world examples, this book is ideally designed for researchers, practitioners, upper-level students, and industry professionals interested in management approaches for achieving success in international corporations.

Economics of International Business sets out a new agenda for international business research. Mark Casson asserts that it is time to move the subject on from sterile debates about transaction cost economies and resource-based theories of the firm. Instead of focusing on the individual firm, the new agenda focuses on the global systems view of international business. A static view of the firm's environment is replaced by a dynamic view which highlights the volatility of the international business environment. Coping with volatility requires entrepreneurial skills, flexibility and the need to synthesize information on a global basis. To co-ordinate the global system properly, entrepreneurs must co-operate through social networks of trust, as well as competing. Constructing a network of joint ventures, it is argued, is simply not enough. Building on his previous book, The Organization of International Business, Mark Casson shows that with suitable modifications, the methods of economics can be used to analyse all of these issues in a rigorous way. The tools of 'business strategy' are too clumsy to address the more subtle issues, whilst descriptive approaches fail to bring key issues into sharp relief. This book is indispensable reading for all researchers and practitioners in the international business field as well as economists and academics alike.

Multinational Enterprises, Innovative Strategies and Systems of Innovation explores the extent to which multinational enterprises (MNEs) are decentralising the creation of new technological capabilities to various different countries. The book contends that technological strategies and innovation activities undertaken by firms are a critical part of the increasing internationalisation of economic activity, and that MNEs are the main actors for these changes. It goes on to explain that MNEs must now effectively manage new technological assets in order to cope with extensive changes in the nature of international competition. Experts from a network of thirteen European countries attempt to promote a better understanding of tendencies towards a new international dynamic of technology creation and diffusion. The contributors to the book then explore the factors determining the process of decentralisation and the resulting consequences for national systems of innovation. This thorough and easily accessible analysis of new trends in the technological strategies of MNEs and their implications for national systems of innovation will be of enormous interest to those specialising in the internationalisation of the economy or the economic analysis of technical change. In addition, the book will provide an excellent source of background information for policymakers when drafting new policies, and for corporate decision-making in the private sector.

To remain competitive, businesses must consistently analyze and enhance their management strategies. By utilizing the latest technological tools in the corporate world, organizations can more easily optimize their processes. The Handbook of Research on Technology Adoption, Social Policy, and Global Integration is a comprehensive reference source for the latest scholarly perspectives on the integration of emerging technologies and computational tools in business contexts. Highlighting a range of topics such as micro-blogging, organizational agility, and business information systems, this publication is ideally designed for managers, researchers, academics, students, and professionals interested in the growing presence of technology in the corporate sector.

The purpose of this volume is to bring together the leading scholarly papers about how globalization has impacted the role of SMEs. In fact, globalization has affected SMEs in two major ways. The first has been to facilitate the transnational activities of SMEs. Transnational activities, ranging from exports to foreign direct investment to participating in global value chains have become easier as a result of globalization. The second impact of globalization has been to shift the source of competitiveness towards knowledge-based economic activity, which has led to an increased role for SMEs. The first section of this volume examines how globalization has affected the role of SMEs in the economy. The second section of the volume is devoted to global strategies by SMEs The third section focuses on an important type of global activity of SMEs, which involves foreign direct investment. The fourth section focuses on the role of clusters and networks in generating SME competitiveness in global markets. SME export strategies and performance is analyzed in Section Five. Section Six examines the impact that the international mobility of labour has had on SMEs. The seventh section focuses on the role that SMEs play in transnational technology transfer. Section Eight is devoted to SMEs in the context of developing countries. In the final section of the volume policy issues are raised. This includes identifying how policy needs to address barriers to internationalization confronting SMEs.

This volume explores Malaysian business in the era that began with the Asian financial crisis of 1997-1999. The contributions, by a broad range of international experts, are informed by a wish to identify what Malaysia needs to do to sustain economic growth, remain internationally competitive and further social stability in the post-crisis period. Malaysia's unconventional response to the crisis suggests that its business community has developed a new level of confidence in its ability to adopt and sustain innovative policies even when these strategies challenge the international financial community. This response is perceived as evidence that Malaysian business has indeed entered a new era characterised by a high level of confidence in the nation's capacity to weather the external periodic shocks that are a feature of the current wave of globalisation. The book argues that there are grounds for optimism in this regard while recognising that the true test will occur when Malaysia is compelled to confront a major decline in its international export markets brought on by a truly major crisis such as an OECD-wide recession. Business scholars and professionals as well as readers interested in Asian business and economics will find this volume informative.

In the past, practical applications motivated the development of mathematical theories, which then became the subject of study in pure mathematics where abstract concepts are studied for their own sake. The activity of applied mathematics is thus intimately connected with research in pure mathematics, which is also referred to as theoretical mathematics. Theoretical and Applied Mathematics in International Business is an essential research publication that explores the importance and implications of applied and theoretical mathematics within international business, including areas such as finance, general management, sales and marketing, and supply chain management. Highlighting topics such as data mining, global economics, and general management, this publication is ideal for scholars, specialists, managers, corporate professionals, researchers, and academicians.

Research on the internationalisation process of firms shows that the development of experiential knowledge is a major factor in explaining firms' internationalisation. However, our knowledge of how this takes place is limited. The detailed mechanisms of learning, and the effects of the duration of the firm's international operations, have not been studied in depth. Using examples from Denmark, Finland, South Korea, New Zealand and Sweden, the contributors to this book examine these factors and test the basic assumptions of the internationalisation process of firms. In doing so, they explore how firms accumulate knowledge on foreign markets and analyse whether the number of countries in which firms operate influences the quantity and quality of knowledge accumulated. The effect is to expand our understanding of the use of knowledge and the international transfer of knowledge in the internationalisation process. Learning in the Internationalisation Process of Firms will be of great interest to scholars, researchers and practitioners of international business and management.

The agricultural and food sectors have developed into a prominent industry, impacting economic markets on an international scale. In certain regions, there is a significant potential for creating increased competitive advantage in these business areas. Exploring the Global Competitiveness of Agri-Food Sectors and Serbia's Dominant Presence: Emerging Research and Opportunities includes academic coverage and perspectives on enhancing the competitiveness of the Serbian food industry in the global marketplace. Highlighting pertinent topics such as exports, international trade, and manufacturing considerations, this book is an ideal resource for academics, researchers, graduate students, and professionals actively involved in the agri-food industry.

This volume contains a selection of John Dunning's best known and highly acclaimed writings on the theory of international business activity. Spanning more than three decades, the 16 contributions trace the evolution of his thoughts and ideas as an economist, from his first article on the determinants of international production, published in 1973, to his most recent essay on relational assets, networks and global business activity, completed in 2002. Theories and Paradigms of International Business Activity gives particular prominence to the author's much renowned eclectic paradigm, which he first promulgated at a Nobel Symposium on the international allocation of economic activity in 1976. Since then, the author has written over 60 articles, pamphlets and chapters in books which have extended, refined and updated his theorizing on the interface between trade, FDI and MNE activity, in the light of the changing characteristics of the world economy and advances in international business scholarship. This, the first of two volumes of John Dunning's work, is essential reading for all students, scholars and researchers with a special interest in the reasons behind the explosive growth in post-war FDI and the globalization of business activity.

Global Capitalism, FDI and Competitiveness comprises 15 of John Dunning's most widely acknowledged writings on the changing characteristics of the global economy over the past three decades. In particular, it examines how these events have shaped, and been shaped by, the growing internationalization of all forms of business activity. The book is dived into five thematic sections, each of which illustrates a particular aspect of change and the author's analysis of it. The volume examines: * the main features of the new global economy, its origin, opportunities and challenges * the author's recent writings on the factors affecting the location of economic activity by international firms, and the implications for national and regional governments * the changing nature and form of the contribution of FDI and cross-border strategic alliances to economic development and to the restructuring of national economies * the relationship between FDI, the competitive advantages of international firms and the productivity and dynamic comparative advantage of the economies in which they operate. * an examination of the changing role and power of national governments as they seek to evaluate and influence the extent of both inbound and outbound FDI. This volume will be warmly welcomed by all scholars and researchers of international business and particularly those interested in globalization, regional economics and FDI.

In this fresh examination of the Microsoft antitrust case, Richard Gordon critically examines the economics of the US government's arguments. The conclusion is that the government presented a sketchy, incoherent, invalid economic case and relied upon creating the impression of misdeeds to persuade the courts. The primary charge is that Microsoft possessed an impregnable monopoly in operating systems for personal computers. According to the government, Microsoft created, included in its operating system, and vigorously promoted its internet browser solely to prevent the development of the Java/Netscape alternative. The promotion of this browser was considered predatory. Microsoft allegedly undertook similar acts against other companies. According to Gordon, the government failed to present even a clear statement of its charges and failed to substantiate the critical allegations. In this book, he concentrates on the underlying economics of the case and reviews the germane theory. He presents and evaluates implicit government arguments as well as Microsoft's refutations. Readers in economics, law and public policy will find this well researched analysis enlightening.

The advent of the Information Age has transformed the ways in which individuals work, travel, and conduct their daily activity. Anna Nagurney and June Dong lay out the theory of supernetworks, networks that exist over and above existing electronic networks, in order to formalize decision-making in the Information Age. Supernetworks are conceptual in scope, graphical in perspective, and, with the accompanying theory, predictive in nature. In this book, the authors provide a unifying framework for the study of decision-making by a variety of economic agents including consumers and producers as well as distinct intermediaries in the context of today's networked economy. They provide the conceptual, analytical, and computational tools for the study of supernetworks. Their approach is rigorous and of sufficient generality and detail to give added insight into the behavior and structure of large-scale, interacting and competitive network systems, such as transportation, telecommunication, and financial networks. Areas studied include: supply chain networks with electronic commerce, financial networks with intermediation, telecommunicating versus commuting decision-making, teleshopping versus shopping decision-making, as well as transportation and location decisions. Case studies drawn from practice are provided for illustration purposes. Academics and practitioners in economics, business, and operations research along with management scientists, transportation and logistics researchers, computer scientists and applied mathematicians will find this book fascinating and useful.

Globalizing Europe examines the involvement of the European Union in the deepening integration that results as trade and transnational production link markets and economic systems across the world. This process is posing a unique challenge to European decision-makers to implement measures that will maximize the benefits and reduce the costs of globalization. As Europe expands and becomes more integrated it is being obliged to assume greater control over the development of its external economic relations. To effect this, the authors propose that member states play a more active and constructive role in the global political economy. They advocate the planning and implementation of major initiatives that could ensure greater stability in the world economy. Because of the magnitude of the economic bonds developing between the EU and the USA, special attention is paid to the trends and issues associated with the evolution of Atlantic relations. One of the greatest challenges the authors highlight, and a theme implicit throughout the book, is that the EU's external problems may receive inadequate attention due to the complexities of its decision processes. EU-level decision-making may become more introspective, rather than global, in outlook. Combining firm, industry, regional and country levels of analysis with the diverse and provocative views of the authors, this book will be essential reading for scholars of international economics, international political economy, and international business and finance.

Entrepreneurs engaging in international business face business environments that are fundamentally different from their home countries. Despite decades of entrepreneurship research, we know little about these entrepreneurs and their strategic behaviour in establishing and managing transnational operations. This book applies an institutional perspective on transnational entrepreneurship to empirical investigations of transnational corporations (TNCs) from Hong Kong and Singapore. Henry Wai-chung Yeung argues that significant variations in institutional structures of home countries explain variations in the entrepreneurial endowments of prospective transnational business networks. This is illustrated by empirical data from two in-depth studies of over 300 TNCs from Hong Kong and Singapore and over 120 of their foreign affiliates in Asia. Entrepreneurship and the Internationalisation of Asian Firms is a timely contribution to theoretical and empirical studies in international business and will be widely read by those interested in international business, industrial economics, organisation studies, political economy, regional studies and economic geography.

Global Women Leaders transports the reader into the fascinating lives of trailblazers in four very different countries. All were change-makers in their professions, and all of them confronted the challenges women everywhere will recognize as their own. How they succeeded, despite roadblocks, is both inspiring and instructive. Each gives us sound advice on a range of familiar hurdles from those associated with work and family to lack of confidence and sexism. If you want to know how to achieve authentic leadership, this is the book for you.' - Melanne Verveer, Georgetown University, US Global Women Leaders showcases narratives of women in business, nonprofit organizations and the public sector who have achieved leadership positions despite cultural obstacles and gender bias. Featuring leaders from India, Japan, Jordan and the United Kingdom, the book examines how these women have overcome challenges and served as role models in their professions. Regina Wentzel Wolfe and Patricia H. Werhane present stories of these women leaders within their unique cultural contexts. Standout features include models of feminist leadership behaviors and interrogations of the dominant paradigm of male leadership. Challenges for women in the workplace, systems thinking and various female leadership styles are also explored. The successes of the leaders featured in this book will be of interest to those in public, private and nonprofit sector organizations as well as academics and students teaching and studying feminist leadership, MBA students and entrepreneurs.

Since the 1970s, there have been many changes to the ways in which Japanese firms have conducted business. The editors of this volume examine the strategies of Japanese subsidiaries in the new global economy and present, in four parts, a comprehensive picture of the nature of Japanese multinational enterprises.The book addresses the overall nature of Japanese investment in international markets, and its broader implications for corporate performance. The entry mode choice and its relationship to performance is then examined, in an attempt to establish overall trends in the performance of various modes. The focus then shifts explicitly to joint ventures since nearly half of all Japanese subsidiaries take this form. Finally, the management strategies that Japanese firms have used in their foreign subsidiaries are investigated. Japanese Subsidiaries in the New Global Economy utilizes empirical analyses based on a very large, longitudinal data set, coupled with state of the art conceptual development. This volume provides a complete current picture of the international strategy of Japanese firms, which will be both useful and informative for researchers, scholars and policy makers in international business, international economics, foreign investment, joint ventures and expatriate management.

The EU has taken a leading role in calling for a round of new trade negotiations in the WTO to deal with the issues of globalisation. Proposals in the EU call for expansion into new areas such as global investment, competition, and environmental rules in addition to liberalisation negotiations on agriculture and services. Issues such as global governance, capital mobility, and labour standards are also explored. Brigid Gavin questions if the EU's call for path-breaking global negotiations is too ambitious and whether or not it will fail to achieve the required response from its trading partners. The book demonstrates how the EU has evolved constitutionally beyond the internal market into a highly developed system of multi-level governance. Non-state actors such as NGOs, labour unions and private industry groups have been increasingly engaged in the discussion, decision-making and implementation of policy. The volume therefore contains important lessons for the WTO. Exploring path-breaking reforms for increased parliamentary control of globalisation in the WTO, and providing a concrete model for implementation, this volume will be invaluable to academics, policymakers and NGOs in the areas of European studies, institutional relations and international business.

This topical book interprets firms, governments and economic change from an entrepreneurial perspective. Essentially, it applies the Austrian theory of human agency and evolutionary theories of the firm to explain economic organisation, the state and institutional change. Tony Yu begins by discussing the nature of entrepreneurship and the firm followed by an analysis of the role of entrepreneurship in economic change. He thoroughly analyses the process of economic development in late industrialisers, within an entrepreneurial framework outlined within the book. The author argues that ordinary and extraordinary discovery are associated with routine or imitative entrepreneurship and Schumpetarian entrepreneurship respectively. Using this classification, the author shows how it is the interaction of various types of entrepreneurial activities that transformed East Asian latecomers such as Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong from traditional agrarian and fishing economies into international centres of trading, service industries and finance. Firms, Governments and Economic Change will be of special interest to scholars of industrial economics, entrepreneurship and Asian studies. It will also be of use to governmental organisations responsible for economic development, as the analysis is thoroughly up to date easy to understand.

Foreign capital has played a fundamental role in China's development and economic reconstruction during the past two decades. China is now the world's second largest host for foreign direct investment, outside the United States. This important new book, by a distinguished group of contributors, offers insights into the impact of foreign investment on China's growth and regional economic development. The book features: * an examination of China's investment policy * an analysis of the most recent industrial surveys * case studies from selected regions * applications of modern econometric techniques to data on foreign direct investment in China Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Growth in China will be of interest to those working in the areas of international business, finance and international economics as well as Asian development and Chinese economic studies.