ABSTRACT
The processes of economic globalization-the increasing integration of input, factor and final product markets across countries coupled with the increasing salience of multinational enterprises’ (MNEs) value-chain networks in international economic flows-are reshaping policy landscapes. This volume examines the strategies of governments and firms to respond to the opportunities and threats created by these processes. The pace, depth and impact of globalization is uneven within and across countries and industries. Though globalization is neither inexorable nor inevitable, there is sufficient evidence to suggest that it is causing long-term structural changes in the world economy (Hirst and Thompson, 1996; Strange, 1996; Rodrik, 1997; for an opposing view, Chase-Dunn, 1994). Globalization has both economic and non-economic dimensions, but this volume focuses on the responses to economic globalization only while acknowledging that the non-economic dimensions pose policy challenges for business and public policy.2
