ABSTRACT
The growing internationalization of previously national economies is a marked trend among the emerging market economies. Countries that have spent long periods pursuing autarkic, interventionist and nationalistic economic strategies have, to varying degrees, accepted the need to break out of the limited domestic market and seek economies of scale in the larger international marketplace. Rather than simply export, a growing number of companies have chosen to invest and sell their products in external markets. The globalization of capital is undoubtedly one of the key features of the modern world economy. The annual flows of direct investment world-wide more than tripled in the decade from 1980 to 1990. In addition, other factors made change and adaptation necessary: the growing competition from the Pacific Rim, the impetus provided by regional integration to the dismantling of customs barriers, improved communications, major technological advances, market fragmentation, cultural homogenization, etc.
