ABSTRACT

International business raises specific challenges that practitioners and academics ignore at their peril. Companies or individuals leaving a “home country” with which they are familiar can find it very difficult to adjust to a “host country” where the people and environment are foreign to them. “Globalisation” is associated with the idea of a single world and therefore stresses similarities between communities, hence greater cosmopolitanism and tolerance for diversity. “International” business, on the other hand, starts by emphasising areas of divergence. One of the most noteworthy strategies pursued by many multinational enterprises” (MNE) in recent decades has involved having each of their subsidiaries worldwide specialise in a specific functional activity, reflecting the competitive advantages of the place where it is operating. International business is also a living subject, rooted in the relationship between concepts and actions. A final international business driver relates to MNEs’ need to acquire the resources used in their production process.