ABSTRACT
This chapter marks the transition between the book’s initial focus on the macro-level international business (IB) environment and subsequent study of practitioner strategies and attitudes. It starts by reviewing the main enabling factors determining how multinational enterprise (MNE) has been conducted over the years, linking companies’ cross-border configuration decisions (i.e. horizontal vs. vertical integration; “big is beautiful” vs. maximum outsourcing; global vs. multidomestic approaches) to the political, economic and paradigmatic circumstances that they have faced at different points in time. The chapter then goes on to review the special case of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), revealing the relationship that exists between a company’s resources and its internationalisation options and thinking. The final section looks at the special case of foreign direct investment (FDI), in recognition both of the great impact that this particular market entry mode has on home and host countries alike and because of what it reveals about the different ways companies might respond to the external and internal drivers underpinning potential IB investments.
