Much of the focus of regional interest in the field of international business is on the rapidly growing emerging economies, particularly of India and China. For business practitioners, academics and students, these markets have attracted considerable attention, primarily because of their tremendous trade and investment potential; because they encompass two-fifths of humanity and because they are behind the shifting power within the global economy. Thus, the emergence of these states and the intensified economic rivalry this has

provoked represent a serious strategic challenge for the 28 relatively small states of the European Union (EU) which occupy a comparatively small area of land at the far end of the Eurasian plate.