This chapter covers the following objectives:
- The importance of international expansion as a viable diversification strategy.
- The sources of national advantage; that is, why an industry in a given country is more (or less) successful than the same industry in another country.
- The motivations (or benefits) and the risks associated with international expansion, including the emerging trend for greater off shoring and outsourcing activity.
- The two opposing forces – cost reduction and adaptation to local markets – that firms face when entering international markets.
- The advantages and disadvantages associated with each of the four basic strategies: international, global, multidomestic, and transnational.
- The difference between regional companies and true global companies.
- The four basic types of entry strategies and the relative benefits and risks associated with each of them.
