1. To develop an understanding of the seven concepts of this book’s unifying framework.

2. To link specific types of transfers of firm-specific advantages (FSAs) across borders with the four corresponding multinational enterprise (MNE) archetypes of administrative heritage.

3. To describe the various motivations for foreign direct investment (FDI) and to explain the linkages among non-location-bound (or internationally transferable) FSAs, location-bound (or non-transferable) FSAs, and location advantages within each of the four MNE archetypes.

4. To define the ten often-observed patterns of FSA development and resource recombination in international business.

5. To explain the need for complementary resources of external actors, including those in the MNE’s stakeholder network and ecosystem, and the potential reasons for bounded rationality and bounded reliability when doing international business.

1. To explain the reasons why MNEs establish long-term relationships with local distributors, even when they also command a wholly owned distribution network.

2. To foster an understanding of the role foreign distributors can play in the FSA development process.

3. To provide concrete guidelines to MNEs on how to manage supply chains in their entirety (from sourcing to distribution), in international environments characterized by great uncertainty and volatility.

4. To describe the need for adaptive governance of supply chains and related investments in logistics-related technologies.

5. To highlight the benefits of mapping the MNE’s supply chain network with a focus on those points in the network that could trigger major negative impacts if a large-scale disturbance occurred.

1. To define the term global standardization and to understand the intellectual arguments in favour of global standardization.

2. To describe a variety of features of national responsiveness for attracting consumers in foreign markets, even when using the Internet in international operations.

3. To explain the new types of location-bound FSAs catering to the specific preferences of host country customers, for success in digital industries.

4. To examine the potential and the constraints of global account management.

5. To identify the managerial challenges associated with simplistic views on the globalization of markets.

1. To predict when developed economy MNEs versus emerging economy MNEs will end up as winners or losers in competitive battles in international markets.

2. To describe the growth and international expansion trajectories of MNEs from emerging economies.

3. To explain the specific challenges facing MNEs from emerging economies, given their particular location advantages and FSAs.

4. To highlight the significance of ‘good-enough’ market strategies in the emerging economy context.

5. To provide a classification of international expansion strategies pursued by MNEs as a function of their R&D and marketing FSAs.

1. To assess the impact of environmental regulations as a created location advantage (or disadvantage) in the international business context.

2. To explain the impact of environmental regulations on firm-level innovation by MNEs.

3. To highlight the possibilities for new FSA development, resulting from environmental innovation and associated with an arsenal of MNE sustainability-oriented business practices.

4. To develop a classification scheme of alternative MNE environmental strategies.

5. To clarify that not all firms should try to develop environmental FSAs, since this may be a resource-intensive undertaking with uncertain outcomes.

1. To describe the complexities facing MNEs when operating in emerging economies because of ‘institutional voids’.

2. To explain how to create a map of an emerging economy’s institutional context and its implications for strategy.

3. To outline four possible strategies that MNEs can use when they engage with local start-ups to reduce distance factors in emerging economies.

4. To make clear how emerging economies can develop a circular economy (CE) that typically involves the input of foreign MNEs.

5. To throw light on the emerging economy’s specificities affecting bounded rationality and bounded reliability facing the MNE.

1. To describe the relationship between a firm’s strengths relative to international rivals and the competitiveness of its home country.

2. To explain ‘Porter’s diamond’ and the interaction among the four diamond attributes.

3. To develop an understanding of how innovative firms can benefit from location advantages in a home cluster.

4. To identify the role of MNEs as ‘diamond connectors’ in the context of location advantages held by different countries.

5. To discuss the managerial relevance of a ‘national diamond-based’ analysis on the competitive advantage of nations.

1. To identify the different international expansion trajectories of newly established firms, namely, international new ventures (INVs).

2. To explain how entrepreneurs who establish INVs identify gaps in the present servicing of foreign markets and then exploit these gaps, inter alia, through usage of digital-assets-based business models.

3. To acknowledge that viable, ‘sharing economy’ business models can include the cross-border entrepreneurial initiatives of start-ups.

4. To consider how globally oriented entrepreneurs craft value chains that from the outset target access to requisite resources in distant environments.

5. To recognize that many of the normative recommendations made for INVs to be successful are subject to strong qualifications: especially the bounded rationality and bounded reliability challenges at play should never be underestimated.

All MNEs face opportunities and challenges inviting serious analysis, building on a small set of conceptual building blocks: (1) firm-specific advantages (location-bound and non-location-bound); (2) location advantages; (3) value creation through resource recombination; (4) complementary resources of other economic actors; (5) bounded rationality; and (6) bounded reliability. Importantly, these building blocks also allow us to identify the limitations of normative messages and models prescribing how to conduct international business strategy. Drawing on these building blocks, and their application throughout the book, we conclude by touching on seven themes, each consistent with the observation that the international business strategy world is far from flat, and unlikely to become much flatter in the foreseeable future:

1. The observed dominance of regional over global strategies.

2. The ‘new forms’ of international expansion.

3. The tension between radical international innovation and internal coherence.

4. The challenges facing MNEs when trying to link effectively their back-office activities with the front office.

5. The need to qualify the importance of recombination capabilities.

6. The move towards private equity.

7. The bright and dark sides of the digital economy.

1. To define economic exposure and its strategic significance for the MNE.

2. To describe the various approaches to manage and minimize economic exposure.

3. To explain the added complexities surrounding economic exposure when MNEs operate multiple business models, following from a high level of diversification.

4. To introduce a new-economy financing tool, namely, crowdfunding, that could be used by resource-constrained MNEs to raise financial resources and to manage potential economic exposure across national borders.

5. To explain the linkages between the MNE’s administrative heritage and its organization of the risk exposure management function, thereby also paying attention to the advent of digital assets.

In Chapter 1, we lay out the main building blocks of the unifying framework used throughout the book. In Chapters 2 to 17, we discuss what we consider to be the best international business articles published in HBR, SMR, and CMR since the early 1980s, and we systematically refer to the unifying framework. After starting each chapter by discussing a classic article in one of the practitioner journals, we then extend the analysis by describing the additional insights gained from articles published in the other journals. We also discuss new challenges in international business strategy, many of which address complexities arising from the growth of the digital economy and from the deployment of more complex business models across borders. The book is divided into three parts: core concepts (Chapters 1 to 5), functional issues (Chapters 6 to 10), and the dynamics of international strategy (Chapters 11 to 17). Chapter 17 has two distinct parts: Part A addresses corporate social responsibility; and Part B discusses environmental sustainability of MNEs. In the Conclusion, we briefly address a few key implications of the book’s analysis for MNE managers.