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.

1. To develop an understanding of international mergers and acquisitions (M&As) as instruments to create economic value for the firm.

2. To explain the challenge of ‘management biases’ when contemplating M&As, and the possibility of pursuing potentially superior alternatives that focus on developing and profitably exploiting FSAs.

3. To describe the challenges of effective governance in the post-acquisition process.

4. To support a reflection on the barriers to success and the common mistakes in M&A implementation processes.

5. To describe the process of integrating extant FSAs of the acquirer with the FSAs of the acquired company in international M&As.

1. To describe the four main dimensions of ‘distance’ (cultural, administrative, geographic, and economic) in the context of host country location advantages.

2. To link these various dimensions of ‘distance’ to bounded rationality problems faced by MNEs.

3. To develop an understanding of the alternative perspective of ‘distance’ as an opportunity, rather than a problem.

4. To highlight the importance of paying sufficient attention to the attractiveness and opportunities associated with some high-distance markets, for example, developed economy MNEs targeting rural markets in comparatively less wealthy countries.

5. To identify the managerial implications of ‘distance’ on the international transferability of FSAs.

1. To explain the significance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the MNE context.

2. To illustrate the linkages between strategy and CSR in contemporary MNE business practice.

3. To examine how CSR applied by MNEs can improve labour standards.

4. To develop an understanding of the trade-off between maximizing MNE profits in the short run and fulfilling obligations to society.

5. To clarify that there is no ‘one size fits all’ CSR approach across all types of economies (developed, emerging, and least-developed) and all types of MNE administrative heritage, and that there can be various patterns of CSR capability building.

1. To describe the changes in the international business environment leading to new roles assigned to international factories.

2. To explain the two key parameters underlying the roles of foreign manufacturing plants and to highlight the six generic factory roles.

3. To explain the benefits and challenges of reshoring as a source of new firm-specific advantages for MNEs, as they bring offshored production activities back to their home country.

4. To develop an understanding of the locational impacts of technological advances, such as additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing, on MNEs’ international sourcing and production activities.

5. To identify the limitations of a strategy aimed at upgrading foreign manufacturing plants.

1. To identify best practices in managing expatriates and to outline the roles of these managers in FSA development and transfer processes.

2. To examine the main pitfalls when managing expatriates.

3. To describe how to craft effective organizational change in the MNE through following a rigorous eight-step process.

4. To explain how modern human resources management (HRM) practices in a digital MNE can be nurtured, building on a global community of employees and contributors.

5. To show how successful MNEs can improve their organization-wide capacity to integrate interdependent international operations through ‘managing managers’.