ISBN: 9780521862585
Publishing date:
January 2009

Click here to order your examination copy
"Alain Verbeke draws on his unmatched knowledge of international business research and provides a fresh and insightful, integrated perspective for rethinking the foundations of international strategy. This highly readable text supported by excellent cases should appeal to students whose managerial careers will span an increasingly global economy. International strategy faculty will find that the text easily lends itself to customizing the course to their particular needs. This book deepens our understanding of the global economy and the evolving role of the multinational enterprise."
Arie Y. Lewin
Duke University Fuqua School of Business, Editor in Chief of the Journal of International Business Studies (2002 – 2007)

Useful Websites

The environment of international business: location advantages

One of this book's core concepts is the importance of location advantages (see especially Chapter1 and 3) and the difficulties often encountered in exploiting them fully (Chapter 4), or linking them with the company's firm-specific advantages (see especially Chapter 5, but also most chapters following in the book). Many websites discuss specific location advantages or report attempts to quantify them on an aggregate basis, while other ones report aspects of cultural, economic or administrative (institutional) distance, though few use the "location advantage" terminology. The data on these sites may also be useful as inputs for making decisions about production locations (Chapter 7) or choosing market entry strategies (Chapters 11-14), etc.

The following sites may be particularly useful:
  • Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
    The OECD is an organization of 30 countries, most of them industrialized, that attempts to coordinate policies to promote economic well-being. As part of this effort, it publishes a wide variety of economic data and studies, including data on foreign direct investment and insightful country studies.
  • Market Potential Index for Emerging Markets - 2008 | globalEDGE
    GlobalEDGE is a portal created by the International Business Center at Michigan State University with funding from the US government. It provides access to many sources of information that can help evaluate countries for various business purposes.
  • The 2005 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Confidence Index - Page 2The FDI Confidence Index summarizes the climate for inbound FDI.
  • Home - Doing Business - The World Bank Group
    The World Bank, one of the world's two main international financial institutions (see below), produces an annual report on business regulation and its impact on the ease of doing business in a large number of countries.
  • World Economic Forum - Global Competitiveness Report
    The World Economic Forum is a Swiss-based non-profit organization that attempts to reconcile the demands of economic progress and social development. Their Global Competitiveness Report is based on both economic data and input from business executives.
  • KPMG Competitive Alternatives 2008
    This report by the global accounting firm KPMG focuses on comparing tax regimes across multiple jurisdictions.
  • Asia: Worldwide Cost of Living survey 2008
    This cost of living survey is intended as a guide to adjusting expatriate compensation in line with the cost of living in major cities around the world (see Chapter 9).
  • Transparency International
    Transparency International is an organization focused on reducing corruption around the world (see Chapter 15A).
  • Geert Hofstede Cultural Dimensions
    Dr. Geert Hofstede's path-breaking research has been by far the greatest influence on the study of cultural differences and their effect on international business. His website describes the dimensions of cultural difference he identified and reports scores for many countries, providing important measures of cultural distance (Chapter 4) and guidance on training requirements for expatriates (Chapter 10).
World Trade

Trade and investment barriers remain an important impediment to the free flow of goods, services and capital across borders, thereby hindering access to the location advantages of other countries (see Chapter 3 on the "double diamond" model). These organizations work to reduce such barriers and also report extensively on trade data and trends.

International Finance

These websites provide important background and data on foreign exchange markets and other aspects of international finance (see Chapter 8).

  • IMF -- International Monetary Fund Home Page
    The International Monetary Fund is best known for organizing aid to countries experiencing financial crises, but its activities include monitoring and advising on economic performance and publishing financial statistics as well. It also publishes a quarterly journal entitled Finance and Development.
  • The World Bank
    The World Bank Group's main focus is providing funding intended to assist in the development of poor and middle-income countries (Chapter 14).
  • Bank for International Settlements
    The Bank for International Settlements attempts to coordinate central bank activities around the world to ensure global economic stability.
Corporate Social Responsibility

As discussed in Chapters 15A and 15B, there are increasing demands on business to fulfill roles beyond simply earning profits for shareholders, including improving worker welfare, respecting human rights, preserving the environment, etc. The international organizations below are important in forming the international framework of expectations regarding corporate conduct. The NGOs listed are among those that have been active in addressing corporate social performance issues.

Major Business Publications

The environment of international business changes quickly, so it is important to develop the habit of keeping up to date on the major events and trends around the world. The websites below represent a sampling of major publications that report on international business issues. Full access to their archives usually requires going through a library with the appropriate subscriptions, but if you do not have access to paper copies these websites can help keep you informed about current events.

North American-focused:

UK/Europe-focused:

Asia-focused:

Company Information

The best company level information including analysis of firm-specific advantages is usually in proprietary databases available through libraries with subscriptions. Well-known sources include Investext, Mergent On-line, Bloomberg, GMID (Global Market and Information Database), TableBase and Factiva.

Some company rankings are available on-line, such as:
Global Brand Rankings Interbrand: Best Global Brands 2007. This ranking would be useful in connection with Chapter 10.

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