Today, business is acknowledged to be international and there is a general expectation that this will continue for the foreseeable future. International business may be defined simply as business transactions that take place across national borders. This broad definition includes the very small firm that exports (or imports) a small quantity to only one country, as well as the very large global firm with integrated operations and strategic alliances around the world. Within this broad array, distinctions are often made among different types of international firms, and these distinctions are helpful in understanding a firm’s strategy, organization, and functional decisions (for example, its financial, administrative, marketing, human resource, or operations decisions). One distinction that can be helpful is the distinction between multi-domestic operations, with independent subsidiaries which act essentially as domestic firms, and global operations, with integrated subsidiaries which are closely related and interconnected. These may be thought of as the two ends of a continuum, with many possibilities in between. Firms are unlikely to be at one end of the continuum, though, as they often combine aspects of multi-domestic operations with aspects of global operations.

International business grew over the last half of the twentieth century partly because of liberalization of both trade and investment, and partly because doing business internationally had become easier. In terms of liberalization, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) negotiation rounds resulted in trade liberalization, and this was continued with the formation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995. At the same time, worldwide capital movements were liberalized by most governments, particularly with the advent of electronic funds transfers. In addition, the introduction of a new European monetary unit, the euro, into circulation in January 2002 has impacted international business economically. The euro is the currency of the European Union, membership in March 2005 of 25 countries, and the euro replaced each country’s previous currency. As of early 2005, the United States dollar continues to struggle against the euro and the impacts are being felt across industries worldwide.