Synopses & Reviews
The Rules of the Game in the Global Economy: Policy Regimes for International Business (Second Edition) analyzes the evolution of international policy regimes affecting the development and management of international business. The authors explain the nature of international regimes, and show how the interlinked processes of global economic integration and multinational enterprise expansion make the development of regimes both inevitable and desirable. They then examine several major types of regime currently in place, including those that have emerged from global or regional institutions such as the United Nations (UN) and the European Community (EC), as well as those dealing with functional areas such as international trade and payments, sea and air transportation, telecommunications, and environmental issues. They conclude with an assessment of the critical similarities and differences among existing regimes, the most likely direction and scope of future regime development, and the important implications of regime evolution for international management. This second edition provides the reader with the following revisions: Update all data and tables and include more recent developments and examples, wherever possible and appropriate. Give specific attention to the evolution of new institutional arrangements, such as the European Union, NAFTA, and WTO. Increase emphasis on the importance to business and economic activity of environmental regimes as reflected in the issues raised at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and related developments. Reorganize some sections of the text including the rearrangement of materials within and among others, and the introduction of a separate chapter on telecommunications and services.
Synopsis
The subject of this study is the way that finns, industries, and nations organize their relationships with one another in order to engage in international business. To the casual observer, the processes of buying and selling, borrowing and lending, investing and receiving investment returns may seem much the same, whether they occur within a single country or between and among businesses in different political jurisdictions. In fact, however, business contacts between firms or individuals in different coun- tries are significantly different from their domestic counterparts. Not only do international buyers and sellers, borrowers and lenders, investors and earnings recipients often use different languages and currencies, they also frequently operate under different basic rules governing contracts, accounting practices, and dispute-settlement arrangements; and they are subject to different tax systems. Most important, they may require explicit pennission, or at least facilitating arrangements, from their respective governments in order to engage in any economic contact whatsoever. It may well be that, as Adam Smith believed, there is "a certain propensity in human nature . . . to truck, barter, and exchange one 1, p. 17); but the fact is that most im- thing for another" (1776, vol. portant markets and business relationships do not simply appear and evolve as natural phenomena. In fact, they are created by human effort and are highly organized, and international business relationships are the most highly organized of all.
Table of Contents
Preface. Part I: The Context of International Policy Regimes. 1. Complex Linkages in the Global Economy. 2. The Nature of International Policy Regimes. 3. Trade, Investment, and Enterprise Linkages. Part II: International Regimes: Case Studies. 4. Global and Comprehensive Regimes: The UN System. 5. Regional and Associative Regimes. 6. Trade, Monetary, and Investment Regimes. 7. Sea and Air Transport Regimes. 8. Telecommunications and Other Services. 9. Environmental Regimes. Epilogue: The Future of International Policy Regimes. Appendix. Index. List of Figures and Tables.