At the dawn of the 21 st Century, nations are more economically integrated than at any other point in human history. This presents business leaders with unprecedented opportunities and challenges. On the one hand, the opportunity to sell to global markets rather than a single national market increases the potential profitability of nearly every kind of business activity. Furthermore, the sharp differences among nations in wage rates and national resource endowments allow multinational firms to create value by locating different aspects of the value chain in those countries where they can be undertaken most efficiently. On the other hand, globalization increases the number and range of potential competitors in nearly every industry, and the challenges of effectively managing a multinational enterprise can be substantially greater than those confronting a firm largely based in a single country.
