International business refers to business activities that involve the transfer of resources, goods, services, knowledge, skills or information across national borders. International trade – export and import Foreign direct investment.

FDI: Foreign Direct Investment Multinational enterprises (MNEs) or multinational corporations (MNCs): firms that directly invested abroad and has at least one overseas affiliate over which they maintain effective control. FDI: Foreign Direct Investment A significant ownership in a foreign operation The potential to affect managerial decisions of the operation The overseas units are called “foreign subsidiaries.” Cf. Portfolio investment (buying foreign stock without directly involving operations)

The significance of MNEs Over 80 000 multinational corporations were producing 25% of world’s output in 2007. The top 1,000 of these multinationals account for 80 percent of the world's industrial output. About 85% of the world's automobiles, 70% of computer, 35% of toothpaste and 65% of soft drinks are produced and marketed by MNCs (Bartlett et al, 2003). MNCs account for about two-thirds of world trade About one-third of total trade (or half of the MNC trade) is intra-firm..

What is (economic) globalization? Globalization: The shift toward a more integrated world economy. Globalization of markets (through FDI and trade) Globalization of productions

The global top 20 countries Ireland Switzerland Singapore Netherlands Sweden Finland Canada Denmark Austria United Kingdom France Germany Norway United States Portugal Czech Republic Spain Israel New Zealand Malaysia TECHNOLOGY POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT PERSONAL CONTACT ECONOMIC INTERGRATION Economic Integration: trade, foreign direct investment and portfolio capital flow, and income payments and receipts (including compensation of nonresident employees and income earned and paid on assets held abroad) Personal contact: international travel and tourism, international telephone traffic, and cross-border transfers Technology: number of Internet users, Internet hosts, and secure servers Political engagement: Number of memberships in international organizations, U.N. Security Council missions in which each county participates, and foreign embassies that each country hosts