Dr Robert Fitzgerald is a Reader in Business History and International Management at Royal Holloway, University of London, specializing in business history, comparative management, international business, and the economic development of the Asia Pacific and Japan in particular. He has written on human resource management and labour, business cultures, economic development, marketing and consumption, and business organization, often from an international and comparative perspective. He has conducted research and fieldwork in countries all over the world, and taught in universities in Europe and Japan. He is the author or co-author of six books, including Doing Business in Emerging Markets: Opportunities and Challenges (2013), Rowntree and the Marketing Revolution, 1862–1969 (Cambridge University Press, 2007), The Growth of Nations: Culture, Competitiveness and the Problems of Globalization (1997), and British Labour Management and Industrial Welfare, 1846–1939 (1986). He is also the editor of seven books, including Remaking Management: Beyond Global and Local (Cambridge University Press, 2008), and has published numerous articles in leading international journals.

'This is an ambitious study, long in preparation, on the vast reach of multinational enterprises and on their importance in the transformation of the modern world economy. It draws on a formidable collection of individual company data, emphasizing the interactions between firms and diplomatic, military, and political, as well as economic history. It covers a wide range of multinational enterprises in agriculture and mining and services as well as in manufacturing. It is a fascinating work.' Mira Wilkins, Florida International University

• 1. Multinationals, states and the international economy; 2. Empires of business: 1870–1914; 3. The reverse gear?: 1914–48; 4. Cold War and the new international economic order: 1948–80; 5. Global economics?: 1980–2012; Conclusion: international business in time; Tables; References; Bibliography; Index.