Over the lastfew decades, international activities of companies have gained dramatically in importance. Empirical evidence for this statement can be found, for instance, in the rapid growth of world trade and in foreign direct investment flows as well as in the high share of intra company trade on total world trade, indicating the relevance of cross border value creation pro cesses. Courses on International Management have, thus, become an integral part of most management studies at universities today and dedicated Masters pro grammes on International Management have emerged in recentyears. Concept and Overview of this Book This book intends to give acompact overview of the most relevant concepts and developments in International Management. It takes the perspective of Multinational Corporations as Differentiated Networks. The various strategy concepts of internationally active companies and their implementation in practice are the core of this book. It is not designed as atraditional textbook or a collection of case studies, but tries to combine both. The book introduces the complex and manifold ques tions of International Management in the form of 20 lessons that give a the matic overview of key issues and illustrates each topic by providing acom prehensive case study.
