Operating in Emerging Markets: A Guide to Management and Strategy in the New International Economy

3. A Historical Perspective

Introduction

This chapter provides an overview of the internationalization of multinational companies in late modern history. Multinational organizations were fundamental in transforming the world economy, making it more integrated through their trading and investment activities. Globalization is a term that became fashionable during the 2000s as emerging markets opened their economies to trade and investment. In this chapter, we examine two other periods in history when the world economy was also highly integrated: The period 1850–1914, which we refer to as Global Economy I, and the period 1948–1980, which we refer to as Global Economy II. We look at the context in which multinational companies were operating during ...