New Features :

• Chapter 11, The Strategy of International Business, has been substantially revised to bring it up-to-date with current thinking. There is an entirely new section on the evolution of strategy, and new terminology (examples: localization strategy, global standardization strategy) is highlighted. Significant revisions and rewriting has taken place surrounding the following discussions: financial goals and strategy, global expansion and profitability, expanding the market, and choosing a strategy.
• The new edition includes an extended discussion of the outsourcing of service activities, from software testing and diagnosis of MRI scans to telephone call centers and billing functions, to developing nations such as India and the implications of this development for international business are explored.
• Up-to-date hot topic coverage includes global terrorism and the attendant geopolitical risks emerging as a threat to global economic integration and activity, the rapid growth of the Chinese market, and the meteoric growth of the global money market.
• Updated statistics on globalization trends (including the growth of foreign trade and investment), national differences in political and economic systems, copyright violations, antidumping cases, global trends in foreign direct investment, and the extent of regional economic integration in the world economy. New/updated discussions include: Barro and McCleary’s research on the connection between religious beliefs and economic growth; exchange rate trends since 1973, including the fall in the value of the dollar that occurred after 2001; the performance of the Euro, particularly against the U.S. dollar; enlargement of the EU and NAFTA; and the current state of the Doha Round of Trade Talks. Chapter 7 also includes a new section on the shift to services in FDI.
• An extended discussion has been added of shifting ideology in policy to FDI, as well as a discussion of recent actions against FDI in Venezuela, Bolivia, the EU and United States.
• Each chapter includes a Closing Case, replaced or updated for this edition. These cases are designed to illustrate the relevance of chapter material for the practice of international business as well as to provide continued insight into how real companies handle those issues. The closing case to chapter 2, for example, looks at how endemic corruption in Indonesia has raised the costs of doing business in that country.
• To help students go a step farther in expanding their understanding of international business, each chapter incorporates two globalEDGE research tasks designed and written by Tunga Kiyuk and the team at Michigan State University’s globalresearch.com site to dovetail with the content just covered.
• Improved Instructor’s Resources. A revised Test Bank, including questions tagged to AACSB learning standards, new PowerPoints, and an updated Instructor’s Manual integrating instructions for how to teach using the in-text boxes and DVD clips are included on the Instructor’s Resource CD. See below for more details.

Retained Features:

• Because it is important to show students how the material covered in the text is relevant to the actual practice of international business, Charles Hill takes care to focus on the managerial implications of topics discussed throughout the text. While this tends to be easier to draw out in the later chapters of the book (because they focus on the practice of international business), it is not always obvious in the first half of the book, where the focus is on the environment of business. That’s why at the end of each chapter in Parts One, Two, Three, and Four (where the focus is on the environment of international business, as opposed to particular business practices) there is a section titled Focus on Managerial Implications. In this section, the managerial implications of the material discussed in the chapter are clearly explained. For example, Chapter 4, "International Trade Theory," ends with a detailed discussion of the various trade theories' implications for international business management.
• Each chapter begins with a revised or updated Opening Case that sets the stage for the chapter content and familiarizes students with how real international companies conduct business. Chapter 2, "Country Differences in Political Economy," for example, opens with a case that describes how the political economy of Venezuela is changing under the leadership of Hugo Chavez, and what this might mean for foreign investors.
• Students also learn about managerial implications in Management Focus boxes. There is at least one Management Focus in most chapters. Like the opening case, the purpose of these boxes is to illustrate the relevance of chapter material for the practice of international business. The Management Focus in Chapter 2, for example, looks at how Starbucks won an important battle its intellectual property in China. This box illustrates the important role that national differences in the protection of intellectual property rights can play in international business.
• Most chapters include Country Focus box that provides background on the political, economic, social, or cultural aspects of countries grappling with an international business issue. Readers will also enjoy Another Perspective boxes which provide additional context for the chapter topics.