The following is a study of international business and marketing, focusing on what may be called its legal political dimension: rules and regulations, political and institutional policies and values, and the elements of "political" risk involved in doing business abroad.
The globalization of business and economic life has been so often spoken and written about in recent years that it has become a cliche. Nevertheless, it is certainly true that the environment of business is international to a degree not seen in the past, with the implication that a larger number of business people will, at some point in their careers, find themselves doing business in a foreign country. This requires, however, that they adapt themselves not only to the cultural features of a foreign society, but to its political institutions as well. The world economy may be increasingly globalized, indeed, but the world is still legally and politically organized on the basis of national sovereignty.
All nations have their rules and regulations for the conduct of business, and these often differ widely from what is accepted in the United States very generally, in a direction that is frustrating for an American business person, since most nations' political cultures accept more government interference in business than is the American norm. Apart from the rules and regulations that may apply at a given time, nations' governments and their policies are subject to change, sometimes dramatic or even violent. Friendly and cooperative governments can be overthrown and replaced by anti business or anti American regimes. Investments can be restricted, nationalized, or expropriated without compensation. Individual business people can find themselves subject to legal systems that do not recognize the niceties of American courts, or they can be caught up in political or military conflicts. Thus, the business person who may become involved in international bus...