Today's business world stretches well beyond national borders. Multinational and global companies have been existence for hundreds of years, but on a limited basis until the twentieth century. During the twentieth century, advances first in transportation, and then in communications, made it possible for even small companies to expand their business offerings around the world. Until the last years of the twentieth century, conducting international business required extensive international travel. With the rise of the Internet, however, it became possible for sellers located in one country to find customers, receive payment, and ship goods to a different country, or even to many countries. Web designs, some good and some bad, proliferated, and companies realized the importance of the Internet as a marketing channel. After the exuberance of the dot-com boom that plagued the American stock market in the 1990s and early 2000s, companies around the world recognized that the Internet was not an entirely new way of doing business, but a new tool to include in traditional businesses.
At the same time as the Internet was proliferating around the world, the world underwent significant political change, as well. The Soviet Union collapsed, and some of the former Soviet republics became strong markets while others struggled to maintain economic viability. The American military found itself participating in actions in Bosnia and elsewhere in Eastern Europe, and in September 2001, the United States declared war on terrorism. The events of September 2001 changed much for the United States as well as for the rest of the world. Although he specifically campaigned against nation building, President George W. Bush put the United States in the position of nation building first in Afghanistan, where it ousted the Taliban, and then in Iraq, where it ousted Saddam Hussein. The American presence in Iraq will continue for some time to come, with ...