International business - Literature review Example

These capabilities have changed the potentials open to the multinational firm in the strategic management of its businesses. This review of literature explores the implications of international business strategy within the context of Nokia Corporation, a multinational corporation which has seen phenomenal growth but an almost rapid decline in the last decade. Its business is situated in the digital mobile telecommunications industry, which is characterized by rapid technological innovation and intense international competition.

Inquiry into the interplay of environmental changes and the corresponding positioning of the multinational corporation against its competitors may yield new insights into the strategic management of international businesses not encountered in localized businesses. 2. International Business Strategy To better understand the implications of the published reports and literature on Nokia’s global strategy and its local strategy in China, a brief survey of the existing theoretical discussion on international business strategy is warranted. . The word international which encompasses these concepts pertains to activities that cross the borders between nation-states; nation-states here is a combination of nation qualified by its country-level economic and sociocultural variables, and state which refers to the political attributes such as national sovereignty and national laws (p. 55). Given this starting point, international management is taken to mean “the process of planning, organizing, directing and controlling the organization, which individuals (managers) use to achieve an organization’s goals, when the organization is involved in cross-border activities or functions outside its nation-state” (Eden, et al., 2011, p. 56).

Likewise, international business may be defined as “business that crosses national borders, that is, it includes the comparative study of business as an organizational form in different countries, cross-border activities of businesses, and interactions of business with the international environment” (Eden, et al., 2011, p. 58). International business may be differentiated from international management in the sense that international business refers to organizations pursuing a specified goal through a cross-border undertaking for profit, while international management is the process of stewardship over an organization involved in cross-border activities, whether for profit or not, for as long as the goals are met.

Finally, international strategy is the field of management that deals with “the major intended and emergent initiatives, including cross-border initiatives, taken by general managers on behalf of owners, involving utilization of domestic and/or foreign resources to enhance the performance of firms in the international environment” (Nag, et al., 2007,