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Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

International management researchers have examined the relationships between many components of strategy including mode of entry (e.g., Anderson and Gatignon, 1986; Hill, Huang and Kim, 1990; Kim and Huang, 1992; Kogut and Singh, 1988), international collaboration (e.g., Bresser and Harl, 1986; Buckley and Casson, 1988; Contractor and Kundu, 1988; Osborn and Baughn, 1990; Parkhe, 1993), and global integration vs. local responsiveness (e.g., Athanassiou and Nigh, 1999; Prahalad and Doz, 1987; Roth and Morrison, 1990; Taggart, 1998), among other things. Other management scholars have written about decision‐making from multiple perspectives including bounded rationality (Simon, 1955) and speed (Eisenhardt, 1989; Nordtvedt, 2000). Another subject of interest to management scientists has been that of leadership and its influence on organizational performance (e.g., Petrullo & Bass, 1961; Stodgill, 1974; Burns, 1978; and Bass, 1985). Although these three dimensions of the management discipline (i.e., international strategies, decision‐making, and strategic leadership) are individually important to organizational success, they have not yet been collectively researched or conceptually reviewed to understand how the nature of their interaction affects the internationalization of the multinational corporation.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the immediate antecedents of top executives' international expertise commitment. More specifically, the study focuses on the impact of top management characteristics and the international business performance of firms on top management's commitment to developing international expertise in their workforce.

Primary data were collected targeting the top executives of Fortune 500 and INC 500 firms. The final dataset contained responses from 111 top executives.

The results of the study show that top executives' international experience, perceived importance of international business in career progression, and past, present, and future business performance are positively related to international expertise commitment.

The findings provide implications for top management hiring decisions. Organizations embarking on the creation of a workforce with international expertise should consider hiring top executives who possess considerable international experience and who perceive international business as an important component in their career progression.

Organizational researchers have devoted very little research attention to exploring what drives top managers to remain committed to developing/acquiring international expertise. This study attempts to fill the void in the extant literature by exploring the immediate predictors and their relative influence on top executives' international expertise commitment.

Examines some of the factors that lead to internationalization of franchising operations. Data were collected from 142 US franchisors and subjected to discriminant and factorial analysis. Managerial attitudes towards a desire to expand and desire to increase profits were found to have a greater effect on the likelihood of internationalizing franchise operations than did firm size and sales and other managerial attitudes. While the results of this study differ from studies which examined entry into export operations, they are consistent with the assumptions which underlie the selection of franchising as an organizational form.

Recruiting students to study abroad is a difficult challenge for American colleges and universities. Study abroad advisors and directors of international programs are searching for better ways of marketing the overseas academic experience. Approximately 3% of U.S. students who pursue a bachelor’s degree study abroad at some point in their college career. In any given year, less than 1% (0.8%) of U.S. students take part in study abroad (Hayward, 2000, p. 9). American higher education falls far short of the Presidential Commission’s target of 10% by 2000 set in 1979 (Strength Through Wisdom, 1979). The typical college student who participates in study abroad is an undergraduate liberal arts major who spends one semester in a country in Western Europe. In 1999–2000, 63% of American students studying abroad were in Europe (Snapshot of Report on Study Abroad Programs, 2000, p. 1). Almost one fourth go to one country – Great Britain. Fifteen percent of study abroad students travel to Latin America, 6% to Asia and 3% to Africa (Hayward, 2000, p. 10). The small number of U.S. students (129,770) who experienced foreign study in 1998–1999 compares unfavorably with the much larger number of foreign students (490,933) who enrolled in U.S. institutions (Hesel & Green, 2000, p. 5). Even more disheartening is the fact that nearly 50% of students entering 4-year colleges say that they want to study abroad and that three out of four adults agree that students should study abroad (Hesel & Green, 2000, p. 1). When asked to choose which activity in college is most important to them, entering freshmen rank study abroad second only to internships (Hesel & Green, 2000, p. 3). There are obviously a number of barriers to student participation in foreign study.

“Organizational identification” refers to a perception of “oneness” with an organization. The purpose of this paper is to provide a model of organizational identification for virtual team workers and examine the role of cultural dimensions in a virtual setting. Specifically, it poses individualism‐collectivism and uncertainty avoidance as potential situational contingencies that may affect the determinants of an organizational identification relationship in a virtual work setting.

The proposed research framework delineates how cultural dimensions relate to virtual work‐associated individual (interpersonal trust, need for affiliation) and environmental (spatial and cultural dispersion, ICT‐enabled communication) factors and organizational identification. Several testable propositions emerge.

This study provides a foundation for empirical studies that examine the linkages among organizational identification, virtual work, and environment‐related factors and cultural variables.

This study has particular implications for managing virtual teams, as well as specific suggestions for a typology of virtual team members. The typology supports a consideration of expected levels of organizational identification, depending on virtual team member types.

Scholars have devoted very little attention to exploring what factors drive or impede organizational identification in cross‐cultural virtual teams. This paper attempts to fill that void by linking the immediate determinants and the contingency role of cultural variables or organizational identification in the context of virtual work.

A virtual organization (VO) is a set of geographically dispersed and functionally diverse organizational entities interconnected by electronic forms of communication that cooperate with one another for a common valued outcome. The objective of this article is to propose a research framework that illustrates the development of trust between VOs.

This paper provides an overview of literature on VOs, identifies antecedents of trustworthiness in virtual environment, explores the role of boundary spanners' interpersonal trust, and relates them to inter‐VO trust formation. A research analysis is developed that depicts the proposed relationships.

The propositions shed light on the overall interorganizational trust building process in VOs. In doing so, the framework also acknowledges the role of individual boundary spanners of a trustor organization in the trust development process.

Systematic scholarly research relating to VOs has been somewhat limited. With the emergence of VOs as important organizational forms, there is an increasing need to comprehend how interorganizational trust is developed and maintained in VOs. This study attempts to fill this gap in the extant literature by exploring how social exchange factors in a virtual context relate to factors of organizational trustworthiness of the trustee organization. In addition, this paper also investigates the key role played by the boundary spanners of both organizations in the trust formation process.

Based on fifteen years of data on the annual Academy of International Business (AIB) best dissertation Farmer Award finalists, we find that these dissertations were done at a range of North American universities. Interestingly, dissertation topics differed from the topics covered in the three top IB journals with five‐sixths of the topics in management, organization, economics, or finance and two‐thirds set in a single country or region (U.S., Japan, North America, and Western Europe). Survey research is the most common methodology but analysis of secondary data is growing. As expected, the finalists are on average an extraordinarily prolific group.

The Council on Competitiveness Report, Gaining New Ground: Technology Priorities for America's Future, was released in March in Washington D.C. The report is the result of a two year project developed by a blue‐ribbon group of technology experts from industry, universities, and labor from around the country. The key recommendations for the report are: “(1) To enhance U.S. competitiveness, the President of the U.S. should act immediately to make technological leadership a national priority; (2) The federal and state governments should develop policies and implement programs to ensure that America has a world‐class technology intrastructure; (3) U.S. industry should establish more effective technology networks to help it compete in the international marketplace; (4) U.S. firms should set a goal to meet and surpass the best commercialization practices of their competitors; and, (5) While keeping their basic research programs strong, universities should develop closer ties to industry so that education and research programs contribute more to the service sector.” The Council on Competitiveness is a coalition of chief executives from business, organized labor and higher education whose goal is to improve the ability of U.S. industry and its workers to compete in world markets. For more information contact the Council office in Washington D.C. at (202) 785–3990.