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Multiagent systems, in which independent software agents interact with each other to achieve common goals, complete concurrent distributed tasks under autonomous control. Agent Communication has been shown to be an important factor in coordinating efficient group behavior in agents. Most researches on training or evolving group behavior in multiagent systems used predefined agent communication protocols. Designing agent communication becomes a complex problem in dynamic and large‐scale systems. In order to solve this problem, in this paper we propose a new application of existing training methods. By applying Genetic Programming techniques, namely Automatically Defined Function Genetic Programming (ADF‐GP), in combination with pheromone communication features, we allowed the agent system to autonomously learn effective agent communication messaging for coordinated group behavior. A software simulation of a multiagent transaction system aiming at e‐commerce usage will be used to observe the effectiveness of the proposed method in the targeted environment. Using the proposed method, automatic training of a compact and efficient agent communication protocol for the multiagent system was observed.

According to John Dunning’s eclectic paradigm, firms need to have ownership, location, and internalization advantages in order to cross borders and engage in foreign direct investment. By drawing on historical evidence on the evolution of a group of leading marketing‐based multinationals in consumer goods, this paper claims that, despite its richness, the eclectic paradigm, and in particular the concept of “ownership advantages,” needs to be revised and extended to take into account different levels of institutional analysis. For the eclectic paradigm to give a rounded view of the internationalizing firm, it needs to acknowledge the critical importance of firm‐specific ownership advantages, such as the role of the entrepreneur.