International Business not as usual

International economic integration often consists in countries strengthening economic
links with a relatively small group of geographically close countries whereas
links with more distant countries remain neglected. Regional agreements may actually
reinforce such insider-outsider phenomenon. Though geographical and cultural
distance substantially hampers international trade, the fragmentation of the world
economy into trading blocs may result in detrimental lock-in effects and the disregard
of existing opportunities. Belgium seems a rather illustrative case in point. As
one of the most open countries in the world, the bulk of its international transactions
occur within the EU and more specifically with its neighbouring countries.
On the other hand it is often acclaimed that Belgium is not sufficiently seizing the
trade and investment opportunities offered by the strong growing Newly Industrialising
Countries, e.g. in South-East Asia.

The original papers bundled in this book explore international business from different
angles. A number of contributions consider possible ownership advantages
in international business relations (e.g. awareness of cultural differences in advertising,
valuable intangible assets or the role of electronic data interchange in supply
chains) and how to actually measure business performance. Possible consequences
of public policies with respect to state aid, international trade, export promotion
and economic development are discussed, both from a theoretical perspective as
from the point of view of specific emerging economies such as China, Colombia
and South Africa.

This book is written for readers interested in international trade with distant
countries.

Michel Dumont is attaché at the Federal Planning Bureau of Belgium and affiliated
with the Department of Economics at the University of Antwerp.

Glenn Rayp is professor of International Economics at the Ghent University.