The globalization of business activity: whether you love it or hate it, it affects you. What causes it, how different countries deal with it, and what the future might hold for it are all key questions which The Global Environment of Business answers. It traces the growth of big business, the comings and goings of economic globalization over two centuries, and compares the institutional environments and track records of business in a selection of countries on every continent today. It examines the role of local and regional clusters of small and medium-sized companies, and the obstacles which both oil wealth, and concentrated land ownership, pose for poor countries trying to develop. The final chapter assesses the sustainability of global business in the context of climate change and growth of regional blocs. Changing forms of business organization; changing technology; who wins and who loses; all are kept in sight throughout the book. Frederick Guy pulls together all these various themes. Employing clear, vivid examples, narrative structures, and stories, it is not a dry textbook. Economic, political, and sociological theories are used, explained, evaluated; and employed to knit together a collection of vivid examples and cases.