The Series is designed to encourage research and scholarly publications in this, one of the most rapidly growing areas of business studies. During the last decade, operations of business firms have changed dramatically. Technological advances in communications, more rapid dissemination of production technology on a global scale, and the growing interdependence of nations in general, have created an atmosphere in which it is unwise - if not impossible - to draw any distinctions between domestic and international business. Ironically, whereas practitioners and business executives have been aware of this, indeed have been operating in this environment, academia is only beginning to appreciate the magnitude of the change.