Abstract
In today's world, "globalization" is a very commonly used term but there are many ambiguities with respect to its definition, when the phenomena was born and why is it so important for companies? Although this term is imprecise, literature enables us to define it using two very distinct schools of thought. The first phenomenon is called "internationalization" which portrays the growing interdependence among national markets for goods, services and factors which in turn has resulted in the liberalization of trade among nations. The second concept is associated with two aspects namely Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and the Multinational Enterprises (MNE). In their annual World Investment Report, UNCTAD, the term "globalization" was used by the sense of integrated production activities and strategies adopted by the multinational enterprises. MNE are considered as agents of production for activities such as integration strategies, intra-firm trade, outsourcing and offshore production. This chapter concentrates mostly on trade and investment liberalization. The working definition used here is a marked increase in the movement across national boundaries of goods/services, investment, people and information.
