st Since the beginning of the 21 century, three key business trends have been identified with a pronounced influence on future microeconomic and macroeconomic developments across the globe: Firstly, with the advent of the network economy, int- organizational relations and structures are increasingly becoming the object of analysis. Successful companies have extended the concept of an appropriate organizational structure beyond internal relationships to those spanning across the entire business network by taking the country specific institutional context into consideration. Secondly, with slowing growth in the developed markets and abundant growth opportunities in the developing economies, companies are turning to these markets for new business expansion. Finally, during the last number of years, so called ‘emerging giants’, which are strong local players from developing economies, have started to globalize and to expand into the developed markets. Among other reasons, these firms have edged themselves into the limelight by maintaining the right fit between their strategy type and inter-organizational structures in their home markets.
Foreword by: Prof. Dr. Christopher Jahns und Ass.-Prof. Dr. Evi Hartmann
