1. To develop an understanding of the seven concepts of this book’s unifying framework.

2. To link specific types of transfers of firm-specific advantages (FSAs) across borders with the four corresponding multinational enterprise (MNE) archetypes of administrative heritage.

3. To describe the various motivations for foreign direct investment (FDI) and to explain the linkages among non-location-bound (or internationally transferable) FSAs, location-bound (or non-transferable) FSAs, and location advantages within each of the four MNE archetypes.

4. To define the ten often-observed patterns of FSA development and resource recombination in international business.

5. To explain the need for complementary resources of external actors, including those in the MNE’s stakeholder network and ecosystem, and the potential reasons for bounded rationality and bounded reliability when doing international business.

In Chapter 1, we lay out the main building blocks of the unifying framework used throughout the book. In Chapters 2 to 17, we discuss what we consider to be the best international business articles published in HBR, SMR, and CMR since the early 1980s, and we systematically refer to the unifying framework. After starting each chapter by discussing a classic article in one of the practitioner journals, we then extend the analysis by describing the additional insights gained from articles published in the other journals. We also discuss new challenges in international business strategy, many of which address complexities arising from the growth of the digital economy and from the deployment of more complex business models across borders. The book is divided into three parts: core concepts (Chapters 1 to 5), functional issues (Chapters 6 to 10), and the dynamics of international strategy (Chapters 11 to 17). Chapter 17 has two distinct parts: Part A addresses corporate social responsibility; and Part B discusses environmental sustainability of MNEs. In the Conclusion, we briefly address a few key implications of the book’s analysis for MNE managers.