Professor Gary Knight will discuss new disruptive trends in the global environment and their impact on international business (IB). Key trends include shifting demographics and international migration, transformation of the global economic environment, revolutionary technological advances, and the deteriorating natural environment and sustainability. The trends are disruptive in various ways, but they also provide countless opportunities for IB practice and research. Professor Knight will examine these new developments and the threats and opportunities that they pose. He will identify key areas for scholarly research. He will also highlight steps that firms and other organizations can take in order to survive and thrive under emergent disruptions in the global environments.

Multinationals face “The Rise of the National” - a return to policies advocated by Friedrich List (1841) (Tariffs represent investment in future Technology. National Systems of Innovation) and the introduction of Industrial Policies (including “Green” policies, and in the USA the Chips Act, Pure List, Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)) . In response, multinationals are devising resilience strategies in the era of “slowbalisation”. This presentation examines these strategies using a time profile to cover - Immediate Imperatives Short- Term Strategies Long –Term Strategies Long Long-Term Strategies (N.B. Globalization not in reverse – slower growth in some areas. In others e.g., data transfers, globalization is accelerating.) MNE strategies must respond to policy changes and other challenges. Success will be dependent on flexibility and the capacity to innovate. Perhaps these characteristics are the ultimate long run “firm specific advantages.”