Lilach Nachum, PhD
Professor, International Business

The consequences of events taking place around the globe have made the reality confronted by firms more volatile and complex. These changes have substantially increased both the challenges and opportunities associated with conducting business of any type. It is not only companies engaged internationally that are affected by developments taking place on the other side of the globe; even companies who are entirely domestic are influenced by such developments via their impact on the competition they face, the purchases they made, the type of customers they serve and so on.In recent decades, what happens internationally, outside a firm home market, has become ever more important and affects companies of all kinds. Several changes that have unfolded during the last decades, and have significantly accelerated during the last decade, have brought about this state of affairs. To begin, the world of international business has become bigger. The growth and opening up of many countries that were previously closed to international business have substantially increased the size of the international market, from being confined to North America, Western Europe and Japan to embarking most parts of the world. Not only has the size of the international business market grown, it has also become more diverse and heterogeneous, in terms of the economic development, culture, and political systems of the countries involved in international business. Lastly, as a result of globalization, the world has become interconnected and interdependent to an extent never previously experienced. If there was ever need for proof, the Great Recession, and the speed with which an essentially local crisis in the US has spread around the world, offered unequivocal evidence of the level of connectivity among countries.

Understanding international business has become a must not only for companies based in small countries. Also US companies, originating in the world’s (still) largest market, must pay close attention to developments around the world, as their fate often hinges upon what happens elsewhere more than on in the US.

This semester, Dr. Nachum is teaching International Business Strategy and Emerging Markets as part of the International Business MBA program.