International Strategy: Context, Concepts and Implications

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Standing on the shoulders of giants that others may see further.

As the saying above suggests, my greatest debt of gratitude is to those who have gone before – some of whom I have learnt from personally, others of whom I only know through their work. It is my predecessors' research and insights that have enlightened my understanding of international strategy (and, more broadly, competitive strategy), and enabled me to capture and present the ideas expressed in this text. Collectively, the names of those who have developed the field are featured in the “Further Reading” sections of the book. I do, however, want to individually mention those who have had the greatest influence on this book. Chris Bartlett, Adam Brandenburger, Chris Carr, Dick Caves, Pankaj Ghemawat, Sumantra Ghoshal, Barry Nalebuff, Michael Porter, Mike Spence, Mike Yoshino, and, more recently, colleagues Juan Alcacer, Bharat Anand, Misiek Piskorski, Jan Rivkin, Jordan Siegel, Toby Stuart, and David Yoffie have all contributed in ways they probably do not know, let alone remember. I thank each of them.

Two other constituencies also deserve recognition for their contributions – intended or otherwise – to this book. The first are my former students whose comments and questions in class, although they often do not realize it, actually do influence my thinking. More important, the pressure to deliver something of more lasting value than just a fun 80-minute conversation pushed me to develop the frameworks ...