At the start of the last millennium, the Chinese were the preeminent international traders. Although a truly global trading system would not evolve until some 500 years later, Chinese silk had been available in Europe since Roman times. At the start of the last century, the British military, merchants, and manufacturers domi-nated the seas and international commerce. Literally, the sun did not set on the British Empire. At the start of this century, the United States had surged past a faltering Japan to retake the lead in global commerce. The American domination of information technology has since been followed by the political upheaval of 9/11 and the economic shocks of 2001 and 2008. China started the 21st century as the largest military threat to the United States, and within a decade it had become a leading, often difficult trading partner. What surprises do the new decade, century, and millennium hold in store for all of us? In this century, natural disasters and wars hampered commerce and human progress. Just in the last decade, we have witnessed the human tragedy and economic disaster of a 1000-year earthquake and tsunami and a nuclear meltdown in Japan; protests and revolu-tions— the so-called Arab Spring—across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA); widespread economic protests across the developed countries; and the ongoing potential for a financial meltdown in the European Union. The battle to balance economic growth and stewardship of the environment continues. The globalization of markets has cer-tainly accelerated through almost universal acceptance of the democratic free enterprise model and new communication technologies, including cell phones and the Internet. Which will prove the better, Chinese gradualism or the Russian big-bang approach to economic and political reform? Will the information technology boom of the previous decade be followed by a demographics bust as American baby boomers continue to retire in greater numbers. Or will NAFTA and the young folks in Mexico provide a much needed demographic balance? Ten years out the debate about global warming should be settled—more data and better science will yield the answers. Will the economic tsunami of 2008–2009 evolve into something even worse? So far the recovery in the United States in Europe, and Japan has been both tepid and uneven. China’s growth is slowing; will the landing be a hard or soft one? What unforeseen advances or disasters will the biological sciences bring us? Will we conquer AIDS∕HIV in Africa? Will weapons and warfare become obsolete? International marketing will play a key role in providing positive answers to all these questions. We know that trade causes peace and prosperity by promoting creativity, mutual understanding, and interdependence. Markets recently burgeoning in emerging economies in eastern Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States, China, Indone-sia, Korea, India, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, and across sub-Sahara Africa have begun sputtering. These emerging economies still hold the promise of huge markets in the future. In the more mature markets of the industrialized world, opportunity and chal-lenge also abound as consumers’ tastes become more sophisticated and complex and as the hoped for rebound in purchasing power provides consumers with new means of satisfying new demands. With the recent downturn in the industrialized countries and the stalled growth in emerging markets has come a new competitive landscape, one vastly different from that earlier period when U.S. multinationals dominated world markets. From the late 1940s through the 1960s, multinational corporations (MNCs) from the United States had little competition; today, companies from almost all the world’s nations vie for global markets. The economic, political, and social changes that have occurred over the last decade have dramatically altered the landscape of global business. Consider the present and future impact of the following: • The ever-present threat of global terrorism as represented by the September 11, 2001, attacks • Major armed conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East • The potential global recession emanating from the United States xvii PREFACE
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