Introduction: Commercial Diplomacy and International Business: Merging International Business and International Relations

Abstract

These structural, economic and political developments in the global economy go a long way to explaining the expansion of commercial diplomacy activities by nations. On the one hand, nations use commercial diplomacy to expand trade and investment in the context of declining economic policy sovereignty. The creation of the WTO in 1995 led to an extension of the rules and regulations of international trade and trade-related matters (including the financial services industry). This leaves national economic policy-making severely restricted. Expanding commercial diplomacy to secure new export markets and new inward investments becomes a necessary political tool for nations competing for new markets. When these new markets are in nations where the formal institutional context for doing business is underdeveloped or non-existent or where much of the economy is under state control, the need to expand and develop commercial diplomacy is all the more important.

Citation

Lee, D. and Ruël, H. (2012), "Introduction: Commercial Diplomacy and International Business: Merging International Business and International Relations", Ruël, H. (Ed.) Commercial Diplomacy and International Business: A Conceptual and Empirical Exploration (Advanced Series in Management, Vol. 9), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. xiii-xix. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1877-6361(2012)0000009004