QUESTION: Over the last 30 years there has been a shift away from a world in which national economies are relatively self-contained entities, isolated by barriers to trade and investment, and differences in government regulation, culture, and business systems and toward a world where barriers to trade and investment are declining, cultures are converging, and national economies are merging into an integrated, interdependent global economic system. What are the implications of these shifts for international businesses based in the U.S? In the United Kingdom? In China or Hong Kong