The international dynamics of industries is best described as a field of force. On the one hand structural forces, for instance technological intensity or cross-national differences in customers’ behaviour, create a potential for competitive actions. On the other hand competitive actions, for instance mergers and acquisitions or global advertising strategies, shape a new set of structural forces. Interactions between structural forces and competitive actions are the core of the international dynamics of industries. The strategy literature (Bartlett, 1986; Prahalad and Doz, 1987; Bartlett and Ghoshal, 1989, among others) considers two categories of force: forces that drive global integration and forces that drive local responsiveness. The two sets are combined ...