Former CEO of Intel and senior consultant of Intel Corp, Andrew Grove highlights the great importance of international competition by stating that "you have no choice but to operate in a world shaped by globalization and globalization" information revolution. There are two options; Adapt or die'. Grove's statement effectively conveys the great importance of competing in a global economy for an organization to expand, grow, and prosper. In recent times, international competition and trade have emerged as one of the most important aspects of the growth of organizations as many barriers between countries have decreased and made global trade easier (Twarowska, 2013). Thomas Friedman examines the influences shaping the economy, business and global competition through case studies, interviews and statistics in a book, "The World Is Flat." It highlights various factors that have led to some drastic changes in the global market. It discusses ten major important forces that have helped shape the current world market situation; collapse of the Berlin Wall, Netscape (internet), workflow software, uploading (blogs, Wikipedia and others), outsourcing, offshoring, supply chain, insourcing, in-forming (ability to do your own research) and steroids (cell phones, iPods, instant messaging, VoIP). If this book had been published this year, the list of forces would have been even longer. Technology undoubtedly provides valuable tools to make international businesses and transactions more feasible than before. As Thompson and colleagues examine in Crafting and Executing Strategy: The Quest for Competitive Advantage, companies can gain immensely from entering foreign markets for five main reasons. Going "global" can bring them new customers, increased revenue,... middle of the paper......tudyinc.com/mcdonalds-international-innovationsNijsssen. E. May 1999. Attitudes towards purchasing foreign products: the extension of the model. Available from http://people.stern.nyu.edu/sdouglas/rpubs/attitudes.htmlThompson, A.A., Peteraf, M.A., Gamble, J.E., Strickland (2013). Strategy development and execution: Concepts and cases of seeking competitive advantage (pp. 178-209). McGraw-Hill Irwin.Tse, E., Russo, B., Haddock, R. August 23, 2011. Strategy+Business. Competing for the global middle class. Available from http://www.strategy-business.com/article/11309?pg=allTwarowska, K., Sklodowska, M., Kakool, M. Management, Knowledge, and Learning (International Conference 2013). 19-21 June 2013. International business strategy, reasons and forms of expansion on foreign markets. Available from http://www.toknowpress.net/ISBN/978-961-6914-02-4/papers/ML13-349.pdf