Abstract

Economic development is increasingly dependent on the development of advanced institutions, where the co-evolution of multinational business enterprises (MBEs) and the institutions pertaining to the broader contextual business environment is needed to cope with the uncertainties of a dynamic socio-economic ecology (Cantwell, Dunning and Lundan 2010; Volberda and Lewin 2003). Strategic socio-economic and geopolitical decisions taken at supranational level can be consequential for Europe, and in particular the European business environment (EuBE). The EuBE, which includes the European Union (EU) member states on whiuch this chapter will focus, is part of the global business environment (GloBE). It features various levels and degrees of market integration and fragmentation. Interconnected and interdependent, Europe’s economic integration efforts work, amongst other objectives, towards the lowering of economic barriers in forming regional groupings or preferential trading agreements in order to leverage larger markets and economies of scale so that it can remain competitive on the global platform (Lawton and Rajwani 2015; Dreger and Heene 2013). More about macro-regionalisation and the influencing forces of EU institutions on the EuBE can be found in chapters 11 and 14 by Bruce Wilson and Alan Butt Philip, respectively.