AbstractThis paper reviews recent writings on the topic of the internationalization of business, chiefly from the viewpoint of business strategy. A distinction is made between the emerging multinational, the global multinational and ‘in‐between’ MNEs in terms of types of strategies to be pursued. Uncertainty exists over the role of the newer forms of international involvement such as licensing and management contracts, and the paper concludes that these types of contractual arrangements represent only a second level of defensive, short‐ to medium‐term supply