Book excerpt: The main thrust of Part 1 is to give some understanding of the concept of ‘global competition’. In doing so, the chapters rely heavily on industrial studies. Part 2 deals with two different aspects of this change viewed from two different perspectives. The one is economic and more macro: the other political and social and more micro, being concerned with the way in which companies have to utilize their various organisational units and integrate information on a fragmented environment into a strategic whole. Part 3 deals specifically with technology, as the particular segment of the environment which often has the largest impact on future strategies. In Part 4 the perspective of global competition is applied at industry, country and company levels and it is shown that this perspective adds new dimensions to old problems. The final parts address the problem of management in global competition.