Book excerpt: This book is a study of the economics of the large international firm, but is at the same time a study of one of the world’s most important industries. International firms face difficult problems in attempting to deal with the conflicts between their own interest as world-wide economic organisations on the one hand, that of the countries in which they operate on the other, and with the conflicts of interest among the countries which are related to the international policies of the firms. The author analyses the underlying problems and points to possible solutions. When it was first published this was the first book by a professional economist to look widely at the economics of the international petroleum industry outside the industrialized countries.