Economic Integration

Abstract

One of the main thrusts of this research is the analysis of the sample firms’ attitudes towards economic integration and the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Single European Market on the companies’ present and future business. Whereas in the past the bilateral relations between Canada and the UK centred on their Commonwealth affinity, now, as members of two distinct economic groups, the obvious question is the extent to which the creation of new trading areas has changed the way in which firms from Canada and the UK operate in each others’ markets. Coupled with this is the change in focus brought about by economic integration, which in itself has the potential to make some markets more important targets than others. Here then we are looking for examples of firms for whom their own economic region has become more of a key target market — and the impact this is having on their traditional business activities around the world.