Canada

Abstract

Abstract Three themes are pursued in this case study on the impact of globalization on Canada. The first is that from a Canadian perspective, globalization means regionalization; by virtue of the FTA (Canada–US Free Trade Agreement) and NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), Canadian‐based firms have secure and reasonably predictable access to the world's largest market, with the rules‐based regime of the FTA and NAFTA being preferable to the former US‐dominated power‐based system, although many subtle political and managerial challenges remain, since market access is not perfectly secure. The second characteristic of Canadian strategic management is related to the first and is the need to develop skills in ‘national responsiveness’, due to the asymmetries in size of the US and Canadian economies. The third theme affecting Canadian competitiveness and analysis of globalization is the large amount of foreign ownership; this somewhat complicates the nature of business–government relations in Canada, since more than one‐third of the manufacturing sector is foreign‐owned, with over two‐thirds of this being US FDI (foreign direct investment) in Canada. The four main sections of the chapter are as follows: Foreign ownership and strategic management; Regional strategic management for Canadian firms; The flagship business network model; and Strategy in the Canadian chemical industry.