THE COMPLEX, YET SMALL WORLD OF GLOBAL MULTINATIONALS – INSIGHTS ON SOME APPARENT PARADOXES

Globalization, as it is today, shapes a complex, networked world – that embeds all the features (both vantages and liabilities) of a complex adaptive system. Being one of the biggest networks that define this world, the system of international business – characterized by diversity, (nondeterministic) interconnectivity and uncertainty – is also characterized by the small-world syndrome. Global multinationals are the best supporting agents in order to dismantle the apparent paradox of the complex, yet small world (and others like it).