European Economic Integration and American Business Strategy

• Main Author: Andrykowsky, Paul
• Format: Others
• Published: DigitalCommons@USU 1962
• Subjects: European; Integration; Business Strategy; Economics
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/3052; https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4042&context=etd

The term “economic integration” recently has been used for various forms of economic cooperation. Many writers have tried to give a working definition of it, but a review of the literature does not show any generally accepted definition. The term is used for several degrees of economic cooperation; harmonization; trade agreements; tariff-agreements; advanced forms of cooperation like tariff communities, customs communities, customs unions, free trade areas, common markets, monetary unions; and complete economic unions. Integration furthermore has been split into sector and total integration and has been determined by various criteria. Thus, it is very difficult to judge where economic activity is still in the form of a loose cooperation and where the term “integration “ is appropriate. The abolition of discrimination, regional extensions or limitations, harmonization of economic policies, inclusion of meta-economic factors, and the abolition of barriers to factor movements are some of the measurements. In fact, changes in their combination observed in existing economic systems makes it difficult to find a general definition which can be applied to all forms of cooperation.