With a gross domestic product (GDP) of over $14 trillion, the U.S. is the largest economy in the world. However large this number may seem, it represents only about 23% of the total world GDP of over $61 trillion. What does this mean to today's business decision makers? If we look to Hollywood , we can gain a little insight.

• On May 19, 1999, “Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace” was released for U.S. domestic audiences. The global rollout was to proceed during the following weeks. Yet, the very next day, bootleg versions of the film appeared on overseas screens. Digitization had changed the rules of the global game.

• On December 18, 2009, “Avatar” was released to a global audience. Within three weeks, the film topped the $1 billion mark in ticket sales. Amazingly, two-thirds of the revenues came from global markets.

Today, regardless of the country of origin, corporate success increasingly requires that managers learn to use worldwide resources to meet the needs of global consumers. The mission of this mini conference is to help us better understand the rules of a global economy via cutting-edge research as well as to explore ways in which we can better teach the nuances of global decision making to today's students, regardless of where they hail from.

Indeed, globalization raises many challenges for decision makers everywhere—not just for transnational firms operating in culturally and geographically diverse environments. For academic researchers, globalization has generated many fruitful avenues of inquiry regarding 1) competitive strategy, 2) the design of global networks including the coordination of activities within the firm, and 3) the ability to build appropriate relationships among the various actors external to the focal firm. These avenues include, but are not limited to, the role of culture, knowledge development, innovation, supply chain networks, market relationships, and others. We look forward to provocative discussion of the many issues influencing global strategy such as country, social structure, politics, economics, human resources, supply chain management (services and manufacturing), foreign direct investment, and information technology. Our hope is to stimulate creative thinking regarding the challenges facing firms, society, the environment, and various institutions (government and non-government) in the context of globalization.

We invite DSI members to submit research papers, forums, tutorials, and other creative submissions for this event.

2010 Miniconference on Global/International Research Coordinators