How much does country matter? An analysis of firms’ growth options

Recent international strategy research emphasizes the importance of understanding the effects of geographic location on firms’ strategies and performance outcomes. We contribute to this research by providing empirical evidence that the interplay of country and industry effects matters substantially in explaining the variation in the value of growth options of firms based in different countries. Our results show that country–industry effects are the second largest source of variation, following firm effects, while industry and country effects are relatively small when considered in their own right. That valuable growth options are tied to country and industry interactions has important implications for international strategy research and practice. Journal of International Business Studies (2008) 39, 387–405. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400355

Human iron transporters

Human iron transporters manage iron carefully because tissues need iron for critical functions, but too much iron increases the risk of reactive oxygen species. Iron acquisition occurs in the duodenum via divalent metal transporter (DMT1) and ferroportin. Iron trafficking depends largely on the transferrin cycle. Nevertheless, non-digestive tissues have a variety of other iron transporters that may render DMT1 modestly redundant, and DMT1 levels exceed those needed for the just-mentioned tasks. This review begins to consider why and also describes advances after 2008 that begin to address this challenge