During the 1990s and early 2000s, many companies took advantage of a world market that was increasingly open to international expansion and trade. Obstacles to free trade were eased through the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Economies opened, and due to technological developments in communication, transportation, and finance, there were fewer difficulties with the practical issues of conducting business across national borders. Communications technology showed exponential growth, including innovations that facilitated doing business anywhere at anytime, such as remote access and net conferencing.

As shown in Table 1, the number of Internet users in the world grew from 30 million to over 562 million over six years, and by 2002 almost 10 percent of the world population used the Internet.