It is difficult to ignore the extent to which American corporations have grown economically over the last 100 years. They have penetrated global markets and consequently provide goods and services to even the most remote parts of the world. Markets in isolated West African villages sell Coca-Cola products; university students in Istanbul meet up in McDonald’s restaurants; enormous billboards advertize American products in Moscow’s Red Square. How has the American corporation grown to such proportions? How have American entrepreneurs developed products with such a global reach? An entire literature exists to explain the economic successes and failures of nations by looking at their institutions—both formal (e.g., laws) and informal (e.g., cultural practices and beliefs). Scholars within the new institutional economics have placed special emphasis on legal systems as predictors of the economic success of nations. These scholars argue that the degree to which laws provide entrepreneurs with a favorable trade environment largely influences the extent to which businesses are able to flourish.