We discuss the expansion of Norwegian banks abroad in the post-World War II era. The Norwegian case gives us an opportunity to examine the determinants of the strategies that banks from a small county have followed in their international expansion. At least two issues emerge as important. The...

The paper distinguishes between the classic or traditional foreign banks with their emphasis on corporate and wholesale banking, and the innovators responding to transition, deregulation or crisis in emerging markets. The innovators come in three varieties—bettors, prospectors and...