As protectionist barriers crumble in emerging markets around the world, multinational companies are rushing in to find new opportunities for growth. To local businesses this can seem like a death sentence. This article from Harvard Business Review explains how they can overcome - and even take advantage of - their differences with competitors from advanced industrial countries by aligning assets with industry characteristics, defending their home field advantage, extending local advantages abroad, dodging the onslaught, and even contending on the global level. This article, which originally appeared in the March-April 1999 Harvard Business Review, is offered in audio form exclusively through Audible.