Tomorrow the United Kingdom will hold general elections, and the race is gearing up to be much closer than most analysts initially thought it would be. British voters may well deliver another stunning outcome, and as any business leader can tell you, surprises aren't always a good thing. In the world of international business, being caught off-guard can break a company if it is ill-equipped to respond to events that result in abrupt, radical changes to the competitive environment in which it operates. The problem is, it often isn't easy to predict major disruptions in global affairs. Even if signs of trouble start to emerge months or years in advance, they are usually subtle, unclear and easy to ignore....