Government intervention can reduce the profits of multinational enterprises. These interventions also increase uncertainty and risk and distort trading and intra-firm sourcing patterns. The focus of this book is a corporate survival plan that describes how a multinational can monitor its exposure to intervention and then seek to reduce it. It reports on the successes and failures of firms as they implement various global management systems and recommends a general strategy. Such a strategy will allow multinationals to continue foreign investment with the longer term horizons that will benefit both the firms and their host countries.

States and Firms is a study in the political economy of the multinational enterprise. It looks at the internationalisation in the 1980s of the twelve leading French and German-owned multinational enterprises in chemicals and electronics, who form part of a European Challenge in international competition in technology- intensive sectors. The book examines how and why the internationalisation of these MNEs has interacted with their embeddedness in the domestic structures of their home countries (France and Germany) particularly in terms of their power relationships with home governments and financial institutions. The primary themes are the MNEs' roles as political actors; domestic government policy vis-a-vis the MNEs; MNEs' financial relationships with banks in France and Germany; MNE political activity at the level of the European Union, especially evident in technology policy. The primary contribution of this book is an inclusion of a firm-level approach to put the spotlight on fundamental questions of political economy and international business.

How multinationals contribute, or don't, to global prosperity Globalization and multinational corporations have long seemed partners in the enterprise of economic growth: globalization-led prosperity was the goal, and giant corporations spanning the globe would help achieve it. In recent years, however, the notion that all economies, both developed and developing, can prosper from globalization has been called into question by political figures and has fueled a populist backlash around the world against globalization and the corporations that made it possible. In an effort to elevate the sometimes contentious public debate over the conduct and operation of multinational corporations, this edited volume examines key questions about their role, both in their home countries and in the rest of the world where they do business. Is their multinational nature an essential driver of their profits? Do U.S. and European multinationals contribute to home country employment? Do multinational firms exploit foreign workers? How do multinationals influence foreign policy? How will the rise of the digital economy and digital trade in services affect multinationals? In addressing these and similar questions, the book also examines the role that multinational corporations play in the outcomes that policymakers care about most: economic growth, jobs, inequality, and tax fairness.

This dissertation, "Essays on Multinational Enterprises" by Yi, Lu, 陸毅, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. Abstract: Abstract of the thesis entitled Essays on Multinational Enterprises Submitted by Yi LU for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Hong Kong in September 2007 The world economy has witnessed a continuous trend of globalization since the late 1980s: the value of world exports reached US$6.6 billion in 2003, about one sixth of the world's total GDP. Multinational enterprises have played an important role in this wave of globalization. At the macro-level, the world-wide real inflows of FDI increased by 17.7% during the period 1985-1999, far outpacing the growth of GDP and trade which increased by 2.5% and 5.6%, respectively (Barba-Navaretti and Venables, 2004); while at the micro-level, foreign-owned multinational enterprises currently employ one fifth of workers in European manufacturing industries and one seventh in their counterparts in the U.S.; they sell one euro in every four of manufactured goods in Europe and one dollar in every five in the US (OECD, 2001). Along with the increasing importance of multinational enterprises in international trade, studies on multinational enterprises have recently mushroomed in international economics. They apply the theory of the firm, i.e. the property rights theory (Grossman and Hart, 1986) to understanding the behavior of multinational enterprises, and employ the newly available reliable firm-level datasets to conduct empirical research. This thesis contributes to this growing literature by studying two aspects of the business strategies of multinationals. Much evidence shows that multinational enterprises conduct bi-sourcing in organizing production, i.e., acquiring the same set of inputs by both buying from external suppliers (outsourcing) and producing in component-manufacturing subsidiaries (insourcing). The first chapter of this thesis shows that, by adopting the bi-sourcing strategy, multinational enterprises can use the payoff from one supplier as a backup option in negotiating with the other supplier (the cross-threat effect). Moreover, in the global economy consisting of high-waged North and low-waged South, multinational enterprises need to make the location choice for both insourcing and outsourcing. We find that the low wage in the South can stimulate the investment incentive of component suppliers (the cost effect). However, multinational enterprises may achieve better cross-threat effect by relocating overly strong component suppliers from the advantageous South to the disadvantageous North (the balancing effect). The Ioptimal bi-sourcing strategy is determined by the interplay of the cost effect and the balancing effect. Meanwhile, globalization enables multinational enterprises to organize production around the world, through which they can find the most efficient locations for each production stage. Thus, it is important to understand what affects the location choice made by multinational enterprises. The second chapter of this thesis examines the impacts of economic institutions, including property rights protection and contract enforcement, on the location choice of foreign direct investment. From a data set of 6,288 U.S. multinationals investing in various China's regions in the period 1993-2001, it is found that U.S. multinationals prefer to invest in those regions that have better protection of intellectual property rights, a lower degree of government intervention in business operations, a lower le

Multinational enterprises must contend with increasingly challenging conditions in the international business environment. This Handbook explores how classic principles of international competitive strategy are transformed in today's markets and provides suggestions on how firms can develop effective strategies to respond to these transformations.

For many years to come this volume. . .is surely going to be the ultimate reference work on international business. . . thanks to Dunning and Lundan, have at their disposal, a wealth of relevant data, as well as theoretical and empirical analyses, which will enable them to assess the capabilities, contributions and challenges posed by the multinational enterprises to the global economy. Seev Hirsch, International Business Review Multinational Enterprises and the Global Economy has become a classic in international business. . . Yet , the book s second edition is even better than the first, in part because of Professor Dunning s wise decision to choose Dr Lundan as his co-author and to draw upon her deep knowledge of various strands of research on business government relations and the societal effects of firm behaviour. . . In addition to being a remarkably useful reference book, Multinational Enterprises and the Global Economy is the first book any IB doctoral student should read to understand the significance and richness of IB scholarship as it has developed over the past 50 years. Alain Verbeke, Journal of International Business Studies The second edition of Multinational Enterprises and the Global Economy provides unparalleled coverage not only of the literature relevant to IB research but also of the evolution of IB in the world economy. Dunning and Lundan offer powerful insights into the societal effects of MNEs and the role of business government relations in the IB context. Journal of International Business Studies This wonderful book offers the definitive synthesis of the modern literature on the economic aspects of international business. It is encyclopedic yet full of incisive insights. It is a creative masterpiece which unbundles the DNA of the multinational enterprise and shows how it is the cornerstone of the field of international business. Alan M. Rugman, University of Reading, UK The rise of the multinational enterprise, and the consequent globalisation of the world economy, was arguably the single most important phenomenon of the second half of the twentieth century. This magisterial book, written by two leading authorities, examines this phenomenon in depth. It explains how foreign investment by multinationals diffused advanced technologies and novel management methods, driving productivity growth in Europe, Asia and North America; however, economic inequalities were reinforced as rich countries attracted more foreign investment than poor ones. This new edition of a classic work is not only an authoritative guide to contemporary multinational business, but a major historical resource for the future. Mark Casson, University of Reading, UK This thoroughly updated and revised edition of a widely acclaimed, classic text will be required reading for academics, policymakers and advanced students of international business worldwide. Employing a distinctive and unified framework, this book draws together research across a range of academic fields to offer a synthesis of the determinants of MNE activity, and its effects on the economic and social well-being of developed and developing countries. Unique to the new edition is its focus on the institutional underpinnings of the resources and capabilities of MNEs, and the role of MNE activity in transmitting and facilitating institutional change. Since the initial publication of this book more than a decade ago, the economic, managerial and social implications of globalisation and technological advancement have become even more varied and prominent. Accompanying these developments, there has been a rise in scholarly interest in interdisciplinary research addressing the important challenges of an ever-changing physical and human environment. Drawing on articles and books from international business and economics, as well as economic geography, political economy and strategic management, a systematic overview of the developments in scholarly thinking is prese

In order for foreign direct investment to have deep and lasting positive effects on host countries, it is essential that multinational corporations have close direct and indirect interaction with local firms. A valuable addition to the emerging literature on multinational-local firm interfaces, this book provides a number of case studies from emerging economies that examine such mutually beneficial business relationships and the policy measures necessary to support them.