This examination of multinational location strategy focuses on the areas of economics, management and policy. It discusses issues such as regionalism and international trade; location patterns, local content rules and foreign direct investment; and, plant location in Eastern European countries.

As a consequence of aggressive competition, Chinese industries have become increasingly consolidated. While the extent to which emerging local firms can challenge well-established multinational firms varies by industry, there are common characteristics of 'winners' within each firm type. A handful of multinational and local firms emerged victorious by acquiring small, weak, and regional players to become truly national players. During this process, weaker multinational firms were crowded out of the market by stronger multinationals as well as by emerging local powerhouses. The successful local firms that survive competition in China have global ambitions and venture into international markets, challenging foreign multinational firms in the global marketplace. This book examines how multinational firms grew their operations in China and how successful local firms emerged from the restructuring process, as well the competition between them, in the fierce marketplace of China's economic reform. While anecdotal evidence on this topic is widespread, there exists no comprehensive research. This book seeks to address this gap by rooting its discussion in the author's extensive and rigorous statistical analyses and detailed case studies across five industries: consumer products, beer, telecom, automobile, and steel.

Henry Bernard Loewendahl scrutinizes the relationship between multinational companies, regional development, and governments, using a framework of bargaining between government and multinationals. He critically analyzes the role of foreign investment in economic development, and examines how governments can link inward investment to regional economic development. Based on extensive use of data, interviews and case studies of Siemens and Nissan's UK investment, the book shows why MNCs have invested in the UK in the past, how they bargained with the government, and what the impact was on the national and regional economies. In particular, through linking the strategy of multinationals to the location advantages of the UK, it is argued that labor flexibility and incentives were crucial to investment decisions. Loewendahl recommends a framework to integrate endogenous and exogenous approaches to developments; and proposes a greater role for the region and the EU to control incentives and monitor multinationals.

Multinational companies have learnt through experience that cultural differences can be very damaging in terms of failed initiatives, lost contracts, high employee turnover and low morale. Research shows that 20 to 50 per cent of managers posted abroad fail and have to return home prematurely. "The Culture Factor" examines why it is that cultural differences engender such difficulties and looks at the different kinds of cultural costs. Through identifying the organizational processes that lead to "cultural problems", the book shows in a practical way how business can manage cultural difference more effectively.

An original and insightful book, this work focuses on domestic and overseas firms operating in those Central Asian and Eastern European countries considered to be the transitional economic periphery. Chapters shed light on their distinct forms of capitalism, and how it influences and adapts the firms located there. The eminent authors show how, in a post-state socialist world, there are several implications for both domestic and overseas firms functioning successfully in the transitional periphery. With the complex mix of political and market mediation and informal personal ties, chapters explore the delicate balance of liberalisation in transitional economies. Detailed examples from specific countries in Eurasia and Central Asia such as Belarus, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Armenia and Georgia are discussed alongside broader thematic issues of economic and social change, labour relations and human resource management. Most importantly, it is shown that liberalisation has little connection to short-term business growth. To succeed in such contexts, international firms need to be both pragmatic and creative, in coping with malleable yet durable forms of institutional mediation. Providing a unique perspective on the transitional economic periphery and much-needed insights from international business, this book is essential reading for researchers and graduate students studying transitional economies, non-traditional business models, institutional persistence and change, political and economic development and management in economically transitioning countries.

In this revised second edition, Hans Jansson develops and applies an international business and marketing strategy framework to contemporary complex global markets. This cutting-edge textbook explores the major challenges associated with doing business in complex and turbulent emerging markets, stressing the strategic importance of the natural environment. Taking a holistic perspective that integrates stakeholder and shareholder views, this textbook employs an innovative network institutional framework to achieve sustainable competitive advantages by creating economic, social and ecological values with stakeholders. This updated edition includes: The international network strategy (INS), offering a framework for connecting MNCs and multinational exporters with parties in new economic, social and natural environments, and the international matching strategy (IMS), dealing with how MNCs achieve legitimacy An overview of the historical development of the supranational environment, structured as three waves of the internationalization of firms, including the integration of foreign direct investment into the global value chain Dedicated chapters outlining the development of research on international business, strategy, marketing, networks and institutions A methodology for analysing the institutional context of foreign local markets. Insightful and enlightening, this textbook is ideal for postgraduate students of international business, strategy and marketing. This book will also offer frameworks and strategic tools for managers, consultants and practitioners confronting strategic issues in complex markets.

Present and potential multinational managers need a concise, modern, practical, and effective guide to dealing with the highly competitive international marketplace of tomorrow. This balanced approach to multinational, cross-cultural management is for large and small companies in a wide range of product and service industries. Actual company experiences are studied to show the common frameworks which are used to manage diversity from the decision making and action viewpoint of the individual manager. Surviving and prospering in the present environment; anticipating and adapting to new situations; generating ideas that manage and exploit change; and leading the creation of change across industries and markets are all dealt with in detail.

Present and potential multinational managers need a concise, modern, practical, and effective guide to dealing with the highly competitive international marketplace of tomorrow. This balanced approach to multinational, cross-cultural management is for large and small companies in a wide range of product and service industries. Actual company experiences are studied to show the common frameworks which are used to manage diversity from the decision making and action viewpoint of the individual manager. Surviving and prospering in the present environment; anticipating and adapting to new situations; generating ideas that manage and exploit change; and leading the creation of change across industries and markets are all dealt with in detail.

In the face of strong competitive pressure and a dynamic market, multinational companies in China are forced to innovate with extraordinary pace and inventiveness. Environmental sustainability is a vital benchmark, and is a key driver for the best companies in each sector - many of them allied with the WWF Climate Savers programme. Sustainable Champions shows how nine leading multinational companies - including Nestle, HP, Tetra Pak and Sony - are dealing with environmental, supply chain and ethical challenges in China. The book illuminates some of their transformative practices, and the impact this is having on business in China and beyond. The concluding cross-case analysis of supply chain and environmental challenges faced by leading international firms presents key lessons for business and for sustainability champions. Sustainable Champions: How International Companies are Changing the Face of Business in China is essential reading for researchers and course leaders seeking on-the-ground examples of local environmental challenges, and any company doing business in one of the world's fastest-growing economies. With a Foreword by Simon Zadek, Distinguished Fellow, Academy of Business in Society, Visiting Scholar, Tsinghua School of Economics and Management.

For upper division undergraduate, and graduate students. Focus on the essentials of international accounting. International Accounting was written with the express purpose of introducing students to the international dimensions of accounting, financial reporting and financial control. The seventh edition includes extensively updated material throughout the text.

Basing her research on interviews with over 100 British managers and executives, the author attempts to reveal what it is really like to work for a Japanese company. Constant exposure in the media has produced a number of now cliched beliefs about Japanese companies in Britain - that they are obsessed with long-term planning, that they carry out consensus decision-making, that all the senior positions are filled by Japanese, that all decisions are made in Tokyo, and that British executives (together with their Japanese colleagues) are expected to wear uniforms, sing the company song and do exercises in the morning.

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) invest in a variety of host economies, and closely interact with local businesses and society at large. This role has become the focus of policy debates of all sorts, as MNEs are seen as a primary conduit of globalization, thus spreading both its benefits and its negative side effects.This selection offers an interdisciplinary perspective on MNEs and host economies. Theoretical models are provided by economics research, yet some of the more subtle and complex forms of impact are hard to analyse using economics methodologies. A range of other disciplines such as management, sociology and ethics thus contribute to the discussion of these wider issues. The articles in this collection cover theoretical and empirical studies on the horizontal and vertical impact on local firms, to issues of labour standards and the natural environment, and normative issues.

This is a practial how-to guide to planning and concluding overseas acquisitions, mergers, joint ventures, and similar ventures. The author begins with a description of the planning process including strategic vs. long-range planning. He then discusses external issues such as currency, trade protectionism, and political and government intervention.

This book explores the internationalization of Turkish multinationals by examining a set of firms from various industries and providing eleven detailed case studies. The authors aim to discover the reasons behind the drive for internationalization within the firms, and how their internationalization processes work. By focusing on a medium-sized emerging country, which is strategically located at the intersection of European, Asian and African markets, Turkish Multinationals provide a significant contribution to research on multinational firms in emerging countries. Topics discussed include: strategic motives for and drivers of internationalization at multiple levels (firm, industry and institutional); the location, ownership and entry modes of multinational firms; and their market entry and post-acquisition strategies, which are critical to the evolution of the internationalization process. This innovative book will offer an alternative perspective to current debate on emerging markets, and will be of great interest to both academics of global strategy and international business, and policy-makers.

Multinational Strategic Alliances Robert J. Mockler St. Johna s University, New York Strategic alliances are one of the most significant tools used today in business, especially by multinational firms. It is seen by business managers as the way to grow their organizations, especially when faced by downsizing and cutbacks. Such alliances have certainly been around for a long time, and surveys show that today the majority of large organizations use them. Almost all multinational firms have considered them. However, what has changed in todaya s working climate is their breadth and frequency of use, and their complexity. This highlights the need for a comprehensive guide such as this. Indeed, research shows that over 70% of strategic alliances fail to deliver the results that were intended from the outset. What makes this book so useful is that it covers a broader range of alliances and has more current case studies than other books currently available. In addition, this comprehensive introduction to the subject provides a base of practical a how--to--do--ita material and specific decision models covering determining strategic fit, negotiating strategic alliances and selecting compatible partners, formulating type and structure of alliances in light of operational fit, and making strategic alliances work. The book also explores other options instead of alliances such as wholly--owned multinational expansion and exporting, and has major sections on understanding and managing cross--cultural diversity, communications and leadership. Case studies include General Motors in China, British Airways and American Airlines, Airbus Industrie, a celluar phone venture in Tashkent, British Petroleum/Mobil in Europe, and Puyi--Briggs and Straton Engine Corporation in China. The systematic processes, contingency frameworks, best practices guidelines and situation analysis checklists given in this book make it an indispensable guide for managers and senior managers no matter what the size of their enterprise, especially those involved in international marketing, planning and management. It is also relevant to consultants and MBA and post--graduate students interested in the development, management and other strategic issues involved in multinational strategic alliances.

Among many factors contributing to a corporation's success, none is more crucial than reputation. It affects the way management makes decisions and the positions it takes, and how it takes them, on critical issues. A good reputation is also a signal to the market--one way that stakeholders will know that a corporation is successful. Riahi-Belkaoui looks at the most crucial functions and influences that determine corporate reputation, among them, the way it affects a firM's market value; the quality of its disclosures; how well its earnings are managed, how its executives are compensated. He also addresses other processes, such as international production, the informativeness of earnings, accounting choices, and the characteristics of earnings forecasts. The result is a succinct, readable, probing study for corporate decision makers in various functions of the firm, their academic colleagues, and knowledgeable onlookers who need ways to evaluate and buttress their investment decisions.

Riahi-Belkaoui examines the process of reputation-building first, then the role of corporate reputation and how market value and accounting value differ. He moves to the impact of contextual factors of multinationality and corporate reputation on accrual and cash flow valuation models. In Chapter Four he shows how corporate audiences construct the reputations of firms by interpreting information signals about the firms from various monitors. He then reports the result of an empirical study of the 100 most international firms, which supports the general hypothesis that corporate audiences construct reputations on the basis of information and firms' earnings management. In Chapter Six he turns to the relationship between the level of corporate reputation and managers' ccounting choices, and in Chapter Seven examines the value relevance of earnings, cash flows, multinationality, and corporate reputation. Chapter Eight advances the hypothesis that corporate boards control top management behavior by means of compensation, but also by judging them on organizational effectiveness and social performance. He restates a general model of international production, and in Chapter 10, hypothesizes that the level of corporate reputation affects both the informativeness of earnings and the magnitude of discretionary accounting accrual adjustments. He ends the book by providing empirical evidence of the relationship between economic performance and organizational effectiveness, a measure of overall social performance.

This collection of articles by an internationally recognised authority on the multinational enterprise contains advances in theory, examinations of organisational issues and empirical studies of multinationals in the world economy. The theory section includes an innovative paper on the role of multinationals in less developed countries. The organisational issues examined include strategic alliances. The final section includes analyses of joint ventures and Japan's relationship with multinational firms.

This book provides an overview of current approaches and research in the field of international organizations with a focus on implementation issues in a globalized context.
Written by a team of recognized leaders in the field, associated with the growing and influential International Organizations Network (ION).
Covers topical issues such as managing virtual teams and globalization.
Makes a cohesive statement about the field of international organizations.
Is written with a focus on implementation issues.
Offers a solid contribution to the closing of the gap between researchers and practitioners.

Human resource management (HRM) has a significant impact on companies' performance, as evidenced by research conducted in multinational companies (MNCs) based in Central Europe. This book provides a unique perspective of activities conducted in the HRM field in local subsidiaries of such enterprises. It also presents results verifying many hypotheses for each of the six models for single HRM subfunctions and their four relationships with the results of company performance. Particular chapters are devoted to activities including staffing the organization, shaping employee work engagement and job satisfaction, conducting employee performance appraisal, employee development, managerial staff development, and employer branding. The author used the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling to verify the research hypotheses. Readers will acquire knowledge about HRM practices in organizations in which the overwhelming ownership capital belongs to MNCs headquartered in Central Europe. The research findings presented confirm the positive impact that HRM activities have on the results of this type of enterprise in such areas as finance, quality, innovation and HRM itself. The research also sheds light on the new, interesting regularities identified in this regard, e.g. the perception of human factor as a competitive factor. This book will be of interest to academics, researchers, and advanced or postgraduate students who are interested in the latest research on HRM in MNCs in the region of Central Europe. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

This book examines one of the greatest challenges facing Japanese multinationals as they continue to expand foreign direct investment: how to integrate local managers into the management process of overseas subsidiaries, as well as in that of the parent companies themselves. In the majority of Japanese subsidiaries, management control has remained in the hands of Japanese managers at extremely high cost, but now Japanese firms are considering integrating local nationals into the management process of their companies, a process that may yield significant competitive advantage.

Management of international business has become more complex with rapidly changing global environments, a multi-actor setting with numerous conflicts and disparities, increased political, foreign exchange, and other risks, and substantial global competition from Japan and newly industrialized nations. This book covers two decades of international business management and provides readers with general principles and observations drawn from experience. International Business Knowledge features articles--many of them published in the prestigious Journal of International Business--by leading practitioners and academics. They combine descriptive, analytical, and prescriptive aspects of the subjects they discuss, providing useful bases for researcher and practical tools for business executives and government officials.

Over the past two decades, the enforcement of anti-bribery, anti-money-laundering and anti-terrorism-financing regulations has become increasingly challenging for multinational corporations. Bribery and money laundering scandals have the potential to take down entire multinational corporations. Frequently, managers in charge of those firms end up facing criminal prosecution and civil lawsuits, and are not equipped with the formal legal training to prevent these phenomena. Compliance in Multinational Corporations explores the historical background of such phenomena as bribery, money laundering, and terrorism financing. Analysing the legal environment based upon international conventions, and including an empirical analysis of 100 expert interviews, it takes an innovative look at the perspectives of both criminals and compliance experts to provide a long-lasting guide for compliance experts. While traditional compliance and financial crime literature focuses on rules, regulations and prevention mechanisms, this book shows how intelligent criminals act. It offers practical advice and concrete guidelines that will address the most pre-eminent compliance challenges. The book will prove an essential resource for compliance managers, academics and professional educators who wish to equip themselves against the significant risks they face.

This is a study of the emergence, growth, and performance of British multinational banks from their origins in the 1830s until the present day. British-owned banks played leading roles in the financial systems of much of Asia and the southern hemisphere during the nineteenth century and after. In the 1970s and 1980s they made large investments in California and elsewhere in the United States. They played major roles in the finance of international trade, in international diplomacy, in the birth of the Eurodollar market, and in the world debt crisis. This is the first modern general history of these banks. It is based on a wide range of confidential banking archives in Britain, Australia, and Hong Kong, most of which were previously unavailable. Geoffrey Jones reveals, for the first time, details of the real profits and secret reserves of these banks, and uses these data in a unique analysis of their financial performance over more than a century. Jones places this new empirical evidence in the context of modern theories of multinational enterprise and of competitive advantage. This is a lucidly written and fascinating study, which will be of importance not only to historians, but to anyone concerned with contemporary multinational banking.

The Development of International Business offers an extensive understanding of contemporary international business through detailed, engaging discussion of the development of the multinational enterprise (MNE) over the past half-century. By providing an analytically informed basis for understanding MNEs, two parallel strands of analysis in International Business (IB) are reviewed: the `theoretical' and the `practical'. Firstly, Robert Pearce identifies how the practical restructuring of the MNE as an organisational form has responded to changes in the wider global economy and how this evolution has interacted with the enrichment of theory on the topic. Secondly, by tracing the persisting dynamics of the MNE's structure and strategic positioning, he demonstrates the use of these systems and how they can help to understand and organise the future evolution of not only MNEs but of international business as a whole. Highly accessible with an informed overview of the entire IB subject area, The Development of International Business is an essential text for students and academics of business, management, economics and development. More generally, business leaders, economists and politicians will value the exceptional insight into the progression of international business and its future.

International strategies and the organizational designs of multinational corporations are in a period of transition; the dominant designs of the recent past are gone and new dominant designs have not yet emerged. This authoritative collection of articles by leading international scholars presents the dominant ways of examining and understanding these current changes. It investigates contrasting points of view and provides the reader with a framework for evaluating the transformation of international corporations and for developing a critical insight which will be as useful for understanding future changes as it is for understanding those that have already occurred.