A new breed of multinational companies is reshaping competition in global industries. For most of the 19th and 20th centuries, multinational firms came from the most technologically advanced countries in the world. Over the last two decades, however, new multinational firms from upper-middle-income economies (e.g. Spain, Ireland, Portugal, South Korea, and Taiwan), developing countries (e.g. Egypt, Indonesia, and Thailand), and oil-rich countries (e.g. United Arab Emirates, Nigeria, Russia, and Venezuela) have become formidable global competitors. These firms do not necessarily possess technological or marketing skills. In contrast to the classic multinationals, they found strength in their ability to organize, manage, execute, and network. They pursued a variety of strategies including vertical integration, product diversification, learning by doing, exploration of new capabilities, and collaboration with other firms. This book documents this phenomenon, identifies key capabilities of the new multinationals, and provides a new conceptual framework to understand its causes and implications.

Globalisation makes our world appear smaller: it is easier to connect, communicate and do business with people all over the world. But cultural differences remain and challenge globalized knowledge communication and transfer. This book examines cross-cultural management within multinational enterprises (MNEs), focusing in particular on how cultural differences influence the transfer of knowledge between different units within individual corporations. Based on detailed empirical analysis of 267 companies in Germany and Japan, it considers the relative effectiveness of inter-cultural and intra-cultural knowledge transfer; identifies the factors that inhibit or facilitate successful knowledge transfer; and suggests how management processes of MNEs can be improved. It demonstrates that although cultural differences do not necessarily influence the selection and transmission of knowledge overseas, they do have a strong impact on how that knowledge is received, integrated and put into practice locally. The book shows how knowledge is accepted differently in Europe and Asia and which factors have the strongest impact on efficient knowledge transfer. It suggests that to improve cross-cultural management MNEs should focus less on upgrading the technology that allows knowledge transfer, and more on the capabilities and beliefs of individual employees.

The third edition of Multinational Enterprise and Economic Analysis surveys the contributions that economic analysis has made to our understanding of why multinational enterprises exist and what consequences they have for the workings of the national and international economies. It shows how economic analysis can explain multinationals' activity patterns and how economics can shed conceptual light on problems of business policies and managerial decisions arising in practice. It addresses the welfare problems arising from multinationals' activities and the logic of governments' preferences and choices in their dealings with multinationals. Suitable for researchers, graduates and upper-level undergraduates. The third edition of this highly accessible book incorporates the many additions to our knowledge of multinationals accumulated in research appearing in the past decade.

Public relations experts and crisis management personnel have done an excellent job over the years of drawing attention to the grand scope of risks associated with crisis. Particularly in the present challenging economic conditions, organizations have become aware of the costs of crises and are willing to put forth effort and resources in crisis prevention. In this book, the editors and contributors offer significant insight into the critical considerations of crisis preparation as well as the importance of anticipation and pre-crisis planning. Pre-crisis planning has been a part of crisis management ever since scholars and practitioners began researching it. This book presents some of the most detailed and thorough insights published to date and serves as an example of where future research can go.

"Multinational Corporations and Global Justice: Human Rights Obligations of a Quasi-Governmental Institution" addresses the changing role and responsibilities of large multinational companies in the global political economy. This cross- and inter-disciplinary work makes innovative connections between current debates and streams of thought, bringing together global justice, human rights, and corporate responsibility. Conceiving of corporate social responsibility (CSR) from this unique perspective, author Florian Wettstein takes readers well beyond the limitations of conventional notions, which tend to focus on either beneficence or pure charity.
While the call for multinationals' involvement in the solution of global problems has become stronger in recent times, few specifics have been laid down regarding how to hold those institutions accountable in the global arena. This text attempts to work out the normative basis underlying the responsibilities of multinational corporations--thereby filling a crucial void in the literature and marking a milestone in the CSR debate.

Since the publication of earlier editions of this book, China's political and economic landscapes have changed dramatically, with the rise of new leadership, evolving alliances, tariff wars, educational policies and technological advancements. Focusing on Chinese-American ventures, this expanded and revised edition chronicles the investments that have marked China's astonishing growth in the 21st century. Adding another dimension to the exploration of Chinese-American commerce, this edition discusses China's roots in Confucian identity and its effect on modern business culture. Case studies of American businesses that have been successful in China are included. Reflecting upon the changing nature of Chinese consumerism and international corporate behavior, the authors close with specific suggestions for those interested in doing business in China.

Posth arrived in China with a vision. He navigated a steep learning curve, achieved his goals and now shares an insightful, first-hand account of an intriguing journey that included bumps and highlights. "1,000 Days in Shanghai" is a breathtaking manual for anyone contemplating a business career in the increasingly vibrant arena of today's China. It is also a personal account, done with great sensitivity, revealing between the lines a deep respect for the spirit that propels China's social and industrial revolution today.
--Hans Michael Jebsen, Chairman, Jebsen and Co., Ltd.

To really understand China's economic development, one needs to look at the history of individual projects. This applies in particular to those who are considering a venture on site. This book by Martin Posth is a unique document on the subject: evidence of profound knowledge, didactically sound, with comprehensible conclusions--simply readable
--Prof. Heinrich v. Pierer, Former Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Siemens AG, Former Chairman of the German Asian-Pacific Business Commission, Co-Chairman of the German-Chinese Dialog Forum

This book is a must-read for anyone seeking to work in or via China. The personal experiences of a pioneering manager can also help management to see the transformation of China in a new light. Anybody wanting to be successful in China should heed the practical lessons that Martin Posth draws.
--Prof. Dr. Eberhard Sandschneider, Otto-Wolff-Director, Research Institute, Executive Officer, German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP)

In establishing the Volkswagen works in Shanghai at the beginning of Deng Xiaoping's reform era, Martin Posth made a breach in the wall behind which the People's Republic of China had dug its trenches up until then. His experiences are useful for anyone wanting to work the Chinese market with any degree of success. The fascinating reading that his report makes, and heeding his lessons, can help any entrepreneur to avoid costly mistakes.
--Dr. Theo Sommer, "DIE ZEIT," Editor-at-Large

For the Chinese, this book by Martin Posth is a historic document on the Open Door Policy for foreign investors. It is a must-read.
--Prof. Xu Kuangdi, Mayor of Shanghai 1995-2001; Chairman, China Federation of Industrial Economics (CFIE); Co-Chairman of the German-Chinese Dialog Forum

An increasing number of studies in the last decade or so have emphasized the viability and persistence of distinctive systems of economic coordination and control in developed market economies. Over more or less the same period, the revival of institutional economics and evolutionary approaches to understanding the firm has focused attention on how firms create distinctive capabilities through establishing routines that coordinate complementary activities and skills for particular strategic purposes. For much of the 1990s these two strands of research remained distinct. Those focusing on the institutional frameworks of market economies were primarily concerned with identifying complementaries between institutional arrangements that explained coherence and continuity. On the other hand, those focusing on the dynamics of firm behavior studied how firms develop new capacities and are able to learn new ways of doing things.
This book aims to bring together these approaches. It consists of a set of theoretically motivated and empirically informed chapters from a range of internationally known contributors to these debates. In their chapters, the authors show how institutions and firms evolve. Ideas of path dependency and complementarity of institutions are subjected to critical scrutiny both by reference to their own internal logic and to empirical examples. Varieties of institutional integration, the surprising maintenance of 'deviant' or alternative traditions and processes, and the existence of unpredictable yet consequential policy options that can lead to breaks in path dependency are scrutinized with particular reference to how national and international firms may relate toinstitutions at various levels as a diverse arena of potential resources rather than as a singular and determinant constraining force. The book provides a set of theoretical and empirical challenges for researchers concerned with the relationship between national institutional contexts and firm dynamics. For those involved in teaching or studying at doctoral, Masters and higher level undergraduate courses, the book provides a structured entry into the debates about how institutions and firms are changing in the contemporary era.

-Gives a new perspective on the politics of drug supply

-Will interest those involved with the management of medicines at any level

-Indispensable for students of public health

Banking on Multinationals addresses two fundamental puzzles in Japanese industrial policy: Why does the Japanese state-better known for its attempts to control markets, protect infant industries, and maximize national exports-administer the world's largest public program to support the expansion of multinational corporations? And why does the Japanese state not fear loss of control over mobile multinational corporations and erosion of the domestic export base through foreign direct investment (FDI)? Solis's explanation of Japan's lead in state financing of FDI takes into account both the industrial policy goals behind the extension of FDI loans and the political uses of subsidized credit to appease economically weak but politically powerful constituencies. As the first systematic study of Japan's public FDI loan program, Banking on Multinationals reveals a previously unexamined dimension of Japanese government policy and helps explain the uncanny ability of stagnant sectors and small firms to participate in FDI activities. Rather than simply espousing the familiar idea that Japan's preeminent role as banker to multinationals is evidence of mercantilism in Japanese foreign economic policy, this book brings to life the domestic political conflicts underlying FDI policy.

This book develops a conceptual framework for understanding the network of relationships that exists around the hub of large multinational firms. The authors bring together perspectives from international business and the organizational analysis of networks to explain their model which is supported by case evidence from several sectors: telecoms, autos, chemicals, retailing, and financial services.

This book develops a conceptual framework for understanding the network of relationships that exists around the hub of large multinational firms. The authors bring together perspectives from international business and the organizational analysis of networks to explain their model which is supported by case evidence from several sectorsDStelecoms, autos, chemicals, retailing, and financial services.

This collection explores the expansion of Japanese multinational firms into Asia, a process which parallelled the region's growth as a major economic region. The contributors discuss a wide range of topics, including the reasons for moving manufacturing to other countries, the flow of trade between Japan and these countries, technology transfer within firms, the impact of Japanese management practices in other Asian countries, and competition between Japanese and American firms in Asia.

How is --- or was --- business organized over borders? The book offers an historical background. It explores the history and development of the 'free-standing company'. These were compannies, distinct from the classic multinational enterprise, established to organize and to manage business abroad for a European or North American parent company. These firms proliferated in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a period of extraordinary globalization. Leading international scholars --- economists and historians --- provide evidence on and analysis of the operations of free-standing companies in different parts of the world from 1830 to 1996.

This book examines the interaction between multinationals and women in UK, Ireland, France and Germany, looking at inward investment by US and Japanese multinationals, as well as outward investment by European multinationals.;It attempts to show how multinationals perpetuate an unequal division of labour by gender in which women production workers are merely "nimble fingers". It discusses whether multinationals are exporting women's jobs from Europe in an international search for cheap labour; and it looks at how women have reacted to both the creation and destruction of employment by multinationals.

Firm-to-firm relationships, along with the overall structure of industry, have changed markedly over the past decades. Replacing the model of vertical integration with one of global business, firms have started to outsource more by using a wider global network. At the same time, they have begun to increase their control and coordination along the value chain to remain competitive, blurring the boundaries between companies. Understanding the nature of the firm and its role in coordinating the supply chain will help firms to better define global competitive strategies.. The challenges that lie ahead for global business render obsolete the traditional model of procuring each service without long-term supply chain management. Current trends suggest that in the future there will be even deeper supply chain integration in most industries. The Nature of the Firm in the Oil Industry aims to facilitate the understanding of 'the firm' via the analysis of the specific relationship between international oil companies, which are among the world's biggest firms and which act as 'core system integrators', and the oil services companies, which help to find, extract, produce and distribute oil along the petroleum industry supply chain. This relationship serves as an example of deep integration by core system integrators and provides insights into the change in the nature of the firm in the era of modern globalization. Aimed at researchers and academics, The Nature of the Firm in the Oil Industry offers a thorough examination of this relationship in an effort to shed light on the nature of the firm, both in the oil industry and in global business today. It is a humble attempt to better understand the firm in a crucial industry.

This book gives students a new perspective on entrepreneurial venturing in an international context. By analyzing the dynamics in international companies, they will be armed with the skills they need to build successful strategies for entering new international markets. Williams presents a framework built around four contexts for international venturing: headquarters-driven through internal capabilities; subsidiary-driven through peripheral capabilities; headquarters-driven through external capabilities; and subsidiary-driven though external capabilities. Through this, students gain insight into the conditions that enable venturing in different types of MNEs, the mechanisms by which MNEs pursue international opportunities, and the leadership and managerial challenges of developing entrepreneurial capabilities across borders. Following a definition and analysis of each context, the book synthesizes the outcomes in an integrative way, providing implications for strategic leaders in international firms as well as for researchers and students. These contexts are used to frame the literature and engage with eight topical cases, which are also published in full in the Appendix of the book. With case studies from around the world that focus both on smaller and larger enterprises, Venturing in International Firms will give students of international entrepreneurship, corporate entrepreneurship and international business an edge when venturing internationally in the real world.

Multinational Enterprises and Host Country Development is a unique collection of papers looking at different aspects of the link between multinational enterprises and their effects on the host countries' economies. The volume studies effects of multinationals on R&D, innovation, productivity, wages, as well as growth and survival of firms in the host countries, and distinguishes direct and indirect effects through spillovers. All the analyses are conducted using firm level data for countries as diverse as China, Ireland, Sweden, Ghana, the UK or a group of countries in Central and Eastern Europe. This volume is a valuable reading for graduate students and researchers wishing to investigate the impact of multinationals.

In contrast to widespread assessments that family enterprises lack sufficient resources and capabilities to go global, many family companies are competing successfully in an increasingly globalized business environment. Worldwide, a large number of thriving multinationals are still family-owned and/or under family control. While there is abundant literature on the phenomenon of globalization from many different disciplines, neither the literature on multinationals nor the growing field of family business studies have systematically investigated family multinationals yet. This volume is one of the first to deal explicitly with family multinationals and the role of the family in internationalization. It situates itself at the crossroads of internationalization studies on the one hand and family business research on the other. Why do families continue to play such a large role in some of the most prominent firms in emerging and mature economies? How did they manage to maintain ownership control, yet divest of unrelated business ventures? How did they internationalize yet maintain control? This book identifies the idiosyncratic strategies and structures of family multinationals in different countries and at different points in time. A comparative historical and case study approach allows us to explore the role of the family through the firms' various internationalization pathways and understand long-term developments and path dependencies.

This book analyses media conglomerates owning multiple media holdings under centralized ownership within and across media markets. It argues that Asian capitalists utilize both a market-oriented ideology and family connections to build their media empires, thereby creating cultural conglomerates that exercise corporate censorship over media markets. It focuses on family-controlled media conglomerates in Korea, specifically the international business giant, Samsung, and its related media companies, Cheil Jedang and JoongAng Ilbo, all of which are controlled by the single Lee family. Utilizing the theoretical approach of political economy of communication, the book examines how and why the Lee family exercise corporate censorship over Korean society. Offering an essential take on Asia's political economy of communication in order to understand the workings of Asian media empires, this book will appeal to students and scholars of Korean Studies, Korean Business and Mass Communications.

John Dunning's general theory of international production, first propounded in the late 1970's, has generated considerable debate. This work thoughtfully reassesses the paradigm, and extends the analysis to embrace issues of theoretical and empirical importance. In a collection of essays, the changing characteristics of international production are examined, and an interdisciplinary approach suggested for understanding the multinational enterprise in the world economy. This book, first published in 1988, will be of value not only to economists and international business analysts, but to scholars in other fields, notably organizational, marketing and management specialists.

As globalization has brought about new concerns and responsibilities for business, particularly in the realm of human rights, many multinational corporations (MNC) operating in Asia have argued that such rights are the responsibility of government. However, as globalization continues to improve market access for MNCs, it increasingly exposes them to new forms of transnational social movements, and as a result the private sector has emerged as one of the central stakeholders in the region's human rights dialogue. Taking three of Asia's fastest emerging economies - Cambodia, China and Thailand - as its starting point, Corporate Social Responsibility and Human Rights in Asia explores the business case for corporate social responsibility, human rights and anti-corruption in the region. In doing so, it examines how industry perceives human rights and corruption within the corporate social responsibility (CSR) paradigm, and builds on the argument that the CSR regime is a socially constructed concept. Drawing on interviews with key stakeholders including business leaders, nongovernmental organizations, international organizations and government officials, Robert Hanlon argues that industry perceives human rights as outside their sphere of influence; that divergent stakeholder interests are side-lining the human rights debate; and that human rights are increasingly ignored in the quest for profit-maximization. This leads to the conclusion that human rights and corruption will remain peripheral business issues until stakeholders find new ways of creating space for CSR engagement, and business actors will continue to marginalize the human rights issue so long as governments in the region let them. This interdisciplinary book draws on political science, business and sociological perspectives and as such, will be of great interest to students and scholars working across the fields of Asian business, corporate social responsibility and business ethics, human rights and international political economy.

Latin American multinationals (multilatinas) have been central in the rise of emerging markets in the last few decades. Their development comprises part of the global shift of wealth and power between nations. The rise of firms in a broad range of sectors - including construction, oil, telecommunications and the aeronautical industry - as important regional and global players is spreading: companies in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile and many others are part of this increasing phenomenon. This book analyses the trends, the countries and the firms involved, and explores the implications for the US, China, Spain and the rest of Europe. In particular, Javier Santiso examines how Spain might profit from positioning itself as a unique hub between Europe and Latin America. The Decade of the Multilatinas includes a wide range of statistical data which will be useful to scholars, policymakers and commentators on Latin America in particular, and international business and emerging markets more generally.

This book uses the examples of local supply firms in China and Brazil and their connections to the global automotive industry to explore the nature of current global value chains. It argues that lead firms make use of product architecture to globalize their procurement and supply chain management and that they effectively restructure the global supply base by internationalizing the most capable supply firms, thereby creating oligopolies controlled by the lead firm. The book goes on to contend that some firms have gained such powerful positions that they have gained a degree of control over other firms without the necessity of ownership - altering the mechanics of governance. Also, it shows how, although some supply firms from emerging markets have utilized their business ties with western assembly firms to upgrade themselves within the global value chain, most are squeezed out through increased global competition. Overall, the book makes a major new contribution to the economic theory of governance.