The choice of location for the production plants of multinational firms is an important issue, not least because this decision is accompanied by so many fears brought into public debate. This book analyses how foreign direct investors choose their locations, whilst exploring the forces which shape international economic geography. Although these two issues are, to some extent, inter-related, researchers have only recently acknowledged the similarity of economic geography and international business approaches to the empirical assessment of likely causes of the degree of spatial concentration observed in many modern industries. Giving insight into the direction that future research should take, this book contains state-of-the-art papers on both theoretical and empirical levels. This original collection makes a particularly important contribution to our understanding of the existence and impact of home market effects. Introducing a welcome synthesis between two related and yet rarely integrated areas of study using case studies of firms in Europe, US MNEs and the Mexican automobile industry, this book will be welcomed by both academic and practising economists. Regional scientists and economists, and those with a specific interest in international trade issues will also find the book enlightening.

Multinational Firms and International Relocation addresses the impact of inward foreign direct investment on the host country and the extent to which it displaces jobs at home. Multinational firms in the United States, Japan and the European Union are focused on by a distinguished group of international business scholars who include Giovanni Balcet, Pierre-Andre Buigues, Wong Yu Ching, John H. Dunning, Edward M. Graham, F. Harianto, Thomas Hatzichronglou, Alexis Jacquemin, Terutomo Ozawa, E. Safarian, Philippe Saucier, Yoko Sazanami and Hideki Yamawaki. Issues addressed include European industrial relocations in low wage countries, US direct investments abroad, the strategies of Japanese multinationals, the impact of foreign investment on the domestic manufacturing industry of OECD countries, and multinationals and technology diffusion in South East Asia. International business scholars, business strategists and policy makers will welcome Multinational Firms and International Relocation for the combination of insights and analysis it offers on the strategies of multinational firms, the impacts of their relocation policies and the evolution of the delocalization debate.

When it was originally published this book presented the first independent review of the critical role played by multinationals in Europe. Extending its focus beyond 1992, the book examines both the economic and business strategy frameworks the firms need to develop to maintain a competitive advantage. Using case-studies from specific industries, it looks not only at the activity of multinationals within the single market but explores the competitive strategies of non-European firms with special emphasis on Japanese companies which were poised to exploit 1992. The importance of interaction between multinationals and national government policies is also analysed taking into account the integration already achieved.

Contents:
Part I: Where Do We Stand?
1. Multinational Enterprises and the End of the Global Strategy
2. Location Determinants of Multinational Firms: the Effects of Firms' Strategic Choices of the WTO Trade-Investment Regime
3. The International Competitiveness of the UK: is it Eroding or Rather Chaging Form?
Part II: Globalization and Regional Integration
4. Regional Economic Integration between the EU and Central and Eastern Europe: the Impact Upon FDI and Trade
5. The Locations of US Multinational Firms in the European Community: Determinants of US Foreign Direct Investment into the EC, 1951-1990
6. The Impact of European Integration on FDR: The UK Food Industry in the 1990s
7. The Governance Structure of Japanese Subsidiaries in Western Europe and Evidence
Part III: Location Strategies
8. Hierarchical Location Choice and Multinational Firms' Strategy, a Nested Logit Model Applied to Japanese Investment in Europe
9. The Geographic Concentration of FDI in Asia
10. Relocation and Public Aid: a First Report
11. Clusters, Innovation and Growth: a Comparative Study of European Countries

For decades governments, politicians, and trade unions have feared that firms investing abroad involved a loss of employment and a decline in wages for the home country, the implied assumption being that global production and consumption are somehow fixed. Similarly, research on multinational firms has tended to present them as having a number of alternatives - export, licensing or foreign direct investment - for the exploitation of fixed foreign markets.
In reality, the complex relationships between parent companies and their foreign affiliates must be examined very carefully and with the most disaggregated statistics available if we are to get an accurate understanding of firms impacts. A major obstacle to this research has been the confidential nature of the necessary data. This collection, with contributions from many distinguished writers in the field, presents work which has been able to exploit relevant data for countries such as the United States, France, Italy, Belgium and Japan.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203166701

When it was originally published this book presented the first independent review of the critical role played by multinationals in Europe. Extending its focus beyond 1992, the book examines both the economic and business strategy frameworks the firms need to develop to maintain a competitive advantage. Using case-studies from specific industries, it looks not only at the activity of multinationals within the single market but explores the competitive strategies of non-European firms with special emphasis on Japanese companies which were poised to exploit 1992. The importance of interaction between multinationals and national government policies is also analysed taking into account the integration already achieved.