Academic literature on the topic 'Multinationals corporations'

This thesis analyzes the development of Multinational Corporations and their changing position and effects on International Relations. The historical evolution of multinationals with important historical milestones in their development, the definition, the concepts and their changing power capabilities and effects on nation states, international organizations and international relations will be discussed in this study. This thesis will also put forward some important case studies from the biggest American multinationals giving answers to questions such as to what extend can American multinationals effect inter-state relations or do giant multinationals became equivalent actors as nation states, what kind of interdependence do multinationals create among other actors.

As we all know, economic globalization and internationalization have sparked off countless studies and arguments in the past years. Some of the conventional theories about the internationalization of firms, however, are repeatedly challenged when they are applied to the less developed countries. The internationalization of firms from less developed countries has been a topic of growing interest in the international business and economics literature. In our study, we consider the influence of institutions from both the host and home country on entry modes of Chinese firms expanding overseas. Based on a sample of 314 China’s MNCs, the results support our hypotheses that both home and host institutions have significant effects on entry modes. Meanwhile, there are significant interactions between institutional quality of the host country and the government support of the home country and ownership type. At last, we find that both home and host institutional factors also affect the entry mode for a certain investment type, especially for the R&D investment. These findings have meaningful implications for understanding the internationalization behaviors of Chinese firms and the effect of dual institutional factors in studying the foreign entry modes of MNCs.

Multinational corporations operating in emerging markets have to be able to operate within the institutional context of those markets. Emerging markets institutions are mostly in transition or remain undeveloped and create a variety of institutional voids. International Business scholars have also been grappling with understanding how multinational corporations deal with liability of foreignness in the host environments in which they operate. The research canvassed the views from multinationals operating in South Africa as an emerging market. This study relies on institutional theory to understand how the institutional voids in emerging markets create specific liabilities of foreignness for the multinational corporations. How multinational corporations respond to these liabilities of foreignness is investigated.<br>Mini Dissertation (MPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2019.<br>Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)<br>MPhil (International Business)<br>Unrestricted

This study has been primarily concerned with the pattern of economic development and the role of the multinational corporations (MNC's) in that process in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Two contrasting theoretical frameworks were adopted to assess the pattern of economic development followed in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from 1970 through 1983. The first theoretical perspective is the neoclassical approach to economic development which postulates that the productive resources at the disposal of a country and the institutions developed to guide the prudent use of them are paramount to a balanced development. On the other hand, Hymer's contrasting perspective is based on the Law of Uneven Development. Essentially, Hymer claimed that inequality is built into the growth mechanisms of the present day world capitalist economic system that shapes the international economy through the agency of the multinational corporations. Therefore, any involvement by the MNC's is necessarily hierarchical, and characterized by dominance and dependence as well as wealth and poverty, particularly between the industrial countries of Western Europe and North America and the less developed countries in the Third World societies. Ironically, the Saudi Arabian case shows that Hymer's Law of Uneven Development is questionable. First, instead of the location of a country in the international economic system as the determinant of high standards and even development, the natural endowment translated into surplus capital must be viewed as the key to that process. Second, Saudi Arabian surplus capital was aided by foreign technologies, especially from multinationals based in the United States. In this connection, the MNC's played a positive role through their supplies of skilled manpower and efficient technologies to transform the desert of Saudi Arabia into a world class center of modern infrastructures and industrial complexes. Thus, the intervention of the multinationals in Saudi Arabian economic development has led to a situation of shared benefits; in which the interests of both the host country and the transnational enterprises have been well served. Finally, the Saudi Arabian experience demonstrates that it is possible for the parent country, the host country and the multinationals as parties to the investment process to adjust to each other with mutual trust instead of conflict and confrontation which had characterized many Third World countries' and multinationals' dealings in recent years.

Economia e Gestão Internacional<br>Master in International Economics and Management<br>A performance empresarial tem sido apontada por vários autores como um importante tópico de pesquisa no ramo dos Negócios Internacionais (International Business), principalmente no que diz respeito às empresas multinacionais. As empresas, em geral, coordenam as suas actividades por objectivos e competem para alcançar vantagem competitiva através do desempenho. Esta dissertação investiga se as empresas multinacionais estrangeiras (FO) e as domésticas (DO) diferem em desempenho comparativo. Especificamente, este estudo pretende determinar se há diferenças de performance significativas entre as multinacionais estrangeiras e as suas congéneres domésticas, e se essas diferenças variam consoante as medidas de performance. O enquadramento que subjaz a este estudo baseia-se em teorias de organização industrial (IO) e de negócio internacional (IB), e, na sua aplicação empírica, analisa uma amostra recente (dados para o ano de 2006) que inclui as maiores empresas portuguesas retiradas da base de dados SABI (Sistema de Análise de Balanços Ibéricos/Coface MOPE). Este estudo foi realizado utilizando modelos econométricos estimados por método de mínimos quadrados (OLS) com desvios padrão robustos e por regressão de quantis. Os resultados são inequívocos: as empresas FO têm um impacto positivo e significativo na performance empresarial em ambos os tipos de medidas de desempenho usadas (lucro e produtividade). Os resultados deste estudo sugerem que há uma diferença significativa ao nível do desempenho entre as empresas FO e DO na indústria transformadora em Portugal. Este estudo contribui também para o debate sobre medidas de política pública relevantes, nomeadamente aquelas relacionadas com a promoção de investimento directo estrangeiro (IDE), com externalidades, e com os efeitos do IDE em empresas domésticas.<br>Firm Performance has been pointed by different authors as an important research matter in International Business, notably in multinational corporations (MNCs). Organisations in general coordinate their activities by objectives and compete to seek competitive advantage via performance. This dissertation investigates if foreign owned (FO) and domestic owned (DO) firms differ in comparative performance. Specifically, this study seeks to determine if there are significant performance gaps between foreign MNCs and their domestic counterparts, and if those differences/gaps vary with different performance measures. This study draws on an underlying theoretical framework based on industrial organisation (IO) and on international business (IB) theories, which is tested by examining a large scale recent sample (for the year 2006) including the Portuguese top largest firms extracted from the SABI database (Sistema de Análise de Balanços Ibéricos/Coface MOPE). This study was done using econometric models estimated by ordinary least squares (OLS) with robust standard errors and by quantile regressions. The results are unequivocal: FO firms have a positive and significant impact in firm performance in both types of performance measures used (profitability and productivity). The findings of this study suggest that there is a significant performance difference between FO and DO firms in the manufacturing industry in Portugal. This study also contributes to the debate about relevant policy measures, notably related to inward investment promotion, performance externalities and effects of inward investments in local economies.

Economia e Gestão Internacional<br>Master in International Economics and Management<br>A performance empresarial tem sido apontada por vários autores como um importante tópico de pesquisa no ramo dos Negócios Internacionais (International Business), principalmente no que diz respeito às empresas multinacionais. As empresas, em geral, coordenam as suas actividades por objectivos e competem para alcançar vantagem competitiva através do desempenho. Esta dissertação investiga se as empresas multinacionais estrangeiras (FO) e as domésticas (DO) diferem em desempenho comparativo. Especificamente, este estudo pretende determinar se há diferenças de performance significativas entre as multinacionais estrangeiras e as suas congéneres domésticas, e se essas diferenças variam consoante as medidas de performance. O enquadramento que subjaz a este estudo baseia-se em teorias de organização industrial (IO) e de negócio internacional (IB), e, na sua aplicação empírica, analisa uma amostra recente (dados para o ano de 2006) que inclui as maiores empresas portuguesas retiradas da base de dados SABI (Sistema de Análise de Balanços Ibéricos/Coface MOPE). Este estudo foi realizado utilizando modelos econométricos estimados por método de mínimos quadrados (OLS) com desvios padrão robustos e por regressão de quantis. Os resultados são inequívocos: as empresas FO têm um impacto positivo e significativo na performance empresarial em ambos os tipos de medidas de desempenho usadas (lucro e produtividade). Os resultados deste estudo sugerem que há uma diferença significativa ao nível do desempenho entre as empresas FO e DO na indústria transformadora em Portugal. Este estudo contribui também para o debate sobre medidas de política pública relevantes, nomeadamente aquelas relacionadas com a promoção de investimento directo estrangeiro (IDE), com externalidades, e com os efeitos do IDE em empresas domésticas.<br>Firm Performance has been pointed by different authors as an important research matter in International Business, notably in multinational corporations (MNCs). Organisations in general coordinate their activities by objectives and compete to seek competitive advantage via performance. This dissertation investigates if foreign owned (FO) and domestic owned (DO) firms differ in comparative performance. Specifically, this study seeks to determine if there are significant performance gaps between foreign MNCs and their domestic counterparts, and if those differences/gaps vary with different performance measures. This study draws on an underlying theoretical framework based on industrial organisation (IO) and on international business (IB) theories, which is tested by examining a large scale recent sample (for the year 2006) including the Portuguese top largest firms extracted from the SABI database (Sistema de Análise de Balanços Ibéricos/Coface MOPE). This study was done using econometric models estimated by ordinary least squares (OLS) with robust standard errors and by quantile regressions. The results are unequivocal: FO firms have a positive and significant impact in firm performance in both types of performance measures used (profitability and productivity). The findings of this study suggest that there is a significant performance difference between FO and DO firms in the manufacturing industry in Portugal. This study also contributes to the debate about relevant policy measures, notably related to inward investment promotion, performance externalities and effects of inward investments in local economies.

During the last decade, the emerging market multinational enterprises (EMNEs) appeared on the world scene, increasing their presence not only in emerging countries but in most of the developed countries as well, home to most of the world’s leading multinationals. Accordingly, the International Business literature has tried to explain their internationalization processes, as well as their motivations to invest in both emerging and developed countries. However, despite the growing interest in the phenomenon, the vast majority of publications address the issue from the headquarters’ perspective, with few studies focused on the subsidiary firm as a unit of analysis. This insufficiently addressed approach is particularly interesting because emerging market multinationals enterprises are latecomers in the international global arena and their overseas subsidiaries allocated in developed countries are usually entrusted with developing or acquiring strategic assets, such as new technological knowledge and/or management and marketing skills, to be able to compete more efficiently internationally. Hence, it is of great importance that these units achieve a good adaptation in developed countries, overcoming the difficulties associated with the existence of large institutional and cultural distance. In this context, due to the scarcity of studies examining the barriers experienced by these subsidiaries in their respective host countries, the main objective of this thesis is to progress in knowledge about the cross-institutional disadvantages faced by EMNE subsidiaries in such environments. This thesis is structured as a compendium of three different contribution connected to one another in order to make all pieces of the puzzle fit together. The second chapter, has examined the direct presence of FDI from emerging countries in Spain at both macro and micro level. The results prove that although the presence of EMNEs in Spain is an incipient phenomenon, it is showing a strong upward trend. Particularly, Spain is a prominent destination for multilatinas, which contemplate the country as a springboard to access other markets, and also for Chinese investment, that is experiencing the largest growth with more and more number of EMNEs subsidiaries setting. The third chapter explores how these firms mitigate their liability of foreignness and manage their cultural adaptation in a developed country. Based on the case study of two Chinese subsidiaries in Spain, our findings reveal that Chinese cultural values play an important role for achieving internal (within the MNE) and external legitimacy (in the host country) at the subsidiary level. The fourth chapter is focused on the analysis of the potential negative image of EMNEs caused by their liability of origin. This chapter analyses how EMNE subsidiaries in developed countries can overcome the possible discrimination suffered from their host-stakeholders. In this sense, our contribution here is the creation of an original model based on Institutional Theory that states the importance of subsidiary embeddedness, legitimacy and power of decision, in order to mitigate the liability of origin of EMNEs in European developed countries. Thus, the possession of high levels of embeddedness, both internal and external increases the level of internal and external legitimacy, respectively, which in turn, allows subsidiaries to have more autonomy and thereby, enables to overcome their liability of origin. Finally, in the chapter of conclusions we offer some interesting future research lines in order to reinforce the current knowledge of the presence of these emerging multinationals in developed countries.<br>En la última década, las multinacionales procedentes de países emergentes han irrumpido con fuerza en el panorama internacional teniendo cada vez más presencia en los países más desarrollados de donde son originarias la ma¬yoría de multinacionales líderes del mercado mundial. Como consecuencia, el análisis de estas empresas está adquiriendo cada vez mayor importancia en el área del International Business, surgiendo así numerosos estudios que tratan de explicar diversos aspectos de sus procesos de expansión internacional. No obstante, a pesar del creciente interés sobre el fenómeno, la mayoría de publicaciones abordan la temática desde la perspectiva de la empresa matriz, siendo muy escasos los estudios centrados en la empresa filial como unidad de análisis. En este contexto, ante la escasez de estudios que examinan las barreras experimentadas por las filiales de multinacionales de países emergentes en sus respectivos países desarrollados de acogida, surge esta tesis cuyo principal objetivo es conocer más sobre la presencia física de estas empresas en tales entornos. La presente tesis se estructura como compendio de tres capítulos centrales en los cuales se desarrollan diferentes investigaciones empíricas. El capítulo 2, es un análisis descriptivo que contextualiza el fenómeno en un país desarrollado como España, examinando así la inversión directa recibida de países emergentes desde una perspectiva macroeconómica y microeconómica. Los resultados denotan que la presencia de estas empresas multinacionales en España es un fenómeno incipiente con una fuerte tendencia alcista. Además, España es un destino importante para las multilatinas, las cuales contemplan el país como un trampolín para acceder a otros mercados, y también para las inversiones chinas que están experimentando un espectacular crecimiento en los últimos años. El capítulo 3 explora como las filiales combaten las desventajas de extranjería sufridas y manejan su adaptación cultural en un país desarrollado. Concretamente, basado en un estudio de casos de dos filiales chinas en España, los resultados revelan que los valores culturales chinos juegan un rol importante para que las filiales alcancen de manera simultánea legitimidad con sus matrices y con sus agentes locales. El capítulo 4 se centra en el análisis de la potencial imagen negativa sufrida por estas filiales por el simple hecho de proceder de países emergentes con un menor desarrollo institucional. Por tanto el trabajo empírico se encamina a descubrir cómo estas filiales pueden mitigar esta posible discriminación sufrida por parte de los actores locales de países desarrollados. En este sentido, la contribución radica en la elaboración de un modelo original basado en la teoría institucional que destaca la importancia de la calidad de las relaciones, la legitimidad y la autonomía alcanzada por la filial por tal de combatir este tipo de prejuicios.

In this thesis I have examined the role of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in fuelling hostcountries economic developments. By looking closer into Mexico and the case of automobile industry which has been historically the subject of control of foreign affiliates I observed coinciding patterns. Through North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) the channels between trade and investments have become more obvious and even transparent. Speaking about Mexico’s economic developments, albeit the total volumes of trade have increased, the country’s terms-of- trade were deteriorating following the post-NAFTA years. While conducting the research I have made use of neo-liberal economic discourses, theories of international trade and investment in order to explain the underlying motives for free-trade. These motives offer solid arguments to adopt the strategy of export orientation. While investigating the investments form multinationals and comparable Mexican trade performance, I have fund that exports and FDI flows have seemingly unrelated. The country has been a significant receiver of foreign imports at the time of post-NAFTA developments and huge FDI inflows. The result was that capacity of domestic production was limited and the trade imbalance ensured. Analysis explores closer relation between FDI and the country’s import levels which cause deterioration in the terms of trade and economic growth. The explanation lies in the nature of FDI per se. The type of investment in Mexico is essentially market-seeking, since it adjusts to the international competitive pressures, and search access to comparatively advantageous foreign markets, explained by the theory of capital movements. This paper also questions and raises concern with regard to the consequences of these pressures that leads to race-to-the-bottom policies.