Jean-Louis Mucchielli - Böcker

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.

At the turn of the century, questions about multinational firms' strategies as regards the forces, on the one hand, of globalization and, on the other hand, of the regional and local dimensions are very much to the fore. What are the new constraints and the new theories to explain global-local multinationals' strategies at the beginning of this new era?Understanding multinationals' strategies is an essential task, but the range of strategies is not simple or homogenous; they are increasingly complex, the outcomes of different logics and different choices. Since the 1980s, new economic areas have been created - the EU, MERCOSUR, ASEAN, NAFTA - there has also been the integration of Eastern European countries following the lifting of the iron curtain. A real movement of regional integration has been witnessed in these areas, which has modified firms' strategies. But simultaneously there has been another factor: the global or regional dimension is one determinant, but there is also the local dimension, for example in production siting.This volume presents the work of internationally renowned specialists on multinational strategy, addressing the main questions about globalization, firms' and countries' competitiveness, the impact of regionalism, agglomeration and industrial clustering, oligopolistic interactions, mode of entry, strategic location choice and relocation and public aid. This book is the first volume presenting the outstanding work from the Seventh Sorbonne International Conference on Multinational Firms' Strategies.

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.

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.

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.