Effects Of Multinational Corporations Research Articles

Demonstration effect of MNCs on the building up of CSR practices in China

The literature on corporate social responsibility (CSR) in China has examined the CSR strategies of multinational corporations (MNCs) and the CSR adoption of Chinese firms. However, the connections in the CSR behaviours between these two groups of firms remain relatively unexplored. To understand further the evolution of CSR in China, we conceptualise that the demonstration effect of the CSR behaviours of MNCs has an important role in the CSR adoption of Chinese firms. We propose that the promotion-based CSR activities of MNCs significantly affect the involvement of Chinese firms in CSR practices, and that such a demonstration effect is reinforced by institutional cause, constituents, content, control, and context.

Local content in emerging growth poles: Local effects of multinational corporations’ use of contract strategies

ABSTRACTThe article analyses ‘local content’ in the strategies of multinational corporations (MNCs). Local content is explored as a link between MNCs and growth poles emerging through contract systems that encourage regional firms to connect with global networks entering a region. With a theoretical starting point in literature on local content and growth pole development, the analysis contributes to developing theories of growth poles by adding novel elements such as MNCs’ procurement strategies and their influence on growth poles through local content in contracts. Three aspects of MNCs’ contracts able to secure local content and thus increase contributions from extraction projects to regional development processes are analysed: (1) whether and how MNC projects are divided into subcontract modules, (2) the position and use of framework contracts, and (3) how transportation costs to sites are included in the biddings. It is concluded that further research on MNCs and local content would need to be aware of the following: factors that facilitate or maintain discrimination between bidders included and not included in global networks; reasons why advantages of geographical proximity are underexposed; and how public authorities (states) establish rules that give equality to local enterprises in their competition with firms entering from outside.

Why is the U.S. Abdicating the Policing of Multinational Corporations to Europe?: Extraterritoriality, Sovereignty, and the Alien Tort Statute

The United States has policed the multinational effects of multinational corporations more aggressively than any other country, but recent decisions under the Alien Tort Statute indicate that it is now backtracking. Europe, paradoxically, is moving in the other direction. Why do some countries retract extraterritorial jurisdiction while others step forward? The article traces the opposing trends through corporate human rights cases and suggests that the answer may lie in attitudes towards national sovereignty. The developments raise important questions regarding the position of the United States in a globalizing world and its role in upholding international norms.

Multinational Corporations in Indonesia and Thailand: Wages, Productivity, and Exports

Multinational Corporations in Indonesia and Thailand: Wages, Productivity, and Exports, edited by Eric D. Ramstetter and Fredrik Sjoholm. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. Pp. 229. This book analyses factory-level data from Indonesia and Thailand to gain insights into the effects of multinational corporations on wages, productivity, and exports in host countries. Looking at Southeast Asia's two biggest economies, it brings together work from Eric Ramstetter, one of the leading experts on MNC operations, internationally-renowned economist Robert Lipsey, as well as a group of area specialists and economists, many from Japan's International Centre for the Study of East Asian Development. Through looking at micro-level data from both countries, the book seeks to explore how MNC investment affects host country economies and labour markets. In order to do so, it asks and attempts to answer the following questions: * Do MNCs pay higher wages, have higher productivity levels, and are they more likely to export than local firms? * Is there a relationship between wage levels, productivity, propensity to export, and foreign ownership share? * Do MNCs provide wage or productivity spillovers for locally owned firms in the same industry? * How do takeovers by MNCs affect wages in the plant concerned or elsewhere in the sector? After an introductory chapter by the editors, Ramstetter and Sjoholm, the book is divided into three sections. The first section on wage differentials and spill-overs contains chapters by Lipsey and Sjoholm, and Movshuk and Matsuoka-Movshuk on Indonesia and Thailand, respectively. The second section on productivity differentials and spill-overs is comprised of a chapter each on Indonesian and Thai manufacturing by Takii and Ramstetter respectively, in addition to a chapter by Ito that looks at the automobile industry in both countries. The last section contains a chapter by Sjoholm and Takii on exports and foreign ownership in Indonesia's manufacturing sector, and a chapter on the same topic in Thailand by Ramstetter and Umemoto. This is a solid book that deals with very technical issues in a succinct and clear manner. Unlike many publications that result from a research project, as this book was, it reads like a coherent whole. It is clear and well-written, explaining technical issues without recourse to jargon. The book shows empirically that there are significant differences between local firms and MNCs in both countries. MNCs were shown to significantly affect propensity to export, as well as generate wage and productivity spill-overs for local operations in Indonesia and Thailand. There are, however, significant differences regarding the effects on wages and productivity between the two countries. In Indonesia, the relationship between wages, productivity and foreign ownership is strong. In Thailand, in contrast, wages displayed the same relationship with foreign ownership as in Indonesia--albeit to a lesser degree. …

Transnational Cooperation among Labor Unions

Organized labor faces enormous challenges in the increasingly global economy. The effect of multinational corporations, the portability of technology and capital, and lowered trade barriers in international commerce have all sparked widespread prophecies of trade union demise. This book, however, presents compelling evidence that unions can survive and grow if labor is willing to cooperate across national borders. Transnational Cooperation among Labor Unions is a seminal study of such cooperation as an effective weapon against the exploitation of workers in today's world. After assessing the challenges confronting organized labor, the authors turn their attention to specifics. They describe and evaluate the most important transnational labor associations, campaigns, and transnational cooperatives in a variety of industries. Contributors include academics who have assessed the status of union-management relations and international labor organizations as well as participants in union campaigns organized across national boundaries.

PERCEPTIONS OF MANAGERS IN KUWAIT ABOUT MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS' ROLE IN CHANGING THAT COUNTRY'S BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

Relationships between multinational corporations (MNCs) and developing nations are known to have benefits as well as costs, particularly for the host country. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of managers on the effects of MNCs on a developing nation. Using a sample of 1344 Arab and non‐Arab managers in Kuwait, the authors find the respondents perceive positive effects of MNCs on the business‐economic, legal‐political, and technological environments of the country. However, the effects of MNCs on the social‐cultural environment in Kuwait are perceived as negative. The authors recommend that MNCs operating in Kuwait be sensitive to these perceptions to ensure harmony in future business ventures.

Economic Restructuring: The British Experience

This article deals with certain aspects of British economic decline. After a short historical review of British economic performance, the phenomenon of deindustrialization is examined. Two major economic theories of deindustrialization are discussed alongside empirical evidence of the recent, rapid decline in Britain's manufacturing base and its worsening trade performance in goods and services. The effects of multinational corporations are also briefly examined. In the final section of the article, attention is given to some of the social and political aspects of deindustrialization. In particular, evidence on poverty, unemployment, and living standards in contemporary Britain is discussed in relation to a sociological model that attempts to explain certain apparent paradoxes of British society. This model is an extension of T. H. Marshall's pioneering work on citizenship and social class and serves to highlight both the continuing stabilizing effects of the modern status order and the possibility of further clashes between the competing claims of citizenship and social class.

Multinational Corporations versus Organized Labor: Divergent Views on Domestic Unemployment

The rapid growth of the multinational corporation has brought severe criticism from organized labor. Labor's major concern evolves from growing unemployment and the growth of MNC's foreign affiliates. This article develops the views of both MNC's and organized labor on the effect of multinational corporations on domestic employment; imports, exports; the domestic economy through direct foreign investment; and transfer of technology.