Wal-Mart doesn't always win when it enters a new market. In business, David can beat Goliath, or at least maintain competitive advantage, by understanding weaknesses inherent in big companies and strengths to be derived from playing smart in your own backyard. The subject of...
In case you missed it, Claudia Deutsch of the New York Times had an excellent article about how General Electric is trying to become even more international than it already is. Many of America's top companies are making 50 percent of their sales offshore. United Technologies makes 60 percent of...
The Idea in Brief Multinationals’ global operations consistently underperform their domestic operations. Why? These companies’ strategies focus mostly on similarities across their markets: whenever possible, global companies standardize their business models to achieve economies of scale. They...
Halliburton created a political kerfuffle last month when it announced it was moving its corporate headquarters from Houston to Dubai. But this article from the Economist says that several corporations are rethinking their strategies on where they should base their businesses. Here's what the article says about IBM boss Sam...
This paper investigates tax/subsidy competition for FDI Foreign Direct Investment between countries of different size when a welfare-maximizing and relatively inefficient public firm is the incumbent in the largest market. First, it analyze how the presence of a public firm affects the investment decision of a multinational operating in the...
The US has experienced a sustained increase in productivity growth since the mid-1990s, particularly in sectors that intensively use Information Technologies IT. This has not occurred in Europe. If the US "Productivity miracle" is due to a natural advantage of being located in the US then it is not expected...
The main rational for attracting foreign multinationals is that they bring in the host country a bundle of intangible assets which increase the average productivity in the country, both through a composition effect and through spillovers to national firms. This paper argues that domestic multinationals can be equally a good...
As multinationals continue to think about improving their overall employee benefits to remain competitive, health care could begin to weigh more heavily with prospective talent. Research conducted by Aon Consulting has uncovered key trends that will ultimately affect multinationals. The bottom line is that people are living longer. Life expectancy...
This paper provides a historical perspective to current debates whether large global firms are becoming "Stateless." Robert Reich among others suggested that historically the nationality of multinationals was clear, while for contemporary multinationals corporate nationality is both unclear and increasingly irrelevant. However the historical evidence shows that a great deal...
Large U.S. multinationals are heavily involved in a broad array of change management initiatives, most often stemming from growth and the need for cost reduction. The typical company is currently using an average of five change strategies to achieve desired benefits. In this environment, senior executives have learned to navigate...
The author has developed a model of capital tax/subsidy competition in which imperfectly competitive firms choose both the number and the location of the plants they operate. The endogenous presence of horizontal multinationals is shown to attenuate the "Race to the bottom" and yields some results that are opposite to...
There have been new developments surrounding asset pooling issues due to demand from leading multinationals and the creation of a suitable product offer from custodians. While only a few multinationals have implemented asset pooling solutions so far, a number of others have expressed interest in implementing these solutions. This paper...
Productivity growth in sectors that intensively use Information Technologies IT appears to have accelerated much faster in the US than in Europe since 1995, leading to the US "Productivity miracle". If this was partly due to the superior management/organization of US firms (rather than simply the US geographical or regulatory...
This paper develops a simple test to assess whether horizontal spillover effects from multinational to domestic firms are endogenous to the market structure generated by the entry of the same multinationals. In particular, the performance of a panel of 10,650 domestic and multinational firms operating in Romania in the period...
This paper examines how heterogeneity across firms affects spillovers from multinationals. Using data on firms active in Italy in 1993-2000, it is shown that not every multinational firm is a good source of externality and not every domestic firm is equally well place to benefit from multinational activity. Positive spillovers...
Nearly half of senior executives say their company made only satisfactory use of technology in support of its initial Sarbanes Section 404 compliance efforts. But major reinforcements are on their way for year-two. The article outlines that three in four U.S. multinationals will be making significant technology changes, directed almost...
The paper outlines that multinationals are very enthusiastic about the opportunities that Asia's markets present for the future. However, they are still grappling with the risks that the region poses and are searching for organizational strategies to help manage these risks. Achieving high performance in tomorrow's Asia will require multinationals...
General equilibrium theory of trade and multinationals has emphasized the importance of third countries and the complex integration strategies of multinationals. However, little has been done to test these theories empirically. Using panel data on U.S. industries and host countries observed over the 1989-1999 period, this paper attempts to rectify...
A multinational deciding on where to locate a foreign production facility may not be indifferent to the choice of location. Numerous variables such as production costs, market access, and local tax treatments will influence the decision as to where the plant is located. Another key variable in this decision is...
