The Future of the Multinational Enterprise

136 Pages·1991·30.939 MB·English

by  Peter J. Buckley, Mark Casson (auth.)

THE FUTURE OF THE MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISE
Also by Peter J. Buckley and Mark Casson
*THE ECONOMIC THEORY OF THE MULTINATIONAL
ENTERPRISE
Also by Peter J. Buckley
*THE HANDBOOK OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE
(editor with Michael Z. Brooke)
*NORTH-SOUTH DIRECT INVESTMENT IN THE
EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (with Patrick Artisien)
DIE MULTINATIONALEN UNTERNEHMEN UNO DER
ARBEITSMARKT (with Patrick Artisien)
*THE INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS PRACTICES OF FOREIGN
OWNED FIRMS IN BRITAIN (with Peter Enderwick)
*EUROPEAN DIRECT INVESTMENT IN THE USA
BEFORE WORLD WAR 1 (with Brian R. Roberts)
*FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT BY SMALLER UK FIRMS
(with Gerald D. Newbould and Jane C. Thurwell)
*THE MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISE: Theory and
Applications
*MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES IN LESS DEVELOPED
COUNTRIES (editor with Jeremy Clegg)
Also by Mark Casson
INTRODUCTION TO MATHEMATICAL ECONOMICS
*ALTERNATIVES TO THE MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISE
*YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT
UNEMPLOYMENT: A Disequilibrium Approach
THE ENTREPRENEUR: An Economic Theory
ECONOMICS OF UNEMPLOYMENT: An Historical Perspective
THE GROWTH OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS (editor)
MULTINATIONALS AND WORLD TRADE: Vertical
Integration and the Division of Labour in World Industries
(with others)
THE FIRM AND THE MARKET: Studies in Multinational
Enterprise and the Scope of the Firm
*Also published by Macmillan
The Future of the
Multinational Enterprise
Second Edition
Peter J. Buckley
Professor of Managerial Economics
University of Bradford Management Centre
and
Mark Casson
Professor of Economics
University of Reading
M
MACMILLAN
©Peter J. Buckley and Mark Christopher Casson 1976, 1991
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 2nd edition 1991
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission
of this publication may be made without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied
or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance
with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988,
or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying
issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 33-4 Alfred Place,
London WC1E 7DP.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to
this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and
civil claims for damages.
First edition 1976
Reprinted 1978
Second edition 1991
Published by
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS
and London
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Buckley, Peter J. (Peter Jenning) 1949-
The future of the multinational enterprise.
1. Multinational companies
I. Title
338.88
ISBN 978-0-333-49249-9 ISBN 978-1-349-21204-0 (eBook)
DOl 10.1007/978-1-349-21204-0
For Janet

Contents
Introduction to the Second Edition ix
Preface xvii
1 The Multinational Enterprise in the World Economy 1
2 A Long-run Theory of the Multinational Enterprise 32
3 Alternative Theories of the Multinational Enterprise 66
4 The World's Largest Firms 85
5 Predictions and Policy Implications 102
Index 114
Vll

Introduction to the Second
Edition
The Future of the Multinational Enterprise on its publication in
1976 contained the provocative statement that 'It is little
exaggeration to say that at present there is no established
theory of the multinational enterprise.' This was bound to raise
a few hackles and duly did so. A prompt review in The Journal
of Management Studies by V. N. Balasubramanyam began:
'Buckley and Casson have no patience with orthodoxy'
(p. 307), and cast some doubt about the book's claim to
originality. The claims to originality and generality despite the
books' being 'both rigorously and vigorously argued' were
judged not to have been fully met by Stephen Kobrin (1977,
p. 137). Rugman, later to become a champion of internalisation
as an approach to the analysis of multinational firms, felt that
the claim to have developed a general theory of the multinational
enterprise 'is not entirely unjustified and their book may well
come to be accepted as the definitive synthesis on the motives
for foreign direct investment' (1977, p.410).
The first public airings of the concepts underlying the book
were at a staff seminar of the Department of Economics at
Reading and the Annual Meeting of the UK Region of the
Academy of International Business (AlB), also at Reading, in
May 1975. At the AlB meeting the paper was described as 'the
lightning rod of the conference' by Bob Hawkins. The concepts
were then presented at the Academy of International Busi
ness's Conference at INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France in July
1975, a paper which was published as 'A Theory of International
Operations' (1978). In general, initial response was enthusiastic,
but cautious.
Since then, the book has been widely cited as a basic source