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Abstract:
This paper examines the co-evolution of MNE activities and institutions external and internal to the firm. We develop a theoretical framework for this analysis which draws on the more recent writings of Douglass North on institutions as a response to complex forms of uncertainty associated with the rise in global economic interconnectedness, and of Richard Nelson on the co-evolution of technology and institutions. We link historical changes in the character of MNE activities to changes in the institutional environment, and highlight the scope for firm level creativity and institutional entrepreneurship that may lead to co-evolution with the environment. We argue that the main drivers for institutional entrepreneurship are now found in the increasing autonomy of MNE subsidiaries. Thus MNE agency derives from more decentralized forms of experimentation in international corporate networks, which competence-creating nodes of new initiatives can co-evolve with local institutions. Unlike in most other streams of related literature, our approach connects patterns of institutional change in wider business systems with more micro processes of variety generation and experimentation within and across individual firms. This form of co-evolutionary analysis is increasingly important to understanding the interrelationships between MNE activities and public policy.

Theory of FDI and the MNE, Institutional Theory, Evolutionary Economics, Historical Adaptation

Abstract:
This paper argues that a focus on the institutional underpinnings of MNE strategy and behavior is not only consistent with the emerging literature on dynamic capabilities, but it also serves to highlight the unique role played by MNEs in generating new organizational routines by combining locally embedded capabilities with those that are mobile across borders. Firms shape markets rather than the other way around, because of the role organizational innovation plays in redefining the rules of selection in the operating environment. Of such innovations, some proportion will remain proprietary, while others become diffused more widely in the industry, as the choices made by pioneering firms are imitated by others. We argue that the combination of increasing interconnections between geographically dispersed markets and the greater use of market-based transactions have intensified the incentives for MNEs to engage in the development of new routines, and to formalize them into transferrable practices. This is likely to increase the overall transparency of the origins of firm capabilities, leading potentially to more specialization and less internalization at the industry level.

multinational enterprises, dynamic capabilities, routines, knowledge transfer

Abstract:
We discuss issues pertaining to the political economy of “globalization”, in the context of the seminal contribution by Stephen Hymer. While Hymer’s contribution to the theory of the multinational enterprise (MNE) and foreign direct investment (FDI) is widely recognized, his contribution to the political economy of what he called “multinational corporate capital” has received less attention. In this paper we revisit some of the issues he raised, notably uneven development, global governance and central planning in the context of post-Hymer scholarly thinking and the shifting global landscape. In so doing we also speculate on the challenges and future of globalization.

Stephen Hymer, International Political Economy, Institutions, Globalization, Sustainability

Abstract:
This article first makes the case for responsible global capitalism, and the role of belief systems in advancing or inhibiting economic efficiency and socially acceptable behaviour. It then goes on to illustrate how the content and effectiveness of three contemporary elements of the global economy, viz, corporate social responsibility, the achievement of the millennium development goals and the opening up of centrally planned economies to market forces, are being, or might be, effected by the appropriate `bottom up` and `top down` incentive structures and enforcement mechanisms devised by the society of which they are part.

Abstract:
The prevailing ownership-based theories of the firm are increasingly being challenged by new forms of organising, as exemplified by the Asian network multinational enterprise (MNE). We believe that an institutional approach, that tries to bridge both the macro and micro levels of analysis, and that encompasses both formal and informal institutions, offers a promising way to advance our understanding of the different forms of the contemporary MNE. This paper introduces a theoretical framework which draws substantially on the work of Douglass North, and examines how an institutional dimension can be incorporated into the three components of the OLI paradigm.

MNE theory, institutions, OLI paradigm

Abstract:
This paper first describes the cultural roots and characteristics of guanxi in Chinese society. It then goes on to test some propositions about the perceived relationship between these characteristics and (i) Hofstede's conceptualisation of collectivism and power distance and (ii) the content and quality of formal institutions. The sampling frame used consisted of three groups of students - viz. Chinese Singaporeans, Non-Chinese Singaporeans and Mainland Chinese, studying in tertiary institutions in Singapore. Our findings suggest that, while the perceptions of guanxi were positively and significantly related to Hofstede's culturally related variables, this was not so in the case of formal institutions. This latter result suggests that, in East Asian countries, guanxi may well be regarded as, at least, a partial substitute for formal institutions.