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“In this eighth edition, the authors have maintained the unique pedagogic philosophy that has been a hallmark of this special book for so long. With a full suite of companion teaching and learning materials, the three parts of the book, strategic imperatives, the organizational challenge and managerial implications have captured the tensions that continue to dominate cross-border management… This remains an outstanding book.” Peter W. Liesch, Professor of International Business, UQ Business School, The University of Queensland
“If I were an MBA student studying anywhere in the world this is the book I would want as the textbook for my global strategy course. As a faculty member, this is the book I would pick for my case-based global strategic management course.” Lorraine Eden, Professor of Management, Texas A&M University. President, Academy of International Business
“I have been using Transnational Management in my MBA International Competitive Strategy Courses for over 10 years. Since then I have not been able to find another text which compares with the relevance, applicability, and readability of this one.” P. Roberto Garcia, Ph.D., Young-Jin Kim Distinguished Clinical Professor of International Business. Director, Center for International Business Education & Research
Transnational Management offers an integrated framework describing the strategic tasks, organizational capabilities, and management roles and responsibilities of successful and responsible managers of international businesses in today’s global environment.
NEW TO THIS EDITION:
• Integrated conceptual framework • Ten brand new cases have been added, and four others have been updated • New academic and practitioner recommended readings have been added to
each chapter
Suitable for MBA, executive education, and senior undergraduate students studying international management, international business, or global strategy courses, Transnational Management offers a uniquely global perspective on the subject.
TRANSNATIONAL MANAGEMENT
Text and Cases in Cross-Border Management
CHRISTOPHER A. BARTLETT & PAUL W. BEAMISH
Transnational Management Text and Cases in Cross-Border Management
Transnational Management provides an integrated conceptual framework to guide students and instructors through the challenges facing today’s multinational enter- prises. Through text narrative and cases, the authors skilfully examine the development of strategy, organizational capabilities, and management roles and responsibilities for operating in the global economy.
The key concepts are developed in eight chapters that are supplemented by carefully selected practical case studies from world-leading case writers. All chapters have been revised and updated for this eighth edition to reflect the latest thinking in transnational management while retaining the book’s strong integrated conceptual framework. Ten new cases have been added, and four others updated. A full range of online support materials are available, including detailed case teaching notes, almost 200 PowerPoint slides, and a test bank.
Suitable for MBA, executive education, and senior undergraduate students studying international management, international business, or global strategy courses, Trans- national Management offers a uniquely global perspective on the subject.
Christopher A. Bartlett is Professor Emeritus at Harvard Business School. His research and teaching have focused on strategic and organizational challenges confronting managers in multinational corporations. He is the author or co-author of nine books, including Managing Across Borders: The Transnational Solution (co-authored with Sumantra Ghoshal 2002), which was named by the Financial Times as one of the 50 most influential business books of the twentieth century. He has also researched and written over 100 case studies and teaching notes, and is Harvard’s best-selling case author with over 6million copies sold. In 2001, he received the Academy of Manage- ment’s International Division’s Distinguished Scholar Award. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Management, the Academy of International Business, the Strategic Man- agement Society, and the World Economic Forum.
Paul W. Beamish is the Canada Research Chair in International Business at the Ivey Business School, University of Western Ontario. He has received best research awards from the Academy of Management and the Academy of International Business. He was previously Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of International Business Studies. His cases have been studied over 3million times, with over 20 winning awards. In 2012, he was the recipient of the International Management Outstanding Educator Award and, in 2017, the recipient of the International Management Eminent Scholar Award, both from the Academy of Management. He is the editorial director of Ivey Publishing, and director of Ivey’s International Business Institute. He is a Fellow of the Academy of International Business, Royal Society of Canada, and Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.
Transnational Management Text and Cases in Cross-Border Management
CHRISTOPHER A. BARTLETT Harvard University, Massachusetts
PAUL W. BEAMISH University of Western Ontario
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CONTENTS
List of Figures page vii List of Tables x Preface xv Acknowledgments xvii Editorial Advisory Board xix
Introduction: So What Is Transnational Management? 1
Part I The Strategic Imperatives 9
1 Expanding Abroad: Motivations, Means, and Mentalities 11 Cases 1.1 Sher-Wood Hockey Sticks: Global Sourcing 29 1.2 Cameron Auto Parts: Early Internationalization 39 1.3 Mabe: Learning to be a Multinational (A) 47
2 Understanding the International Context: Responding to Conflicting Environmental Forces 64 Cases 2.1 Global Wine War 2015: New World Versus Old 83 2.2 MTN and the Nigerian Fine 104 2.3 IMAX: Expansion in BRIC Economies (Revised) 118 2.4 Mahindra & Mahindra in South Africa 134
3 Developing Transnational Strategies: Building Layers of Competitive Advantage 151 Cases 3.1 United Cereal: Lora Brill’s Eurobrand Challenge 167 3.2 Yushan Bicycles: Learning to Ride Abroad 176 3.3 Beer for All: SABMiller in Mozambique 183 3.4 GE’s Imagination Breakthroughs: The Evo Project 193
Part II The Organizational Challenge 213
4 Developing a Transnational Organization: Managing Integration, Responsiveness, and Flexibility 215 Cases 4.1 Kent Chemical: Organizing for International Growth 235 4.2 Lundbeck Korea: Managing an International Growth Engine 245
4.3 Philips versus Matsushita: The Competitive Battle Continues 259 4.4 Beiersdorf AG: Expanding Nivea’s Global Reach 276
5 Creating Worldwide Innovation and Learning: Exploiting Cross-Border Knowledge Management 293 Cases 5.1 P&G Japan: The SK-II Globalization Project 306 5.2 Applied Research Technologies, Inc.: Global Innovation’s Challenges 324 5.3 Cisco India (A): Innovation in Emerging Markets 333
6 Engaging in Cross-Border Collaboration: Managing Across Corporate Boundaries 345 Cases 6.1 Nora-Sakari: A Proposed JV in Malaysia (Revised) 364 6.2 Eli Lilly in India: Rethinking the Joint Venture Strategy 376 6.3 Amazon and Future Group: Rethinking the Alliance Strategy 392
Part III The Managerial Implications 405
7 Building New Management Capabilities: Key to Effective Implementation 407 Cases 7.1 Levendary Café: The China Challenge 425 7.2 Unilever’s Lifebuoy in India: Implementing the Sustainability Plan 436 7.3 Silvio Napoli at Schindler India (A) 452 7.4 Larson Inc. in Nigeria 468
8 Shaping the Transnational’s Future: Defining an Evolving Global Role 476 Cases 8.1 IKEA’s Global Sourcing Challenge: Indian Rugs and Child Labor (A) 496 8.2 Barrick Gold Corporation – Tanzania 507 8.3 Unilever’s New Global Strategy: Competing Through Sustainability 520
Index 541
vi Contents
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 The structure of the book page 5 Figure 1.1 A learning model of internationalization 23 Figure 1.2 Approaches to foreign market entry 24 Case 1.1 Exhibit 3 Evaluation of Global Sourcing 34 Case 1.3 Exhibit 1 Mabe’s Company History, 1946 to 2009 49 Case 1.3 Exhibit 2 Mabe’s Historical Revenues, 1987 to 2010 50 Case 1.3 Exhibit 3 Mabe Income by Region, 1990 to 2011 51 Case 1.3 Exhibit 9 Mabe’s Product Line in Russia 59 Case 1.3 Exhibit 10 Main Appliance Players in Russia 60 Case 2.1 Exhibit 2 Wine Industry Value Chain 88 Case 2.1 Exhibit 3 Wine Consumption Per Capita, Selected Countries
(1980–2014) 90 Case 2.1 Exhibit 5 Global Wine Sales by Volume and Value (1999–2013) 92 Case 2.1 Exhibit 8 Exports as % of Production Volume by Source: EU,
New World, and Globally, 1961–2009 96 Case 2.1 Exhibit 9a China Wine Sales Volume by Retail Sale Point and
Country of Origin, 2009 99 Case 2.1 Exhibit 9b Bottle Wine Positioning in China by Price Segment
and Area of Origin (%), 2014 99 Case 2.2 Exhibit 4 MTN’s Organizational Structure, 2014 110 Case 2.3 Exhibit 4 IMAX Corporation Stock Performance, 2008–2013 124 Case 2.3 Exhibit 6 Economic Comparison of the BRIC Economies 127 Case 2.3 Exhibit 7 Population and Average Household Income for 15 Most
Affluent Cities 128 Case 2.3 Exhibit 8 Country Culture Comparison of BRIC Countries 131 Case 2.3 Exhibit 10 BRIC Countries’ Governance Indicators (Percentiles) 133 Case 2.3 Exhibit 11 BRIC Population Age Distribution 2013 and 2020
(Projected) 133 Case 2.4 Exhibit 5 Mahindra and Mahindra – Business Segments 142 Figure 3.1 The integration–responsiveness framework 154 Figure 3.2 Category-specific strategies to help companies serve
middle-class consumers in emerging economies 157 Case 3.1 Exhibit 4 Organization Chart 175 Case 3.2 Exhibit 1 Yushan Bicycles Organizational Structure 178 Case 3.4 Exhibit 2 GE Corporate Structure 197 Case 3.4 Exhibit 3 GE’s Operating System 198 Case 3.4 Exhibit 4 Evolution Locomotive Product Specifications 201
Case 3.4 Exhibit 6 CECOR Tool Kit 204 Case 3.4 Exhibit 7 GE Transportation Organizational Chart 207 Case 3.4 Exhibit 8 Comte’s Marketing Organization 209 Figure 4.1 Stopford and Wells’ international structural stages model 216 Figure 4.2 Organizational configuration models 220 Figure 4.3 Integrated network model 226 Figure 4.4 Integration and differentiation needs at Unilever 227 Figure 4.5 Model I: the traditional change process 231 Figure 4.6 Model II: the emerging change process 232 Case 4.1 Exhibit 2 KCP International Division Organizational Chart, 2000 238 Case 4.1 Exhibit 3 Kent Chemical Products Organizational Chart, 2006 240 Case 4.1 Exhibit 4 Decision Matrix for Resource-Allocation Decisions on the
European Fire Protection Business 244 Case 4.3 Exhibit 5 Organization of METC, 1985 270 Figure 5.1 Mobilizing knowledge 305 Case 5.1 Exhibit 2 P&G European Organization, 1986 308 Case 5.1 Exhibit 3 P&G’s Worldwide Organizational Structure, 1990 309 Case 5.1 Exhibit 5 P&G Organization, 1999 (Post O2005 Implementation) 314 Case 5.1 Exhibit 6 Beauty Counselor Work Flow 315 Case 5.1 Exhibit 7 In-Store SK-II Counter Space 316 Case 5.1 Exhibit 8 Representation of Global Cleansing Cloth Development
Program 318 Case 5.1 Exhibit 9 Illustration of Part of SK-II Product Line 319 Case 5.2 Exhibit 1 ART Organization with Filtration Unit Detail 326 Case 5.3 Exhibit 2 Cisco India R&D Evolution 337 Case 5.3 Exhibit 3 Indian Telecom Industry 338 Case 5.3 Exhibit 4 Telecom Network Structure 340 Case 5.3 Exhibit 5 Cisco’s R&D Project Approval Process 342 Figure 6.1 Range of strategic alliances 347 Figure 6.2 Partner selection: comfort vs. competence 357 Case 6.1 Exhibit 1 How 4G LTE (And Mobile Broadband) Works:
A Simplified Network Representation 366 Case 7.1 Exhibit 1 Levendary Organizational Chart 427 Case 7.2 Exhibit 2 Lifebuoy’s Indian Relaunch, February 2002 440 Case 7.2 Exhibit 3 Unilever Sustainable Living Program (USLP): Original
Targets 2010 444 Case 7.2 Exhibit 4 Unilever Corporate Organization Structure 445 Case 7.2 Exhibit 5 Lifebuoy Core Claim: Protection against Germs 446 Case 7.2 Exhibit 6 Unilever Behavior-Change Model 449 Case 7.3 Exhibit 2 Schindler Organization Chart, Elevator and Escalator
Division 457 Case 7.3 Exhibit 4 Schindler India Organization Chart 461 Case 7.3 Exhibit 5 Indian Elevator Market, Structure, and Product
Segmentation 462 Case 7.3 Exhibit 6 Market Research on Indian Elevator Market, 1996 463
viii List of Figures
Case 7.4 Exhibit 1 The Ridley Report 470 Case 8.2 Exhibit 2 Barrick Spending on Corporate Social Responsibility
in Tanzania 517 Case 8.3 Exhibit 2 Unilever’s Compass Vision and USLP Goals 523 Case 8.3 Exhibit 3 Unilever’s Virtuous Cycle Business Model 525 Case 8.3 Exhibit 4 Unilever Corporate Organization Chart 527 Case 8.3 Exhibit 5 Persil/ Omo “Dirt Is Good” Campaign 530 Case 8.3 Exhibit 6 Unilever’s Transformational Change Priorities 533 Case 8.3 Exhibit 7 Unilever’s Stock Price vs. DJIA and P&G, 2009–2014 535 Case 8.3 Exhibit 8 Unilever’s USLP Achievements, 2014 536
List of Figures ix
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1.1 Selected indicators of FDI and international production, 2010–2015 page 14
Table 1.2 Internationalization statistics of the 100 largest non-financial MNEs worldwide and from developing and transition economies 15
Table 1.3 Comparison of top MNEs and selected countries: 2016 16 Case 1.1 Exhibit 1 NHL Share of Hockey Stick Brands and their
Manufacturing Sites 32 Case 1.1 Exhibit 2 Types of Global Sourcing 34 Case 1.1 Exhibit 4 Hourly Compensation Costs in Manufacturing (US$) 36 Case 1.2 Exhibit 1 Income Statements 41 Case 1.2 Exhibit 2 Balance Sheets 44 Case 1.2 Exhibit 3 Data on McTaggart Supplies Ltd 45 Case 1.3 Exhibit 4 Mabe’s Balance Sheet 2006–2008 (000s USD) 52 Case 1.3 Exhibit 5 Mabe’s Income Statement 2006–2008 (000s USD) 53 Case 1.3 Exhibit 6 Global Appliance Players, 2011 53 Case 1.3 Exhibit 7 Appliances Market Size in China, India, and Russia 2005
to 2010 54 Case 1.3 Exhibit 8 Marginal Contribution Per Appliance in China, India, and
Russia 2008 (per cent) 54 Case 1.3 Exhibit 11 Mabe’s Entry Strategy and Positioning, 2008 and 2012 61 Table 2.1 Changes in national investment policies, selected years 2003–2015 73 Case 2.1 Exhibit 1a Retail Price Structure of a Typical EU Wine in Select
Export Markets (€ per bottle), 2014 87 Case 2.1 Exhibit 1b Bottle Wine Segments by Retail Price (European
Commission’s Categories), 2014 87 Case 2.1 Exhibit 4 Wine Production and Consumption: Selected Old World
and New World Countries, 2014 91 Case 2.1 Exhibit 6 Penfolds Red Wine U.S. Brand Structure, 2009 93 Case 2.1 Exhibit 7a Top-10 Global Wine Companies by Volume, 2003
and 2014 94 Case 2.1 Exhibit 7b Top-10 Global Wine Brands, 2009 and 2014 94 Case 2.2 Exhibit 1 MTN Subscribers, June 2015 106 Case 2.2 Exhibit 2 MTN’s Top Risks and Mitigation Strategies, 2014 108 Case 2.2 Exhibit 3 MTN’s Strategy 109 Case 2.2 Exhibit 5 Nigerian Telecommunications Usage, 2015 112 Case 2.2 Exhibit 6 Telecommunications Industry in Nigeria in
November 2016 113
Case 2.2 Exhibit 7 Nigeria Worldwide Governance Indicators 114 Case 2.2 Exhibit 8 Nigeria’s Economic Trends 115 Case 2.3 Exhibit 1 IMAX Worldwide: Screens, Box Office, Demographics,
and Urbanization 120 Case 2.3 Exhibit 2 IMAX Corporation Balance Sheets, 2010–2013
(in Thousands of $) 122 Case 2.3 Exhibit 3 IMAX Corporation Income Statements, 2010–2013
(in Thousands of $) 123 Case 2.3 Exhibit 5 Exhibitor-Branded Premium Large Format Screens, by
Region 126 Case 2.3 Exhibit 9 Risks in the BRIC Economies 132 Case 2.4 Exhibit 1 South Africa – Business Environment Rankings 136 Case 2.4 Exhibit 2 South Africa: Total Vehicle Sales, Production, Exports
and Imports, 2006–2010 138 Case 2.4 Exhibit 3 Mahindra & Mahindra South Africa – Leader Brands’
Production 138 Case 2.4 Exhibit 4 South Africa – Customer Segmentation, December 2010 140 Case 2.4 Exhibit 6 Mahindra & Mahindra – Consolidated Income
Statement 143 Case 2.4 Exhibit 7 Mahindra & Mahindra – Indian Domestic Market Shares
by Volume 144 Case 2.4 Exhibit 8 Mahindra & Mahindra South Africa – Income
Statement 146 Case 2.4 Exhibit 9 Mahindra & Mahindra South Africa – Sales Volume 147 Table 3.1 Scope economies in product and market diversification 158 Table 3.2 Worldwide advantage: goals and means 159 Table 3.3 Strategic orientation and configuration of assets and capabilities
in international, multinational, global, and transnational companies 163
Case 3.1 Exhibit 1 United Cereal Selected Financial Results (USD in 000s) 170 Case 3.1 Exhibit 2 United Cereal SG&A by Market (USD in 000s) 171 Case 3.1 Exhibit 3 Test Market and Consumer Panel Results 172 Case 3.2 Exhibit 2 Yushan Bicycles Selected Financial Data, 2015 (NT$) 179 Case 3.2 Exhibit 3 Yushan Bicycles Australia Subsidiary Selected Financial
Data, 2015 (NT$) 180 Case 3.4 Exhibit 1 GE Financial Performance, 1995–2006 ($ millions) 195 Case 3.4 Exhibit 5 IB Review Preparation: Sample Questions 203 Table 4.1 Organizational characteristics of decentralized federation,
coordinated federation, and centralized hub organizations 222 Case 4.1 Exhibit 1 Kent Chemical: Summary of Financial Data,
2003–2007 ($ millions) 237 Case 4.2 Exhibit 1 Top Pharmaceutical Markets, 2005 246 Case 4.2 Exhibit 2 Leading Anti-Depressants and Alzheimer’s Disease
Medications in the Global CNS Market, 2005 248 Case 4.2 Exhibit 3 Lundbeck Financial Highlights, 2005 250
List of Tables xi
Case 4.3 Exhibit 1 Philips Group Summary Financial Data, 1970–2008 (Reported in millions of Dutch Guilders (F) to 1996; Euros (€) after 1997 262
Case 4.3 Exhibit 2 Philips Group, Sales by Product and Geographic Segment, 1985–2003 (Reported in millions of Dutch Guilders (F) to 1996; Euros (€) after 1997 263
Case 4.3 Exhibit 3 Philips Research Labs by Location and Specialty, 1987 265 Case 4.3 Exhibit 4 Matsushita Creed and Philosophy (Excerpts) 268 Case 4.3 Exhibit 6 Matsushita, Summary Financial Data, 1970–2000a 274 Case 4.3 Exhibit 7 Matsushita, Sales by Product and Geographic Segment,
1985–2000 (billion yen) 275 Case 4.4 Exhibit 1 Beiersdorf Subsidiaries 278 Case 4.4 Exhibit 2 Major Innovations under the Nivea Brand Umbrella 282 Case 4.4 Exhibit 3 Beiersdorf Balance Sheet 2008–2011 285 Case 4.4 Exhibit 4 Beiersdorf Income Statement and Additional Financials
2008–2011 286 Case 4.4 Exhibit 5 Biggest Global Competitors (Overview) 287 Case 4.4 Exhibit 6 Global Market Segmentation, 2010 288 Case 4.4 Exhibit 7 Competitors (Overview of Selected Market Shares) 289 Case 5.1 Exhibit 1 P&G’s Internationalization Timetable 307 Case 5.1 Exhibit 4 P&G Select Financial Performance Data, 1980–1999 312 Case 5.1 Exhibit 10 Global Prestige Market: Size and Geographic Split 320 Case 5.1 Exhibit 11 Global Skin Care Market Size: 1999 Skin Care
(Main market and prestige) 320 Case 5.1 Exhibit 12 Skin Care and Cosmetics Habits and Practices: Selected
Countries 321 Case 5.1 Exhibit 13 Global SK-II Cost Structure (% of net sales) 322 Case 5.2 Exhibit 2 Wagner’s List of Potential Markets 328 Case 5.2 Exhibit 3 ART Mini Water Oxidation System—Development
Committee Team Structure 330 Case 5.2 Exhibit 4 Market Research: Summary Data 331 Case 5.2 Exhibit 5 Summary Sales and Profit Forecast for RIMOS 332 Case 5.2 Exhibit 6 Summary Risk Analysis and Risk Mitigation for RIMOS 333 Case 5.3 Exhibit 1 Cisco Revenue Breakdown by Product and Geography 335 Table 6.1 Scope of activity 360 Case 6.1 Exhibit 2 Mobile Networks: Evolution and Comparison 366 Case 6.1 Exhibit 3 Malaysia: Background Information 368 Case 6.1 Exhibit 4 Finland: Background Information 369 Case 6.2 Exhibit 1 World Pharmaceutical Suppliers 1992 and 2001
(US$ millions) 377 Case 6.2 Exhibit 2 India’s Economy at a Glance 380 Case 6.2 Exhibit 3 Top 20 Pharmaceutical Companies in India by Sales
(Rs billions) 381 Case 6.2 Exhibit 4 Values at Eli Lilly-Ranbaxy Limited 385 Case 6.2 Exhibit 5 Eli Lilly-Ranbaxy India Financials 1998 to 2001 (Rs’000s) 387
xii List of Tables
Case 6.2 Exhibit 6 Lilly Financials 1992 to 2000 (US$ millions) 388 Case 6.2 Exhibit 7 Product Segment Information
Lilly and Ranbaxy 1996 and 2000 389 Case 6.2 Exhibit 8 Ranbaxy Financials 1992 to 2000 (Rs millions) 390 Case 6.3 Exhibit 1 E-Commerce Sales as a Percentage of Total Retail Sales 393 Case 6.3 Exhibit 2 Comparison of Large E-Commerce Retailers 395 Case 6.3 Exhibit 3 Comparison of Large Offline Retailers 396 Case 6.3 Exhibit 4 Amazon.com Financials 398 Case 6.3 Exhibit 5 Future Enterprises Financials 402 Case 7.1 Exhibit 2 Levendary Income Statement 2010 (dollars in 000s) 429 Case 7.1 Exhibit 3 Comparison of Two Levendary U.S. and Two Levendary
China Locations 434 Case 7.1 Exhibit 4 Levendary China Income Statement (2010) 435 Case 7.2 Exhibit 1 Unilever Financial Performance, 1990–2012 ($ millions) 437 Case 7.2 Exhibit 7 Lifebuoy India P&L: 2006 to 2012 (€ thousands) 450 Case 7.2 Exhibit 8 Lifebuoy Behavior-Change Program Options:
2013 Projected Costing (values in Rs.) 451 Case 7.3 Exhibit 1 Schindler Top Management Profiles 455 Case 7.3 Exhibit 3 Schindler India: Key Managers’ Profiles 459 Table 8.1 MNE–stakeholder relationships in emerging markets: a typology 481 Table 8.2 The Global Compact’s ten principles 493 Case 8.1 Exhibit 1 IKEA Stores, Fiscal Year Ending August 1994 499 Case 8.1 Exhibit 2 IKEA History: Selected Events 500 Case 8.1 Exhibit 3 “A Furniture Dealer’s Testament”—A Summarized
Overview 502 Case 8.1 Exhibit 4 IKEA in Figures, 1993–1994 (fiscal year ending
August 31, 1994) 503 Case 8.1 Exhibit 5 The U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child:
Article 32 506 Case 8.2 Exhibit 1 Three Types of Engagement Behaviors 513 Case 8.2 Exhibit 3 Total Amount of Money Spent on Community
Development Projects, 2006 (in US$) 519 Case 8.3 Exhibit 1 Unilever Financial Performance, 1995–2014 ($ millions) 521
List of Tables xiii
PREFACE
This book grew out of the authors’ strongly held belief that the best research in the academic fields of international business and cross-border management did more than capture the activities, challenges, and best practices from the field. It also translated those findings into practical and relevant lessons for managers and students of management. That philosophy and commitment has shaped the content of Transnational Management over the 25 years since it was first published, and remains at the core of this eighth edition. Indeed, it was our commitment to deliver current, relevant, and practical research
in an engaging format to the students who will be tomorrow’s business leaders that led us to make an important change with this new edition. As we became increas- ingly concerned that many textbooks – including this one – were being priced beyond the means of many of those we were trying to reach, we decided to work with a publisher whose commitments more closely aligned with ours. So this eighth edition of Transnational Management begins our exciting new relationship with Cambridge University Press, a publisher that shares our values. In the quarter-century since the first edition of Transnational Management was
published, much has changed in the field of multinational enterprise management. In the rapidly evolving global environment, new external demands have required innovative new strategic responses, flexible new organizational capabilities, and adaptive new management capabilities. But many seasoned observers who have operated in the global business environment for decades will insist that despite these differences, the core agenda remains remarkably constant. They make a convincing case that beyond ongoing and inevitable adjustments and refinements, the tensions that characterize cross-border management remain much as they have always been: understanding the world’s inexorable evolution toward an integrated strategic whole, yet being sensitive to the constantly evolving impediments and constraints to that ideal; recognizing global and regional opportunities while also being aware of cross-cultural differences and responsive to host country demands; developing the ability to be fast, flexible, and adaptive while also overcoming the barriers to such seamless implementation due to the reality of the distance, language, time, and culture that separate worldwide operations. We are reminded of this debate with each revision of this volume, as faculty
colleagues weigh in on both sides. They remind us that, in many ways, both views are correct. On the one hand, we receive passionate input from those anxious for brand new material that reflects the vibrancy of the field and keeps up with the latest developments. But we also hear from colleagues who recognize the
importance of the ongoing cross-border management tensions, often best captured in classic cases that teach timeless international management issues. Based on input that we constantly receive from the users of this text as well as
from the valuable expert reviews to which each new edition is subjected, we have sought to maintain this balance. As you will see in the following pages, while we have maintained the intellectual integrity of the core concepts, we have also undertaken a major updating of each of the chapters to ensure they reflect the current global context. As a new feature, we have added an extended list of recommended practitioner-oriented readings at the end of each chapter. Where possible, we have used the authors’ wording of their article abstracts. We have also provided expanded annotated footnotes of relevant theory. And we have retained our practice of changing about half the case material in this edition, aiming to capture the emerging issues to keep courses fresh, while retaining popular classic cases that have maintained their relevance and have a proven history of stimulating strong classroom engagement and learning. We trust you will find that the new content, new format, and new publisher
support we have assembled for the eighth edition offer a relevant, insightful, and stimulating framework through which to explore the rich territory of transnational management.
xvi Preface
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Transnational Management has greatly benefited from comments, suggestions, and insights generously offered by colleagues at the hundreds of institutions around the world that have adopted this book. In particular, we would like to acknowledge the key role played by the Cambridge University Press panel of reviewers whose insights and suggestions for the chapter content of the eighth edition proved extremely helpful. They are listed on page xix as our Editorial Advisory Board. We are also extraordinarily grateful to the colleagues who have contributed to
this edition. Co-authors who have collaborated on our own case studies for this edition include faculty colleagues Professors Harold Crookell, Brian J. Hall, IsaiahA. Litvak, Aloysius Newenham-Kahindi, Albert Wöcke, and Michael Y. Yoshino, as well as Research Associates and doctoral students R. Azimah Ainuddin, Heather Beckham, Nicole Bennett, Carole Carlson, Nikhil Celly, Dwarka Chakravarty, Vin- cent Dessain, Charles Dhanaraj, Perry L. Fagan, Vanessa Hasse, Arar Han, Sarah McAra, Paul S. Myers, Michael Roberts, Anders Sjoman, Laura Winig, and Megan (Min) Zhang. We are also delighted to include additional new case studies authored by Luis Arciniega, Ivy Buche, Ramasastry Chandrasekhar, Meeta Dasgupta, Charles Dhanaraj, Tashmia Ismail, Srivardhini K. Jha, Rishikesha Krishnan, José Luis Rivas, Jean-Louis Schaan, and Margaret Sutherland. Assembling a textbook always involves coordinating many components, but this
is particularly true at a time of transition from one publisher to another. We could not have managed this without the great help provided by the skilled support staff who worked with us over many months to coordinate the flow of emails, phone calls, manuscripts, and other documents between the United States, Canada, and Australia. At Ivey, this includes PhD candidates Dwarka Chakravarty, Yamlaksira Getachew, Max Stallkamp, and Jenny Zhu. However, we would like to offer special thanks to Research Associate Mila Bojic for helping us through the long and arduous revision process. This eighth edition also represents an important publishing landmark that merits
recognition. As mentioned in the preface, we are delighted to be working with Cambridge University Press as our new publisher. To Valerie Appleby, our Commis- sioning Editor, and Caitlin Lisle, our Development Editor, we offer our grateful thanks not only for your helpful input and continual support, but also for your patience and tolerance through a long and challenging transition process. We look forward to continuing our productive working relationship for many years to come. Finally, we would like to acknowledge the lasting contribution of our good friend
and colleague, the late Sumantra Ghoshal, who passed away in 2004. Sumantra was a founding co-author of this book and left an enduring imprint on the field of
international management and beyond. His wisdom and insights still glow brightly in this volume. But more than his sharp intelligence, we miss his warm, convivial, and energetic company. Despite the best efforts of all the contributors, responsibility for any remaining
shortcomings of the book rests with us. Our only hope is that they are outweighed by the value that you find in these pages and the exciting challenges that they represent in the constantly changing field of transnational management.
xviii Acknowledgments
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
Ernst Verwaal, KU Leuven, Belgium
Neal Hartman, MIT, United States
Ian Towers, SRH Hochschule Berlin, Germany
Derek Condon, Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham, UK
John Powell, University of Exeter Business School, UK
Our thanks also to those reviewers who wish to remain anonymous.
Introduction So What Is Transnational Management?
Few managers operating in today’s international business environment would dispute that this is an extremely exciting time to be engaged in almost any aspect of cross-border management. Fast-changing global developments have created big challenges that appear unusually complex, but at the same time they have opened up new opportunities that seem almost limitless. Around the world, managers are asking questions like the following: How
does the unraveling of the long anticipated Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement affect our business? What can we do to manage the political disruption and economic dislocation following Brexit? How can we take advantage of the continued rise in Asian markets? How should we deal with the threat of new competitors emerging from developing countries? Can we exploit the impending boom in big data to track and exploit new global trends? How might we harness fast-growing social networks to leverage our cross-border management connections and organizational processes? Before we launch into these and the other such rich and engaging discussions,
perhaps we should step back for a moment to review the broad territory we will be exploring on our voyage of discovery. A good place to start might be with the title of this book. What exactly does Transnational Management mean?
Transnational: What Does That Imply?
The first word on the cover of this book may not be familiar to some. While the terms “multinational,” “international,” and “global” are in widespread general use, it may not be entirely clear to you why we chose to use the less familiar description “transnational” in the title of this book. Good question. And we promise to respond to it by the end of Chapter 1. By the
end of that opening chapter it should be clear to you that we use those four terms quite specifically. Furthermore, you will find that our distinction between “multinational,” “international,” “global,” and “transnational” will become a strong theme that runs through this book in our discussion of strategy, organization, and management. But more of that later. For the purpose of this introduction, let’s just recognize
that the “transnational” qualifier indicates that our focus will be on the manage- ment challenges that face companies whose operations extend across national boundaries. Indeed, the concepts we will be presenting in the text are grounded in extensive research published in a book titled Managing Across Borders: The
Transnational Solution. The challenging cross-border management issues identified in that five-year long, multicompany, worldwide research project supplemented with a large body of subsequent research frames our agenda. So what is different about cross-border management? In what ways do the
challenges facing a manager of a multinational enterprise (MNE) differ from those facing his or her counterpart in a purely domestic organization? There are many such differences, but let’s begin by identifying half a dozen of the most important that will be reflected in the issues we explore throughout this book.
• The most obvious contrast derives from the fact that, by definition, MNEs have operations in multiple nation-states, a difference that has huge strategic, organ- izational, and management implications. Although domestic companies must take account of local and state governments, what distinguishes intercountry differences from the intracountry ones is the powerful force of national sover- eignty. Unlike the local or regional bodies, the nation-state generally represents the ultimate rule-making authority against whom no appeal is feasible. Conse- quently, the MNE faces an additional and unique element of risk: the political risk of operating in countries with different legislative requirements, legal systems, and political philosophies regarding a host of issues including private property, free enterprise, human rights, and corporate responsibility – that a domestic company can simply take for granted.
• Cross-border management must also deal with a greater range of social and cultural differences. Again, domestic companies experience some regional cultural differences, but in cross-border operations the stakes are much higher. An MNE will quickly flounder unless management is not only embedded in the community and able to speak the local language, but also is both sensitive and responsive to local cultural norms, practices, preferences, and values.
• By having operations in foreign countries, an MNE is exposed to a wide range of economic systems and conditions that they must understand and to which they must adapt. The differences may be built into political systems ranging from unfettered free enterprise to highly regulated socialist economies; they may be reflected in various stages of economic development from advanced OECD countries to extremely poor less developed countries; and they may be facilitated or constrained by differences in national infrastructure ranging from subtle differences in technical standards to the quality of basic communications services. Each variation in the underlying standards or support systems demands significant modifications to an MNE’s strategy and operations.
• Another major way in which cross-border management diverges from domestic management relates to differences in competitive strategy. The purely domestic company can respond to competitive challenges within the context of its single market; the MNE can, and often must, play a much more complex competitive game. Global-scale efficiencies or cross-border sourcing may be necessary to achieve a competitive position, implying the need for complex international logistical coordination. Furthermore, on the global chessboard, effective competi- tive strategy might require that a competitive challenge in one country might call
2 Introduction
for a response in a different country – perhaps the competitor’s home market. These are options and complexities a purely domestic company does not face.
• In terms of metrics, a purely domestic company can measure its performance in a single comparable unit – the local currency. But because currency values fluctu- ate against each other, the MNE is required to measure results with a flexible and sometimes distorted measuring stick. In addition, its results are exposed to the economic risks associated with shifts in both nominal and real exchange rates.
• Finally, the purely domestic company manages its activities through organiza- tional structures and management systems that reflect its product and functional variety; the MNE organization is intrinsically more complex because it must provide for management control over its product, functional, and geographic diversity. And the resolution of this three-way tension must be accomplished in an organization whose managers are divided by barriers of distance and time, and impeded by differences in language and culture.
Management: Why This Focus?
The Transnational in the title is simply a qualifier for Management and, in the final analysis, that is what this book is really about. In many ways, it is a focus that distinguishes this volume from many others in the field. For that reason, let’s take a moment to understand why. The serious study of cross-border management is a relatively recent phenomenon.
For many decades, international business research focused mainly on global envir- onmental forces, international systems and structures, and powerful institutions like home- and host-country governments, all of which framed the context within which the MNE had to operate. In these studies, countries and industries rather than companies were the primary units of analysis, and most international policy attention (as well as academic research) focused on macro analysis of key indicators such as trade flows and foreign direct investment patterns. During the 1960s and 1970s, this interest in global economic forces and inter-
national institutions began to be matched by an equal focus on the MNE as the primary driver of the rapidly expanding international economy. A decade later, as the task of running such companies became more complex, attention again expanded to encompass an understanding of the roles, responsibilities, and rela- tionships of those running the MNEs. And so there opened a field of management that had been largely neglected by
both practitioners and researchers up to that point. Indeed, until the 1970s, many companies had staffed their international operations with aging or less competent managers, instructing them to simply take the most successful domestic products, strategies, and practices, and transfer them abroad. But in the closing decades of the twentieth century, as new offshore markets opened up, global competition intensi- fied, and worldwide operations became more complex, it was clear that such an approach was doomed to failure. Only the most capable managers would be able to run the modern MNE.
Management: Why This Focus? 3
This book builds on the lessons that came out of that burst of innovation in cross- border management that has continued into the first decades of the twenty-first century. So while we will reflect on the changes taking place in the macro global environment, and specifically on the way in which these forces affect MNEs, we will do so by adopting a management interpretation, viewing these fast-changing global forces through the eyes of the executives who operate in the thick of it. It is this management perspective that has framed the design of this book and
the pedagogy that supports it. But unlike many other courses in international management that have been constructed around the traditional functions of the company – R&D, manufacturing, marketing, etc. – we have rejected this conceptual approach. Our experience is that the most important issues facing today’s business leaders rarely come packaged in such neatly defined and hermetically sealed bundles. Almost all real-world problems cut across functional boundaries and require executives to understand the issue in a broader and more systemic sense. Furthermore, they demand integrative solutions that bring together, rather than divide, the people working in their traditional functional silos. For that reason, our dominant perspective throughout this book will be that of a general manager – whether that is the CEO of the corporation, the global business vice-president, the national subsidiary manager, or the frontline country product manager. By adopting the perspective of the transnational general manager, however, we
do not ignore the important and legitimate perspectives, interests, and influences of other key actors both inside and outside the company. We view the effects of these other key players from the perspective of an MNE general manager, however, and focus on understanding how they shape or influence the strategic, organizational, and operational decisions that the general manager must take.
Text, Cases, and Readings: How Will We Learn?
If the title, Transnational Management, describes the field of study and the content of the book, the subtitle, Text and Cases in Cross-Border Management, provides clues to the teaching philosophy and materials that will be employed. Because this book may be different in structure and format from some others you have used, it’s probably worth spending a little time describing the classroom materials you will find between these covers and the pedagogic philosophy we followed in assembling them. As the previous paragraphs have suggested, taking on the responsibility of the
general manager in a twenty-first century MNE may well represent the most complex task to which a manager could be assigned. So creating a course that prepares one for such a role requires some creativity. It’s clear that the challenges cannot be reduced, for example, to a few global strategy recipes, a standardized international organization chart, or a simple check list of the six most important things a country manager must do to succeed. But neither is it helpful to suggest that everything is too complex to reduce to
specifics. In the chapters that follow, we will seek a middle way that presents some
4 Introduction
broad concepts, frameworks, and principles that allow some generalization and conceptualization of the issues. But we will also provide material that allows students to take these generalized models for a “test drive” to apply, adapt, enhance, and embed the ideas in a practice-based, decision-oriented approach that is both grounded and flexible.
The Structure The book is structured into three parts, which are divided into eight integrated text chapters, each representing a topic that builds on the chapters that precede it. The basic outline is shown in Figure 1. Part I of the book consists of three chapters that focus on the strategic imperatives
facing the MNE.
• In Chapter 1, we will examine the internal strategic motivations that drive, attract, or compel MNEs to expand offshore.
• Chapter 2 helps us understand the complex and often conflicting external envir- onmental forces that shape the strategy of the MNE as it expands abroad.
Part 2. The Organizational
Challenge
Part 1. The Strategic Imperatives Chapter 2.
Understanding the International Context
Chapter 1. Expanding Abroad
Chapter 3. Developing Transnational
Strategies
Chapter 4. Developing a Transnational
Organization Chapter 5.
Creating Worldwide Innovation and Learning
Chapter 6. Engaging in Cross-Border
Collaboration
Chapter 7. Building New Management
Capabilities
Chapter 8. Shaping the Transnational's
Future
Part 3. The Managerial
Implications
Figure 1 The structure of the book
Text, Cases, and Readings: How Will We Learn? 5
• Chapter 3 explores how MNEs resolve the tension between their internal motiv- ations and the external forces to develop a strategy based on building layers of competitive advantage.
Part II has three chapters that examine the organizational challenges flowing from the strategic imperatives.
• Chapter 4 examines the task of building an organization able to deliver the multilayered strategic capabilities required by a multidimensional transnational strategy.
• Chapter 5 focuses on the critical strategic task of developing the capability to advance and diffuse innovations on a worldwide platform.
• In Chapter 6, we explore the growing organizational challenge of managing collaborations across corporate boundaries.
Part III has two chapters focusing on the managerial implications of both the strategic imperatives and the organizational challenges we have identified.
• Chapter 7 allows us to explore the managerial roles and responsibilities required to build the capabilities MNEs need to successfully implement their strategies.
• Chapter 8 considers the evolving roles and responsibilities of transnational organ- izations that managers need to develop to negotiate the current and future global political economy.
The Learning Materials To help us through this big agenda, the book is constructed around three major learning resources: the eight text chapters described above, 28 case studies relevant to the chapter topics, and a portfolio of recommended practitioner and academic supplemental readings. Let’s briefly explain how each of these components contrib- ute to the overall learning. At the end of each chapter, there is a list of recommended readings drawn
primarily from practitioner-oriented journals such as Harvard Business Review and the McKinsey Quarterly. These readings have been carefully selected to provide supplemental perspectives to those presented in the text chapters. Some are classic articles whose wisdom has endured over time, while others are contemporary and reflect the latest thinking on the topic being addressed. And for those interested in exploring the theoretical underpinnings of the arguments presented, the footnotes in each chapter provide a link to relevant academic articles. In all instances, the objective of these supplemental readings is to expand and enrich the mental maps being created as we progress on this voyage of discovery. But, as we have emphasized, because the challenges facing the modern MNE
represent perhaps the most complex environment in which a manager can operate, no amount of concepts, models, theories, or frameworks can capture the task. We believe that the most powerful way to allow students to enter this complexity is to employ real-life cases that require the complexity to be unraveled and decisions to be made. Most of those in this book provide the reader not only with data on the
6 Introduction
macro business and company context, but also with detailed information about the key actors and what they bring to the situation: their personal motivations, their strengths and weaknesses, their roles and responsibilities. In many instances, videos and follow-up cases lead to further insight. Although a few of the cases have been disguised, all of them are real, and almost
all have been prepared on the basis of detailed field research. While the vast majority of them document current best practice or illustrate managers facing contemporary challenges, we have also included a handful of classic cases, enduring favorites that have been shown to be effective in illustrating persistent issues in cross-border management. For those who are less familiar with the use of cases in a classroom setting, it is
worthwhile emphasizing that the purpose of this classroom material is to present you with the kinds of important challenges a manager might encounter only once a year, once in a decade, or even once in a career. They present you with an opportunity to go through the same process as the case protagonist – sorting through the information, analyzing the situation, evaluating the options, deciding on action, thinking through the implementation steps required to bring about the necessary change, and then convincing your colleagues of the wisdom of your approach. Repeating this process a couple of dozen times through the course can significantly increase one’s ability to translate abstract concepts and general theories into real on-the-ground practice.
Getting Started
But enough overview, background, and analysis; it’s time to launch headlong into this fascinating and exciting new world of transnational management. So let’s begin our voyage to explore the challenges and opportunities of those who have the responsibility for the strategy and operations of organizations that stretch across the barriers of distance, language, and culture. It should be quite a trip.
Getting Started 7
Part I
The Strategic Imperatives
1 Expanding Abroad Motivations, Means, and Mentalities
This chapter looks at a number of important questions that companies must resolve before taking the leap to operate outside their home environment. What market opportunities, sourcing advantages, or strategic imperatives provide the motivation for their international expansion? By what means will they expand their overseas presence – through modes such as exports, licensing, joint ventures, wholly owned subsidiaries, or some other means? And how will the management mentalities – their embedded attitudes, assumptions, and beliefs – that they bring to their international ventures affect their chances of success? Before exploring these import- ant questions, however, we first need to develop a definition of this entity – the multinational enterprise (MNE) – that we plan to study and develop some sense of its size and importance in the global economy.
This book focuses on the management challenges associated with developing the strategies, building the organizations, and managing the operations of companies whose activities stretch across national boundaries. Clearly, operating in an international rather than a domestic arena presents managers with many new opportunities. Having worldwide operations not only gives a company access to new markets and low-cost resources, it also opens up new sources of information and knowledge, and broadens the options for strategic moves the company might make in competing with its domestic and international rivals. However, with all these new opportunities come the challenges of managing strategy, organization, and operations that are innately more complex, diverse, and uncertain. Our starting point is to focus on the dominant vehicle of internationalization, the
MNE, and briefly review its role and influence in the global economy.1 Only after understanding the origins, interests, and objectives of this key actor will we be in a position to explore the strategies it pursues and the organization it develops to achieve them.
1 Such entities are referred to variously – and often interchangeably – as multinational, international, and global enterprises. (Note that we use the term “enterprise” rather than “corporation” because some of the cross-border entities we will examine are non-profit organizations whose strategies and operations are every bit as complex as their corporate brethren’s.) At the end of this chapter, we assign each of those terms – multinational, international, and global – specific meanings, but throughout the book, we adopt the widely used MNE abbreviation in a broader, more general, sense to refer to all enterprises whose operations extend across national borders.
In this chapter, we introduce the MNE by defining its key characteristics, discuss- ing its origins, interests, and objectives, and reviewing its major role and influence in the global economy. We then describe the motivations that drive these companies abroad, the means they adopt to expand internationally, and the mentalities of management that shape the strategies MNEs pursue and the organizations they develop to achieve them.
The MNE: Definition, Scope, and Influence
An economic historian could trace the origins of international business back thousands of years to the sea-faring traders of Greece and Egypt,2 through the merchant traders of medieval Venice, and the great British and Dutch trading companies of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. By the nineteenth century, the newly emerged capitalists in industrialized Europe began investing in the less developed areas of the world (including the United States) but particularly within the vast empires held by Britain, France, Holland, and Germany.
Definition In terms of the working definition we use, few if any of these entities through history could be called true MNEs. Most early traders would be excluded by our first qualification, which requires that an MNE have substantial direct investment in foreign countries, not just the trading relationships of an import–export business. And even most of the companies that had established international operations in the nineteenth century would be excluded by our second criterion, which requires that they be engaged in the active management of these offshore assets rather than simply holding them in a passive investment portfolio. Thus, though companies that source their raw materials offshore, license their
technologies abroad, export their products into foreign markets, or even hold minor equity positions in overseas ventures without any management involvement may regard themselves as “international,” by our definition they are not true MNEs unless they have substantial direct investment in foreign countries and actively manage and regard those operations as integral parts of the company, both strategically and organizationally.
Scope According to our definition, the MNE is a very recent phenomenon, with the vast majority developing only in the post–World War II years. However, the motivations for international expansion and the nature of MNEs’ offshore activities have evolved significantly over this relatively short period, and we will explore some of these changes later in this chapter.
2 See Karl Moore and David Lewis, The Origins of Globalization (New York: Routledge, 2009).
12 Expanding Abroad
It is interesting to observe how the United Nations (UN) has changed its definition of the MNE as these companies have grown in size and importance.3 In 1973, it defined such an enterprise as one “which controls assets, factories, mines, sales offices, and the like in two or more countries.” By 1984, it had changed the definition to an enterprise (a) comprising entities in two or more countries, regard- less of the legal form and fields of activity of those entities; (b) which operates under a system of decision making permitting coherent policies and a common strategy through one or more decision-making centers; and (c) in which the entities are so linked, by ownership or otherwise, that one or more of them may be able to exercise a significant influence over the activities of the others, in particular to share knowledge, resources, and responsibilities. In essence, the changing definition highlights the importance of both strategic
and organizational integration, and thereby the active, coordinated management of operations located in different countries, as the key differentiating characteristic of an MNE. The resources committed to those units can take the form of skilled people or research equipment just as easily as plants and machinery or computer hardware. What really differentiates the MNE is that it creates an internal organization to carry out key cross-border tasks and transactions internally rather than depending on trade through the external markets, just as the companies in Table 1.1 do. This more recent UN definition also expands earlier assumptions of traditional ownership patterns to encompass a more varied set of financial, legal, and contractual rela- tionships with different foreign affiliates. With this understanding, our definition of MNEs includes Apple, BP, and Honda Motors, but also Intercontinental Hotels, Deloitte Consulting, and McDonald’s.
MNE Influence in the Global Economy Most frequent international business travelers have had an experience like the following: She arrives on her Singapore Airlines flight, rents a Toyota at Hertz, and drives to the downtown Marriott Hotel. In her room, she flips on the LG television and absentmindedly gazes out at neon signs flashing “Pepsi,” “Samsung,” and “Lexus.” The latest episode of Modern Family is flickering on the screen when room service delivers dinner along with the bottle of Perrier she ordered. All of a sudden, a feeling of disorientation engulfs her. Is she in Sydney, Shanghai, Sao Paulo, or San Francisco? Her surroundings and points of reference over the past few hours have provided few clues. Such experiences, more than any data, provide the best indication of the enor-
mous influence of MNEs in the global economy. As the cases in this book show, few sectors of the economy and few firms – not even those that are purely domestic in their operations – are free from this pervasive influence. Worldwide, there are over
3 The generic term for companies operating across national borders in most UN studies is transnational corporation (TNC). Because we use that term very specifically, we continue to define the general form of organizations with international operations as MNEs.
The MNE: Definition, Scope, and Influence 13
130million firms.4 While most of these are small, and focused on their home country, others are extremely large, with a global focus. In 2015, MNEs’ foreign affiliates generated value-added of approximately $8 trillion, more than one-tenth of global GDP and 30% of world exports.
Table 1.1 Selected indicators of FDI and international production, 2010–2015
Value at current prices (billions of dollars)
Annual growth rate or change on return (%)
Item 2010 2014 2015 2010 2014 2015
FDI inflows 1,244 1,277 1,762 4.9 –10.5 38.0 FDI outflows 1,323 1,318 1,474 13.1 0.6 11.8 FDI inward stock 19,141 25,113 24,983 6.6 2.4 –0.5 FDI outward stock 20,408 24,810 25,045 6.3 0.6 0.9 Income on inward FDI 1,137 1,595a 1,404a 20.3 4.5 –12.0 Rate of return on inward FDIb 7.3 6.7 6.0 0.3 0.2 –0.7 Income on outward FDI 1,251b 1,509a 1,351a 20.6 4.3 –10.5 Rate of return on outward FDIb 7.2 6.3 5.6 0.3 0.2 –0.7 Cross-border M&As 339 432 721 35.7 64.7 66.8 Sales of foreign affiliates 32,960c 34,149d 36,668d 9.1 7.2 7.4 Value-added (product) of foreign affiliates
6,636c 7,419d 7,903d 8.3 5.5 6.5
Total assets of foreign affiliates 56,998c 101,254d 105,778d 6.3 5.8 4.5 Exports of foreign affiliates 6,239e 7,688e 7,803e 18.6 2.9 1.5 Employment by foreign affiliates (thousands)
68,218c 76,821d 79,505d 2.3 6.3 3.5
Source: UNCTAD, World Investment Report 2016. a Based on data from 174 countries for income on FDI and 143 countries for income on outward FDI in 2015, in both cases representing more than 90% of global inward and outward stocks.
b Calculated only for countries with both FDI income and stock data. c Data for 2010 is estimated based on a fixed-effects panel regression of each variable against outward stock and a lagged dependent variable for the period 1980–2008.
d Data for 2014 and 2015 are estimated based on a fixed-effects panel regression of each variable against outward stock and a lagged dependent variable for the period 1980–2012.
e The share of exports of foreign affiliates in world exports in 1998 (33.3%) was applied to obtain values.
Note: Not included in this table is the value of worldwide sales by foreign affiliates associated with their parent firms through non-equity relationships and of the sales of the parent firms themselves. Worldwide sales, gross product, total assets, exports, and employment of foreign affiliates are sometimes estimated.
4 The World Investment Report 2016 published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) references the Bureau van Dijk’s Orbis database. This database is the largest and most widely used database of its kind, covering 136million active companies (at the time of extraction, in November 2015) across more than 200 countries and territories, and containing firm- level data sourced from national business registries, chambers of commerce, and various other official sources (UNCTAD, World Investment Report 2016, p. 145).
14 Expanding Abroad
Not all MNEs are large, but most large companies in the world are MNEs. Indeed, the largest 100 MNEs, excluding those in banking and finance, accounted for $12.9 trillion of total worldwide assets in 2015, of which $7.9 trillion was located outside their respective home countries. Moreover, as Table 1.1 shows, international production is expanding, with sales,
employment, and assets of foreign affiliates all increasing. The rate of return earned by MNEs on foreign direct investment (FDI) was 5.6% in 2015. However, the importance of the developing and transition economies is rising. As
Table 1.2 shows, while the total worldwide assets of the 100 largest MNEs (or TNCs as the UN refers to them) decreased by 1.1% to $13,231 billion between 2013 and 2014, in the same period, the total assets of the 100 largest TNCs from developing and transition economies increased by 7.4% to $5,948 billion. In addition, while the total employment of the 100 largest TNCs worldwide decreased by 3.9% to 15,816,000 between 2013 and 2014, in the same period, the total employment of the 100 largest TNCs from developing and transition economies increased by 0.8% to 11,534,000. A different perspective on the size and potential impact of MNEs is provided in
Table 1.3, which compares the overall revenues of several MNEs with the gross
Table 1.2 Internationalization statistics of the 100 largest non-financial MNEs worldwide and from developing and transition economies (Billions of dollars, thousands of employees, and percent)