The Strategic Development of Multinationals - by M Papanastassiou & R Pearce (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

The chapters in this book provide detailed analyses of a range of issues that feed into an overview of the strategic development of the MNE over the past 40 years. This modeled as the evolution of the MNE from a multidomestic hierarchy to a network hierarchy to the contemporary strategic diversity of the heterarchy. The extensive range of empirical and conceptual analysis covers the strategic roles and competitive evolution of subsidiaries; the positioning of R&D labs of MNEs; how MNEs' R&D and product development programmes relate to, and affect the performance of, countries' national systems of innovation; the ways in which dispersed subsidiaries and labs now work to support both the effective use of current competitive technologies and the generation of new sources of competitiveness for global firms. An underlying theme of the book, that is also developed conceptually, is how the global operations of MNEs involve selective involvement with national economies and the implications of this for globalization and economic development.

Review Quotes

"This is a tour-de-force from two pioneers and leading scholars in the field of international management strategy and the role of subsidiaries of multinational enterprises and innovation. The book contains some of the authors' now classic contributions, as well as unpublished work, and an introductory and concluding chapter that puts the book's contributions into historical perspective and explores the implications of their analysis on economic development in a globalizing economy. It is a must read for scholars, students and practitioners interested in the strategy, structure and performance of MNEs as well as their impact on the current globalising economy. Watch out for chapters 1 and 12 for sufficient insight to warrant another book or two!"

Christos Pitelis The Judge Institute; University of Cambridge

"This collection provides evidence of the strategic development of MNEs from multi-domestic organisations to differentiated networks characterised by a subtle division of labour within the corporation. Focusing on MNEs' R&D activities Papanastassiou and Pearce - accompanied by their IB fellows - stage this development in the context of increasingly integrated national economies and innovation systems. A brilliant book."

Bent Peterson, Strategic Management and Globalisation; Copenhagen Business School

About the Author

ROBERT PEARCE is Professor of International Business; University of Reading. He has published extensively in the areas of International Business and Economics .His current research interests are in the global strategies of MNEs, their creation and application of technology, and the application of these aspects of MNEs' behaviour to issues in Economics.

MARINA PAPANASTASSIOU is a Research Professor in Internationalization and Management of Innovation in Multinational Corporations at the Copenhagen Business School in Denmark. Her research interests focus on the internationalisation process of R&D and the evolution of the roles of overseas subsidiaries in Multinational Enterprises. She has an extensive range of publications in international refereed academic journals, chapters in books and has co-authored 2 books (with Robert Pearce) on 'Multinationals, Technology and National Competitiveness' and 'The Technological Competitiveness of Japanese Multinationals: The European Dimension'. In 2002 she served as the President of the European International Business Academy (EIBA)