This work examines the factors that drive the success of Multinational Corporations (MNCs) in their pursuit of regional strategies. The author develops a comprehensive regional success factor model, by which the effects of regional management autonomy and regional product and service adaptation on the regional success of MNCs as well as the interaction effects of regional orientation and inter-regional distance are investigated. The model is evaluated by means of the partial-least-squares (PLS) method on the basis of a survey-based inquiry of the Fortune Global 500 firms with success indicator data for a period of nine years. The findings highlight the importance of considering the different degrees of contextual influence in the design of regional strategies, where low degrees of regional management autonomy and high levels of regional product/service adaptation are found to be appropriate for MNCs to be regionally successful.
This paper examines the factors that drive the success of multinational corporations (MNCs) in their pursuit of regional strategies. Based on contingency theory, we develop a comprehensive regional success factor model to investigate the effects of regional management autonomy and regional product/service adaptation on the regional success of MNCs. Using structural equation modelling, we also analyse the interaction effects of regional orientation and inter-regional distance. We evaluate our model by means of both primary and secondary data for Fortune Global 500 firms. Our findings show that appropriate degrees of regional management autonomy and regional product/service adaptation are highly contingent upon contextual influences on MNCs.
In order to achieve success, managers need to understand the strategic issues in Asia. Strategy for Success in Asia covers areas from the uniqueness of Asia like its economic and cultural diversity to the roles of governments and the importance of alliances. One of the first books to offer a perspective effective company strategy and how local and multinational companies can achieve strategic success in Asia. This important book is for anyone who has a stake in Asia or has plans to do business in it.
Both proponents and opponents of globalization assume it is a process that sweeps across national borders. Indeed, over the last twenty years, the key features of globalization provide prima facie evidence for this conventional wisdom. Dramatic developments in information and communications technology, the rise of global companies and production networks, the unstoppable internationalization of financial markets, and the deregulation and privatization of service sectors are all important examples of how this process unfolds in its raw form. Nevertheless, the increase in regional economic activity is another striking feature of this process. As multinational corporations extend their global reach, regional networks also emerge in the global trading system. Globalization therefore does not only mean a global convolution of economies, but could also lead to a spatial concentration of economic activity. All through the 1990s and at the beginning of the new century, East Asia experienced numerous structural changes leading to interesting market developments. South Korea’s rise to developed country status, the integration of the Southeast Asian economies, and the rise of China have made this region the manufacturing center of the global economy. Considering the economic importance of Japan and the other East Asian nations in the world, the crucial questions that arise include: What are the linkages between the global strategies of multinational corporations and their regional business operations? Why do subregional strategies emerge, especially recently to take advantage of China as a production base and market? Are the modern business practices in a multinational corporation’s home country easily transferred to their overseas operations and are they readily absorbed by local employees? Finally, which strategic directions are Japanese, American, East Asian and European enterprises going in this important business area of the world? To answer these questions, this book takes a closer look at several structural features of the East Asian economy and the corporate and business strategies of multinational corporations. The volume assembles up-to-date research by a number of European, Australian and Japanese scholars, and presents analysis of various business aspects of regional strategies in a global economy.
The fields of Economic Geography and International Business share an interest in the same phenomena, whilst each provides both a differing perspective and different research methods in attempting to understand those phenomena. The Routledge Companion to the Geography of International Business explores the nature and scope of inter-disciplinary work between Economic Geography and International Business in explaining the central issues in the international economy. Contributions written by leading specialists in each field (including some chapters written by inter-disciplinary teams) focus on the nature of multinational firms and their strategies, where they choose to locate their activities, how they create and manage international networks and the key relationships between multinationals and the places where they place their operations. Topics covered include the internationalisation of service industries, the influence of location on the competitiveness of firms and the economic dynamism of regions and where economic activity takes place and how knowledge, goods and services flow between locations. The book examines the areas for fruitful inter-disciplinary work between International Business and Economic Geography and sets out a road map for future joint research, and is an essential resource for students and practitioners of International Business and Economic Development.
Although many firms label themselves 'global', very few can back this up with truly global sales and operations. In The Regional Multinationals Alan Rugman examines first-hand data from multinationals and finds that most multinationals are strongly regional, with international operations in their home regions of North America, the US or Asia. Only a tiny proportion of the world's top 500 companies actually sell the same product and deliver the same services around the world. Rugman exposes the facts behind the popular myths of doing business globally, explores a variety of regional models and offers an authoritative agenda for future business strategy. The Regional Multinationals is the essential resource for all academics and students in International Business, Organization and Strategic Management, as well as those with an interest in finding out how multinationals really work in practice and how future strategy must respond.
Based on their ability to facilitate interdependencies across the borders of national and regional markets, multinationals enterprises (MNEs) act as the key drivers of world trade and investment activities. While recent global challenges additionally highlight the need to explain and assess the status and progress of internationality/-regionality, previous research renders the concept of firm-level globalization as a special but not the general case. Christoph Czychon dedicates specific attention to the research on regional and global MNEs based on an extensive and rigorous review of the existing academic literature as well as the analysis of 2005-2015 empirical data from the European context with a focus on CAC40- and DAX30-listed firms. In doing so, the author offers insights and results that stand in contrast to the original narrative of the debate and presents a comprehensive and updated perspective on regional and global MNEs.
This thesis analyzes the motivation and performance of 403 acquisitions made by emerging multinational corporations (EMNCs) in Western Europe and North America between 1994 and 2013. The findings indicate that most EMNCs were motivated to acquire in order to obtain access to the upstream and downstream know-how of their target firms. In addition, the thesis' event study results demonstrate that EMNCs on average generated value for their shareholders with their acquisitions over short periods around acquisition announcement. This result is particularly significant since similar studies on buying firms from developed markets have frequently come to the conclusion that acquirers destroy shareholder value.
