2. DO YOU KNOW?
• Who are the players in the international business
arena?
• How can you tell the degree of a firms
internationalization?
• Will a higher degree of internationalization lead to
higher corporate performance?
• What advantages and disadvantages do MNEs
have when they operate overseas compared to
local firms?
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3. WHAT IS A MULTINATIONAL
ENTERPRISE
The internationally committed company – has at least
one plant or joint venture abroad.
The internationally leaning company – has foreign sales
and/or a representative office and/or a licensing
agreement abroad.
The multidomestic firm – has multiple international
subsidiaries independent of headquarters.
The transactional firm – has subsidiaries that fulfill a variety
of strategic roles typically performed by HQ.
The multinational firm – engages in FDI and owns or
controls value adding activities in more than one
country.
The global firm – has integrated international subsidiaries
controlled by headquarters
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4. WHAT IS A MULTINATIONAL
ENTERPRISE
Multinational Enterprise (MNE) – a firm with
foreign direct investment, service or
manufacturing, over which it maintains
effective control.
International firm – a firm engaged in trade
activities but without an FDI component.
Small and Midsize International Enterprises
(SMIE) – Most of these firms do not have FDI
presence and do not qualify as MNEs
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5. THE DEGREE OF
INTERNATIONALIZATION
• Transnationality Index (TNI) – the level of MNE
internationalization.
• Calculated as the average of three ratios:
• Foreign assets to total assets
• Foreign sales to total sales
• Foreign employment to total employment
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7. HISTORY OF THE MNE
• MNEs can be traced to the Phoenician,
Carthaginian, Greek, and Roman empires
• Date back to Assyria around 2000 B.C.
• Faced the same obstacles as today’s MNEs:
• Tariffs
• Nationalistic opposition to foreign trade and investment
• Using competitive advantage and market power
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8. THE WORLD’S LARGEST MNES
•In 1998, the top 100 non-
financial MNEs accounted for
• 13% of all foreign assets
• 19% of all foreign sales
• 18% of all foreign employment.
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9. THE WORLD’S LARGEST MNES
Exhibit 4-3: Home country of the world’s largest 100
MNEs by TNI and foreign assets
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10. THE WORLD’S LARGEST MNES
Exhibit 4-4: The largest 10 U.S. MNEs (at the end of
1999)
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11. THE INDUSTRY COMPOSITION OF
MNES
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Exhibit 4-5:
Industry
composition of
the largest 100
MNEs
Dominated by a
limited number
of industries.
12. THE INDUSTRY COMPOSITION OF
MNES
Exhibit 4-6: The largest 5 MNEs in each industry
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13. THE GROWTH OF SERVICE MNES
• There has been significant growth of MNEs in service
areas, due to:
• Economic transformation – developed nations shifting into
service economies
• Globalization and liberalization of regulatory systems –
“open skies” agreements, accounting standards, flexible
store hours, etc.
• Communication advances – allow MNEs to coordinate
knowledge-intensive operations across borders.
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14. THE GROWTH OF SERVICE MNES
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Exhibit 4-7: The world’s
top 20 banks 2001
(based on total assets)
Note the U.S.
15. THE GROWTH OF SERVICE MNES
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Exhibit 4-8: The world’s top
airlines, 2001
16. THE MNE IN THE PUBLIC EYE
• The MNE has been both lauded and vilified for its
impact on host and home countries.
• Among the more positive attributes are:
• MNEs provide knowledge, capital, technology, expertise,
global affiliations, contributions to national productivity and
exports, innovation, employment, and societal change.
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17. THE MNE IN THE PUBLIC EYE
• Among the negative attributes are:
• the MNE is perceived as a threat to national
sovereignty
• have unfair advantages over local competition
• exploit government incentives at the expense of
taxpayers
• limit knowledge transfer to developing nations
• exploit critical national and natural resources
• move on when their exploitation is finished
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18. THE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE OF
THE MNE
• The MNE generally has large capital, human, brand,
and technological resource base, it can use many
countries.
• Global spread provides MNEs with:
• diversification so they can compensate for SBU low
performance and uncertainty
• helps them overcome entry barriers and high start up costs.
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19. MNE’S CAPABILITIES
• MNE Capabilities
• Firm capabilities
• Familiarity with national culture, industrial structure, and
government requirements
• Existing relationships with customers, suppliers, regulators
• Strategic capabilities
• Technological assets (patents, trade secrets, proprietary
designs, product development)
• Managerial skills
• International experience
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20. MNE’S CAPABILITIES
• Capability Deployment
• MNE’s must transfer critical capabilities unavailable to local
players.
• Technological and financial capabilities are more
transferable than organizational skills.
• Capability Upgrading
• Learning capability – the capacity to generate ideas and
acquire new knowledge.
• More transferable than firm resources.
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21. THE MNE FROM EMERGING /
DEVELOPING ECONOMIES (DMNE)
• MNEs from developed nations typically dominate
global business.
• DMNEs, however, are making inroads.
• DMNEs face the following constraints and
advantages:
• Resource constraints.
• Knowledge, sophistication constraints.
• Sheltered environment constraints.
• Home government support.
• Flexibility
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22. THE LARGEST DEVELOPING
COUNTRY MNES
• DMNE Scale
• Median DFI holding for a top 50 DMNE in 1998 was $1.5
billion, versus $14 billion for a global 100.
• DMNE Industries
• Largest group consists of diversified firms
• Electronics, petroleum, and food/beverage
• The National Affiliation of DMNEs
• Dominated by South, Southeast, and East Asia
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24. THE LARGEST DEVELOPING
COUNTRY MNES
Exhibit 4-11: Industry composition of the largest 50
MNEs from developing countries
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25. THE LARGEST DEVELOPING
COUNTRY MNES
Exhibit 4-12: Country composition of the largest 50
MNEs from developing economies
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26. OBSTACLES FACING MNES FROM
DEVELOPING ECONOMIES
• Resource Constraints
• Capital investment, lack of reputation, brand recognition
• Lack of Knowledge
• Experience in foreign operations, lack of production,
marketing and management skills
• Sheltered Environment
• Protected by duties, lack of knowledge and expertise from
conducting international business
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27. DMNE ADVANTAGE IN GLOBAL
MARKETS
• Home Government Support
• Impact of the DMNE on the national economy
• Shields the firm from the marketplace, hampering its
capability development
• Flexibility
• Lower production scale permits flexibility and adaptation
• Less investment sunk in older plants and technologies
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28. TYPICAL FEATURES OF DMNES
Internationalization Patterns
To develop ownership advantages
To serve as intermediaries
To overcome import quotas in developed
markets
To reduce risk via diversification
Focus on Other Developing Markets
More likely to have greater share of FDI in other
developing markets.
Reliance on Third Parties
To compensate for resource shortages
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29. TYPICAL FEATURES OF DMNES
• Governance
• Less likely to be publicly traded, and tightly controlled
• Industry Domain
• More likely to be in manufacturing
• Bargaining Power
• Lack bargaining power in the host country
• Strategy
• More likely to compete on price than on product
differentiation
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30. WHAT IS AN SMIE?
• The SMIE is a “small to medium sized organization”
• SMIEs account for approximately 94% of all
international firms.
• They often face serious obstacles to
internationalization.
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31. WHAT IS AN SMIE?
Exhibit 4-14: Small companies can be international
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32. OBSTACLES TO SMIE
INTERNATIONALIZATION
• Scale and Transaction Constraints
• Access to Capital
• Lack of Knowledge
• Lack of Market Power
• Vulnerability to Intellectual Property Violations
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34. SMIE INTERNATIONALIZATION
FEATURES
• International Motivation
• Push factors – competitive pressures in its domestic market
• Pull factors – make foreign locations more attractive
• Management factors – managerial commitment and
resources devoted to international activity
• Chance factors – unforeseen circumstances that create
internationalization opportunities
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35. SMIE INTERNATIONALIZATION
FEATURES
• Internationalization Patterns
• Often not incremental, often “leapfrog” into international
markets
• SMNE Exporter Profile
• 97% of U.S. exporters are small businesses
• Exporter Demographics
• SMIE Foreign Investment Profile
• At present relatively small, but growing
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36. SMIE INTERNATIONALIZATION
FEATURES
• Chance Expansion
• SMIEs respond to incidental opportunity
• Nature of FDI by SMIEs
• Emphasis on Developed Markets
• More likely to invest in developed markets
• Selective Globalization
• Tend to focus on one link in the supply chain and on a selected
market
• Strategy
• Often adopt niche strategies
• Rely more on cooperative strategies
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37. BORN INTERNATIONAL
• A business organization that from inception seeks
competitive advantages from the use of resources
and sale of output in multiple countries.
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