Emerging Markets Multinational Corporations and the State: Implications
for Transnational Activity
Call for papers, special issue of “Critical Perspectives on
International Business”
The rise of multinational corporations (MNCs) from emerging markets has
been a major development during the last decade. Publications such as
the UNCTAD Global Investment Report and the FT Global 500 indicate the
increasing share of these companies among the world’s largest
multinationals. This development not only relates to the BRICs, but also
comprises companies from countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico
Saudi-Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan, Turkey and others.
Explaining the rather sudden rise of these companies has become somewhat
of a growth industry over the last years. (Brennan 2011, Sauvant et al.
2010). Various International Business scholars have developed or
modified long established analytical instruments in order to account for
the rise of these companies. Theories such as the Eclectic Paradigm
(Dunning 1986) or the Product Cycle Model (Wells 1983) have been
extended in order to account for the rise of these companies while
others such as the Linking, Leverage, Learning-approach (Mathews 2002)
have been proposed to address this novel phenomenon.
However, many of these approaches do not fully take into account that
the institutional and political background in the home states of these
companies may be quite different from the ones within most countries of
the established centre of the world economy and that this background may
be a very important one for understanding the transnational activity of
these corporations (Goldstein 2007, Ramamurti 2008). Moreover,
literature has only begun to address the implications of this
institutional background for the global economic order (Nölke and Taylor
2010, Nölke 2011).
This call for papers is based on the assumption that a major feature of
emerging market MNCs appears to be their close relationship with their
home country states. To be sure, many Western MNCs cultivate close
relationships with their home states as well (as, for instance, recently
witnessed in the financial sector), but this special issue will
investigate whether and where there is a special quality of relationship
between the state and major corporations stemming from countries outside
of the recent centre of the world economy, as well as explore how this
special quality affects the cross-border activities of these
corporations.
In order to study this claim, a number of topics may be highlighted that
might form the focus of individual contributions, both comprising of
specific public policies and more general structural issues. A first set
of topics looks at the role of (partial) state ownership/(former) public
enterprises among emerging markets MNCs, direct financial support by
(para-) state bodies, such as development banks or pension funds, as
well as the importance of close, formal or informal inter-personal
networks between major corporations and public officials in these
countries, as far as this proximity and these support measures directly
effect the cross-border operations of emerging market MNCs.
The close relationship between emerging markets multinationals and their
home states may, however, not be limited to a domestic issue.
Corporations and governments may also cooperate quite closely with
regard to trans-/international relations. A number of issues could be
explored in this context:
• Close relations between corporations and governments for gaining access to natural resources in other countries.
• Cooperation between emerging market MNCs and home state governments with regard to negotiations about global/regional economic regulation, e.g. with regard to the selective protection of intellectual property rights or to competition policies that are geared towards the support of emerging “national champions”.
• The non-enforcement of international regulations by home state governments, e.g. accounting and auditing standards or corporate governance regulations that prevent unfriendly take-overs, particularly by rival multinationals.
• The different role of these MNCs with regard to private transnational governance, e.g. with regard to social and environmental standards.
• The degree of integration of emerging market MNC managers in transnational organizations of the global capitalist class – vis-à-vis their primary identification with domestic state-based class networks.
Generally, the close relationship between these corporations and their
home states may be considered as a problematic affair, not only from the
perspective of liberals that despise any intervention of the state in
economic affairs. We welcome papers that give special attention to the
potential effects of this relationship with regard to:
• The concentration of economic and political power due to the collusion of public officials and MNC owners/managers and its effect for the cross-border operation of firms.
• Public policies that are biased towards the transnational expansion of big companies, thereby disadvantaging broad social groups (e.g. high consumer prices due to weak competition policies).
• The emergence of international tensions, due to the use of governments in order to further company strategies (or the use of corporations for political strategies).
In order to study the agenda outlined above, we seek contributions by
political scientists, political economists and critical business
scholars, but also from scholars with a background in sociology,
geography or business history. Moreover, we are seeking contributions
from all regions of the world, in particular from emerging market
economies.
Time schedule
The submission of manuscripts will follow a two step-approach. The first
round is based on an initial call for abstracts (300 – 500 words) with a
deadline of 15 March 2012. A selected number of authors will
subsequently be invited for an authors’ workshop on 18/19 June 2012 in
Parma/Italy, sponsored by the COST Action IS 0905 “The Emergence of
Southern Multinationals and their Impact on Europe”. Participation will
be open to both members of the COST Action and other scholars. Papers
for this workshop will be due 31 May 2012.
The submission deadline for manuscripts with CPoIB will be 1 December
2012, with initial reviewing to be completed by 28 February 2013,
revisions due by 1st May 2013, final decisions by 1 August 2013, and
anticipated publication in early 2014. Submission of manuscripts will be
open to all scholars, not limited to participants of the authors’
conference in June 2012.
Submissions should follow the author guidelines for Critical
Perspectives on International Business which can be found at
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/cpoib.htm.
Please direct questions, proposals and papers to the special issue to
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About the Guest Editor
Dr. Andreas Nölke is Professor of Political Science, with a special
focus on International Relations and International Political Economy at
Goethe University, Frankfurt. His research interests include comparative
capitalism, emerging markets, financialization, deep integration,
private governance and transnational policy networks. He has published
articles in leading journals such as World Politics, Review of
International Political Economy, Journal of Common Market Studies and
Business and Politics.
References
Brennan, L. ed. (2011), The Emergence of Southern Multinationals: Their
Impact on Europe, London/New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Dunning, J. H. (1986) “The Investment Development and Third World
Multinationals,” in K. M. Khan (ed.) Multinationals of the South: New
Actors in the International Economy, London/New York: Palgrave
Macmillan.
Goldstein, A. (2007), Multinational Companies from Emerging Economies,
London/New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Mathews, J. A. (2002) “Competitive Advantages of the Latecomer Firm: A
Resource-Based
Account of Industrial Catch-Up Strategies,” Asia Pacific Journal of
Management 19: 467-488.
Nölke, A (2011) “Non-triad Multinational Enterprises and Global Economic
Institutions, in: D. H. Claes and C. H. Knutsen (ed.), Governing the
Global Economy. Politics, Institutions, and Economic Development,
London/New York: Routledge.
Nölke, A and H. Taylor (2010), Non-triad Multinationals and Global
Governance: Still a North-South Conflict?, in: M. Ougaard/A. Leander
(eds.), Business and Global Governance, London/New York: Routledge.
Ramamurti, R. (2008) “What Have We Learned about Emerging-Market MNEs?,”
Paper
Prepared for Conference on Emerging Market Multinationals: Outward FDI
from Emerging and Developing Economies, 9-10 October 2008, Copenhagen:
Copenhagen Business School.
Sauvant, K. and G. McAllister with M. Maschek eds. (2010), Foreign
Direct Investments from Emerging Markets, London/New York: Palgrave
Macmillan.
Wells, L. T. (1983) Third World Multinationals: The Rise of Foreign
Investment from Developing Countries, Cambridge, Mass: The MIT Press.
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http://www.uni-frankfurt.de/ipe
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