BUSINESSES WITHOUT BOUNDARIES: A GEOGRAPHY OF CORPORATE POWER

Abstract

During the last decades, the literature on international business reflects a growing interest in the extension of the corporate networks and the status of the multinational corporations in the global economy. Firstly, in this study, we briefly summarize several aspects regarding to the strategic focus of the multinational corporations on the global market. Secondly, we intend to map business extension in the international environment from the perspective of regional concentration. In this regard, for each region we have aggregated the key performance indicators (assets, sales and employees) which reflect the magnitude of the activities of the companies included by UNCTAD in the Top 100 non-financial TNCs outside the home economic environment. Also, based on the algorithm for calculating the Transnationality Index we estimated an aggregate index for each home region of these companies. The main conclusion drawn from the study is that Europe is the most internationalised region; this tendency is underlined both by the value of the Transnationality Index at regional level and by the total value of the assets hold abroad by the companies which have the home location in the European economic environment. At the same time, from all the developed regions, Europe is the most attractive location for the implantation of the multinational corporations from outside.

During the last decades, the literature on international business reflects a growing interest in the extension of the corporate networks and the status of the multinational corporations in the global economy. Firstly, in this study, we briefly summarize several aspects regarding to the strategic focus of the multinational corporations on the global market. Secondly, we intend to map business extension in the international environment from the perspective of regional concentration. In this regard, for each region we have aggregated the key performance indicators (assets, sales and employees) which reflect the magnitude of the activities of the companies included by UNCTAD in the Top 100 non-financial TNCs outside the home economic environment. Also, based on the algorithm for calculating the Transnationality Index we estimated an aggregate index for each home region of these companies. The main conclusion drawn from the study is that Europe is the most internationalised region; this tendency is underlined both by the value of the Transnationality Index at regional level and by the total value of the assets hold abroad by the companies which have the home location in the European economic environment. At the same time, from all the developed regions, Europe is the most attractive location for the implantation of the multinational corporations from outside.