Multinational Enterprise and World Competition: A Comparative Study of the USA, Japan, the UK, Sweden and West Germany (University of Reading European and International Studies)

Multinational firms are often seen as controlling the secrets of industrial success, and conversely, as causing industrial decline. As a consequence their activites are the subject of intense debate. This study assesses the role of multinational enterprise in international competition - including trade and technology licensing - and analyses the profound implications that follow for policy formulation. This is the first book to use a systematic comparative approach, in which the experience of five major developed economies, the USA, Japan, the UK, Sweden and West Germany, are appraised using the framework of modern economic theory.