Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Limits of Explanation: Testing the Internalisation Theory of the Multinational Enterprise

  • Chapter
The Multinational Enterprise

  • 100 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter is an exploration of the difficulties of testing the internalisation approach in the modern theory of the multinational enterprise (MNE). It examines the structure of the theory and attempts to cover those factors that would refute the theory. Previous attempts to test the theory are examined in the third section and the chapter concludes with the view that there is a need to sharpen up the theory to allow crucial experiments and to discriminate between alternative approaches. The paper attempts to steer a course between complacency on the one hand and nihilism on the other and between excessive generality and over concentration on detail

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • AHARONI, YAIR (1966) The Foreign Investment Decision Process (Boston, Mass.: Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University).

    Google Scholar 

  • BUCKLEY, PETER J. (1983a) ‘New Theories of International Business: Some Unresolved Issues’, in Mark Casson (ed.) The Growth of International Business (London: George Allen & Unwin).

    Google Scholar 

  • BUCKLEY, PETER J. (1983b) ‘Macroeconomic Versus the International Business Approach to Direct Foreign Investment: A Comment on Professor Kojima’s Approach’, Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics, June 1, pp. 95–100.

    Google Scholar 

  • BUCKLEY, PETER J. (1985) ‘The Economic Analysis of the Multinational Enterprise: Reading Versus Japan?’ Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics, December, 2, pp. 117–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • BUCKLEY, PETER J. and MARK CASSON (1976) The Future of the Multinational Enterprise (London: Macmillan).

    Google Scholar 

  • BUCKLEY, PETER J. and MARK CASSON (1981) ‘The Optimal Timing of a Foreign Direct Investment’, Economic Journal, March, pp. 75–87.

    Google Scholar 

  • BUCKLEY, PETER J. and MARK CASSON (1985) The Economic Theory of the Multinational Enterprise: Selected Papers (London: Macmillan).

    Google Scholar 

  • BUCKLEY, PETER J., JOHN H. DUNNING and R. D. PEARCE (1978) ‘The influence of firm size, industry, nationality and degree of multinationality on the growth and profitability of the world’s largest firms 1962–72’, Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv, June 2, pp. 243–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • BUCKLEY, PETER J., JOHN H. DUNNING and R. D. PEARCE (1984) ‘An Analysis of the Growth and Profitability of the World’s Largest Firms 1967 to 1977’, Kyklos, 1, pp. 3–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • BUCKLEY, PETER J. and R. D. PEARCE (1979) ‘Overseas Production and Exporting by the World’s Largest Enterprises — A Study in Sourcing Policy’, Journal of International Business Studies, Spring/Summer, 1, pp. 9–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • BUCKLEY, PETER J. and R. D. PEARCE (1981) ‘Market Servicing by Multinational Manufacturing Firms: Exporting Versus Foreign Production’, Managerial and Decision Economics, December, 4, pp. 229–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • BUCKLEY, PETER J. and R. D. PEARCE (1981) ‘Exports in the Strategy of Multinational Firms’, Journal of Business Research, June, 2, pp. 209–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • CASSON, MARK (1981) ‘Foreword’ to Alan M. Rugman, Inside the multinationals (London: Croom Helm).

    Google Scholar 

  • CASSON, MARK (1982) The Entrepreneur: An economic theory (Oxford: Martin Robertson).

    Google Scholar 

  • CASSON, MARK and associates (1986) Multinationals and World Trade (London: George Allen & Unwin).

    Google Scholar 

  • CONTRACTOR, FAROK J. and PETER LORANGE (eds) (1987) Co-operative Strategies in International Business (Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books, D. C. Heath).

    Google Scholar 

  • DUNNING, JOHN H. (1981) International Production and the Multinational Enterprise (London: George Allen & Unwin).

    Google Scholar 

  • ETHIER, WILFRED J. (1986) ‘The Multinational Firm’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, November, 4, pp. 805–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • GIDDY, IAN H. and STEPHEN YOUNG (1982) ‘Conventional Theory and Unconventional Multinationals: Do New Forms of Multinationals Require New Theories’, in Alan M. Rugman (ed.) New Theories of the Multinational Enterprise, (London: Croom Helm).

    Google Scholar 

  • GRUBEL, H. G. (1968) ‘Internationally Diversified Portfolios: Welfare Gains and Capital Flows’, American Economic Review, pp. 1299–314.

    Google Scholar 

  • HELPMAN, ELHANAN (1984) ‘A Simple Theory of International Trade with Multinational Corporations’, Journal of Political Economy, June 3, pp. 451–71.

    Google Scholar 

  • HENNART, JEAN-FRANCOIS (1982) A Theory of the Multinational Enterprise (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • HYMER, STEPHEN H (1971) ‘The Multinational Corporation and the Law of Uneven Development’, in J. N. Bhagwati (ed.) Economics and World Order (New York: World Law Fund).

    Google Scholar 

  • JONES, RONALD W and FUMIO DEI (1983) ‘International Trade and Foreign Investment: A Simple Model’, Economic Inquiry, October: 449–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • RAY NEIL M. (1983) ‘Multinational Enterprise: A Review Article’, Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 3, pp. 304–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • KNICKERBOCKER, FREDERICK T. (1973) Oligopolistic Reaction and Multinational Enterprise (Boston, Mass.: Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University).

    Google Scholar 

  • KOJIMA, K. and T. OZAWA (1984a) ‘Micro and Macro Economic Models of Direct Foreign Investment: Towards a Synthesis’, Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics, 1, pp. 1–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • KOJIMA, K. and T. OZAWA (1984b) Japan’s General Trading Companies: Merchants of Economic Development (Paris: OECD).

    Google Scholar 

  • KRUGMAN, PAUL R. (1979) ‘Increasing Returns, Monopolistic Competition and International Trade’, Journal of International Economics, pp. 469–80.

    Google Scholar 

  • LEIBENSTEIN, HARVEY (1979) ‘A Branch of Economics is Missing: Micro-micro Theory’, Journal of Economic Literature, pp. 477–502.

    Google Scholar 

  • MARKUSEN, JAMES R. (1984) ‘Multinationals, Multi-plant Economies and the Gains from Trade’, Journal of International Economics, pp. 205–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • PENROSE, EDITH T. (1958) ‘The Theory of the Growth of the Firm’, (Oxford: Basil Blackwell).

    Google Scholar 

  • PORTER, MICHAEL E. (1986) Competition in Global Industries (Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • RUGMAN, ALAN M. (1979) International diversification and the multinational enterprise (Lexington, Mass.: DC Heath).

    Google Scholar 

  • RUGMAN, ALAN M. (1986) ‘New Theories of the Multinational Enterprise: An Assessment of Internalisation Theory’, Bulletin of Economic Research, 2, pp. 101–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • RUGMAN, ALAN M. and JOHN McILVEEN (1985) Megafirms: Strategies for Canadian Multinationals (Toronto: Methuen).

    Google Scholar 

  • TEECE, DAVID J (1983) ‘Technological and Organisational Factors in the Theory of the Multinational Enterprise’, in Mark Casson (ed.) The Growth of International Business (London: George Allen & Unwin).

    Google Scholar 

  • VERNON, RAYMOND (1966) ‘International Investment and International Trade in the Product Cycle’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, pp. 190–207.

    Google Scholar 

  • VERNON, RAYMOND (1974) ‘The Location of Economic Activity’, in John H. Dunning (ed.) Economic Analysis and the Multinational Enterprise (London: George Allen & Unwin).

    Google Scholar 

  • WILKINS, MIRA (1970) The Emergence of Multinational Enterprise: American Business Abroad from the Colonial Era to 1914 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • WILKINS, MIRA (1974) The Maturing of Multinational Enterprise: American Business Abroad from 1914 to 1970 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • WILLIAMSON, OLIVER E. (1975) Markets and Hierarchies: Analysis and Antitrust Implications (New York: Free Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • WILLIAMSON, OLIVER E. (1985) The Economic Institutions of Capitalism: Firms, Markets, Relational Contracting (New York: Free Press).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bradford Management Centre, UK

    Peter J. Buckley (Professor of Managerial Economics)

Authors
  1. Peter J. Buckley
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Copyright information

© 1989 Peter J. Buckley

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Buckley, P.J. (1989). The Limits of Explanation: Testing the Internalisation Theory of the Multinational Enterprise. In: The Multinational Enterprise. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-11026-1_4

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation