This book presents a world survey of multinational firms in the key parts of the service sector. The service sector has grown greatly in importance in recent years in many countries of the world. Many of the key parts of the service sector that are growing most rapidly are dominated by large multinational firms and this has important implications for the future shape of the world economy and for closer economic integration between countries. In addition, the particular style and operations of multinational firms in one sector can provide useful lessons for multinational enterprise in other sectors. The book examines the operations and the style of the firms considered and explores how they dominate their sectors. It charts how the firms have developed, discusses the critical issues facing them; and suggests how present trends may continue in the future.

This book presents a world survey of multinational firms in the key parts of the service sector. The service sector has grown greatly in importance in recent years in many countries of the world. Many of the key parts of the service sector that are growing most rapidly are dominated by large multinational firms and this has important implications for the future shape of the world economy and for closer economic integration between countries. In addition, the particular style and operations of multinational firms in one sector can provide useful lessons for multinational enterprise in other sectors. The book examines the operations and the style of the firms considered and explores how they dominate their sectors. It charts how the firms have developed, discusses the critical issues facing them; and suggests how present trends may continue in the future.

This volume assesses the situation for multinationals at the beginning of the 1990s, bringing together contributions from academics recognized as world leaders in the field and from practitioners with wide experience in international management. Drawing on perspectives from Europe, the USA and Japan, the contributors outline the shape of the global firm of the future. They focus squarely on the development of the corporation as a whole, rather than on the narrow management of individual foreign subsidiaries, and they also explore the specific implications for areas such as strategic planning systems, financial management, information systems and R & D management.

In this book leading contributors look at the development of the evolutionary approach to international business, the internationalization of service industries and the implications of the changing face of Europe for international business in the 1990s. Providing an excellent blend of theory, analysis and case-study material, this volume is a vital resource for students of international business and related fields.

Until this book was published little had appeared on the matter of the organization of production in oil gathering. This book: Describes the global offshore oil supply industry and its features on one of the world’s major offshore oil services bases Draws on the theory of the multinational corporation to explain why buyers and sellers should have internationalized themselves into a symbiotic relationship Discusses the preference of the oil companies for vertical disintegration Explains the transaction cost paradigm Integrates the largely American literature on the transaction cost paradigm with the literature on the multinational corporation (which is largely British).

Until this book was published little had appeared on the matter of the organization of production in oil gathering. This book: Describes the global offshore oil supply industry and its features on one of the world’s major offshore oil services bases Draws on the theory of the multinational corporation to explain why buyers and sellers should have internationalized themselves into a symbiotic relationship Discusses the preference of the oil companies for vertical disintegration Explains the transaction cost paradigm Integrates the largely American literature on the transaction cost paradigm with the literature on the multinational corporation (which is largely British).