Multinational enterprises have become one of the distinctive institutions of our times. Controversy over their economic and political effects, and over appropriate public policy responses, has become common in home and host countries and in international agencies. Much of this debate is reminiscent of the role of large corporations generally, particularly in their interregional and intergroup effects. The multinational setting, however, would have raised distinctive issues even apart from the strong surges of nationalism and anti-imperialism which have marked recent history. Canada has a long and unusual experience with such enterprises. Foreign control of capital in the nonfinancial industries (manufacturing, petroleum and gas, other mining and smelting, utilities, merchandising) was already 20 percent in 1930 and 25 percent in 1948. It rose to 36 percent by the late 1960s, but has since receded to about 30 percent. In 1975, fully 55 percent of the capital in manufacturing was controlled outside Canada, as was 72 per cent of that in petroleum and gas, and 58 percent in other mining. These figures exceed those of other developed countries, although there have been striking increases in recent decades. About 80 percent of the direct invest ment capital in Canada is from the United States. Recently, Canadians have xi xii FOREWORD become aware of a surge of Canadian direct investment abroad, which on a flow basis has exceeded inflows (exclusive of retained earnings) for most of the 1970s.

From the back cover: Richard Wright's study chronicles and analyses the Japanese business presence in Canada. It reveals several distinguishing characteristics of Japanese investment, which should help allay some traditional Canadian concerns about foreign investment. Japanese investment is small in proportion to the total volume of Canada-Japan trade. Moreover, unlike other traditional foreign investors, who generally seek to gain direct control of affiliated companies in Canada, Japanese investors aim primarily to secure reliable flows of raw materials. Because the Japanese emphasis is on trade rather than on investment flows, a high proportion of Japanese investment is in the form of loans rather than equity, and the Japanese often take minority holdings or enter into joint ventures. The role of Japanese investment is thus a very different one from that which has been a source of concern about foreign ownership in Canada.

This book surveys the contributions that economic analysis has made to our understanding of why multinational enterprises exist.

The articles in this volume explore aspects of multinational enterprises & apply the theory of internalization to North America, Europe & Japan. Rugman provides the reader with insights into the intellectual & personal history of the papers.

This book examines the international technology transfer process and the role of both multinationals and host-country governments in that process, with emphasis on the experience of the more developed countries. It explores a range of issues and presents much original thinking and research findings. It discusses in particular the strategies of the multinationals, assessing how far they are willing to accept technology transfer to external partners (as opposed to subsidiaries which they can control). It also examines how far technical transfers are successful from the viewpoint of the firm and countries involved, arguing that governments are most likely to succeed in attracting multinational transfers if they are aware of and accommodate to some degree multinationals’ preferences.

The volumes in this set, originally published between 1955 and 1993, draw together research by leading academics in the area of multinationals and provides a rigorous examination of related key issues. The volumes examine foreign investment and currency translation, environmental control issues and the impact of multinationals on the British economy. This set will be of particular interest to students of business studies.