Multinational Enterprise and Transnational Regions offers an innovative approach to the study of the history of transnational economic regions. The Rhine valley is such a region comprising the cities and areas along the Rhine river and its tributaries. The transition from coal to oil that unfolded between 1945 and 1973 rapidly transformed the region, shattering some of the old river-based connections and creating new ones with the introduction of large-scale cross-border oil pipelines. Multinational enterprises shaped these new regional connections but divergent national government responses gave rise to differentiated development in different parts of the Rhine valley. Multinational Enterprise and Transnational Regions argues that processes of regional change should be understood from transnational interconnections rather than from local or national perspectives. This book uses a transnational business history methodology to tease out the region’s transformation and to circumvent the national bias in public sources. It will be of relevance to academics and researchers with an interest in regional and transnational European history, international business, environmental history, and business history, as well as practitioners interested in the oil industry, energy and energy history, business history and international business, and associated disciplines.

Aimed at senior undergraduate and post-graduate students following courses in International Business and Industrial Relations this book examines the labour market effects of multinational business. In reflecting the complexity and dynamism of developments in this area, the book makes clear the need to underpin analysis of the labour market effects of multinational business with conceptual understanding of the theory of multinational enterprise.

National competitiveness has become a misnomer, as competitiveness is increasingly understood as a regional phenomenon and regions are not confined to the boundaries of the nation state. This book focuses on the Port of Rotterdam and its hinterland – i.e. the Lower Rhine and the Ruhr area. A transnational perspective is imperative to understand the historical trajectories of the port, the hinterland and the region itself. This book brings geography and the transnational study of regions back into the historical discipline, linking places to larger geographical scales and to systems of production and consumption and the global chains in which they are organised. This book will be of interest to scholars and practitioners in urban studies, urban planning, public policy, geography and political science.

This book represents the first attempt to conceptualize the social and cultural impact of transnational enterprises on host nations and to provide empirical and analytical material on the subject. Well-known social scientists focus on three critical areas: social inequalities, knowledge systems, and lifestyles and values. Collectively, they advance

This study deals with the organisation of innovation projects of multinational companies. The focus is on learning processes which occur within the company group as well as those taking place between the company and its regional environment. This work establishes a bridge between organisational and regional learning. Three dilemmas of innovation can thereby be identified: the dilemma between formalisation and flexibilisation mirrors that organisations are defined as stable and structured entities whilst innovation is a process of renewal and change. The configuration dilemma reflects the choice between a concentrated setting and international dispersal of innovation activities. The dilemma of regional (dis)embeddedness points at the tension between exploiting available resources and pursuing a regionally detached strategy. Qualitative case-studies of specific innovation projects provide empirical in-depth insights. This book was awarded the first prize in the catagory Dissertations of the Weser-Ems-Wissenschaftspreis 2011.