Publications

January 1973 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Tyler Abrasives, Inc.

Involves multinational pricing policy. Should a multinational industrial products supplier, with plants on several continents, grant a single worldwide price on given products to multinational customers who purchase on several continents? If so, what should the... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Marketing Strategy; Price; Multinational Firms and Management; Sales; Industrial Products Industry

29 Jun 2010
First Look

First Look: June 29

foreign direct investment (FDI) in determining micro economic performance. Using a new worldwide dataset that reports the activities of more than 12 million establishments before and after 2008, we investigate how multinationals around... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

August 2012
Article

Surviving the Global Financial Crisis: Foreign Ownership and Establishment Performance

By: Laura Alfaro and Maggie Chen

We examine the differential response of establishments to the recent global financial crisis with particular emphasis on the role of foreign ownership. Using a worldwide establishment panel dataset, we investigate how multinational subsidiaries around the world... View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Financial Crisis; Multinational Firms and Management; Analytics and Data Science; Business Subsidiaries; Production; Finance; Performance; Ownership

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15 Dec 2009
First Look

First Look: Dec. 15, 2009

Working PapersThe Global Networks of Multinational Firms Authors:Laura Alfaro and Maggie Chen Abstract In this paper we characterize the topology of global multinational networks and examine the macro and... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

23 Feb 2004
Research & Ideas

How Corporate Responsibility is Changing in Asia

To what extent do multinational corporations have an institutional obligation to the Asian countries in which they serve, and does that obligation include holding higher standards than Asian law requires? These questions were debated at... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

12 Sep 2016
Research & Ideas

What Brands Can Do to Monitor Factory Conditions of Suppliers

brand-name multinationals that contract out the work. “In a sense, global supply chains are serving a regulatory function, with companies imposing an additional layer of rules and investing resources to enforce them,” says Harvard... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

December 2009
Article

Intra-Industry Foreign Direct Investment

By: Laura Alfaro and Andrew Charlton

We use a new firm-level dataset that establishes the location, ownership, and activity of 650,000 multinational subsidiaries. Using a combination of four-digit-level information and input-output tables, we find the share of vertical FDI (subsidiaries that provide... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Competency and Skills; Foreign Direct Investment; Geographic Location; Multinational Firms and Management; Industry Structures; Production

I am a doctoral student in the business economics program. I received a B.A. in Economics from Dartmouth College in 2019 and my main interests are in the topics of international trade and urban economics. My current research focuses on the role of big... View Details

July 1996 (Revised January 1998)
Case

Vietnam: Market Entry Decisions

The management of three U.S. multinationals have to decide whether to enter the Vietnam market and, if so, how. View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Market Entry and Exit; Emerging Markets; Viet Nam; United States

08 Jul 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Surviving the Global Financial Crisis: Foreign Direct Investment and Establishment Performance

Keywords: by Laura Alfaro & Maggie Chen

October 2002 (Revised March 2009)
Background Note

Foreign Direct Investment

By: Laura Alfaro and Esteban Clavell

Briefly reviews motivations and trends behind foreign direct investment and multinational corporations as well as the policy debate that surrounds them. View Details

Keywords: International Finance; Foreign Direct Investment; Multinational Firms and Management; Policy; Business and Government Relations

2019
Chapter

International Business and Emerging Markets in Historical Perspective

By: Geoffrey Jones

This chapter examines international business in emerging markets over the long run. It shows how the strategies of Western multinationals evolved over time. In the first era of globalization in the 19th century, Western firms sought access to resources, and they faced... View Details

Keywords: Emerging Markets; Business History; Multinational Firms and Management; Globalization

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Research Summary

Surviving the Global Financial Crisis: Foreign Ownership and Establishment Performance

By: Laura Alfaro

We examine the differential response of establishments to the recent global financial crisis with particular emphasis on the role of foreign ownership. Using a worldwide establishment panel dataset, we investigate how multinational subsidiaries around the world... View Details

03 Apr 2006
Research & Ideas

The Competitive Advantage of Global Finance

In the process, he shows how organizations can best equip themselves to take advantage of potential sources of competitive advantage that arise in the global setting. In International Finance: A Casebook, Desai provides case studies on how large View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services

June 2007 (Revised September 2021)
Case

Thomas J. Watson, IBM and Nazi Germany

By: Geoffrey Jones, Grace Ballor and Adrian Brown

Considers the strategy of U.S.-owned IBM, then a manufacturer of punch cards, in Nazi Germany before 1937. Opens with IBM CEO Thomas J. Watson meeting Adolf Hitler in his capacity as President of the International Chamber of Commerce. IBM had acquired a German company... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Values and Beliefs; Multinational Firms and Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Investment; Business and Government Relations; Germany; United States

November 1984 (Revised October 1989)
Case

Dow Corning Corp.: Business Conduct and Global Values (A)

Describes the development and ongoing operation of the Business Conduct Committee of Dow Corning Corp. as an example of managing corporate values in a multinational enterprise. View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Values and Beliefs; Multinational Firms and Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

February 2003 (Revised November 2006)
Case

Silvio Napoli at Schindler India (A)

By: Christopher A. Bartlett, Michael Y. Yoshino and Perry Fagan

A young Italian MBA working for a Swiss multinational is sent to India to establish a subsidiary and implement the strategy he prepared at headquarters as a strategic planner. This case focuses on three core strategic decisions he must make as his plan is challenged by... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Decisions; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Employees; Management Teams; Strategic Planning; India; Switzerland

December 2015
Article

Entrepreneurial Imagination and a Demand and Supply-side Perspective on the MNE and Cross-border Organization

By: Geoffrey Jones and Christos Pitelis

This article explores the role of entrepreneurial imagination on the international expansion of multinational enterprises. The focus is on supply- and demand-side factors that help explicate cross-border expansion. The article explores how appropriability-informed and... View Details

Keywords: Imagination; Globalization; History; Entrepreneurship; Multinational Firms and Management; Africa; Asia; Europe; North and Central America