Multinational enterprises (MNEs) are the key drivers of globalization, as they foster increased economic interdependence among national markets. The ultimate test to assess whether these MNEs are global themselves is their actual penetration level of markets across the globe, especially in the broad ‘triad’ markets of NAFTA, the European Union and Asia. Yet, data on the activities of the 500 largest MNEs reveal that very few are successful globally. For 320 of the 380 firms for which geographic sales data are available, an average of 80.3% of total sales are in their home region of the triad. This means that many of the world’s largest firms are not global but regionally based, in terms of breadth and depth of market coverage. Globalization, in terms of a balanced geographic distribution of sales across the triad, thus reflects a special, and rather unusual, outcome of doing international business (IB). The regional concentration of sales has important implications for various strands of mainstream IB research, as well as for the broader managerial debate on the design of optimal strategies and governance structures for MNEs. Journal of International Business Studies (2004) 35, 3–18. doi:10.1057/palgrave. jibs.8400073

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A perspective on regional and global strategies of multinational enterprises

This study examines the impact of corruption on foreign direct investment (FDI). First, the level of corruption in the host country is analyzed. Second, the absolute difference in the corruption level between the host and home country is examined. The analysis provides support for the negative impacts of both. The results suggest that foreign investors generally avoid corruption because it is considered wrong and it can create operational inefficiencies.

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1057%2Fpalgrave.jibs.8491017.pdf

Corruption and Foreign Direct Investment

Drawing on organizational learning and economic sociology, we address how relational embeddedness between the foreign parent and international joint venture (IJV) managers influences the type of knowledge (i.e., tacit and explicit) transferred to the IJV, and how the importance of relational embeddedness varies between young and mature IJVs. We also examine the influence of tacit and explicit knowledge on IJV performance. Our results show the importance that tie strength, trust, and shared values and systems play in the transfer of tacit knowledge, especially for mature IJVs. Our findings are consistent with Uzzi's tenets: tacit learning is accumulative, assists in explaining explicit knowledge, and is enhanced by social embeddedness. We also find that the influence of transferred tacit knowledge on IJV performance stems principally from its indirect effect on the learning of explicit knowledge.

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1057%2Fpalgrave.jibs.8400098.pdf

Managing tacit and explicit knowledge transfer in IJVs: the role of relational embeddedness and the impact on performance

http://www.businessmodelcommunity.com/fs/Root/8oeyi-Doz.pdf

Embedding Strategic Agility A Leadership Agenda for Accelerating Business Model Renewal

Marketers are being challenged by a deluge of data that is well beyond the capacity of their organizations to comprehend and use. Their strategies are not keeping up with the disruptive effects of technology-empowered customers; the proliferation of media, channel, and customer contact points; or the possibilities for microsegmentation. Closing the widening gap between the accelerating complexity of their markets and the limited ability of their organizations to respond demands new thinking about marketing capabilities. Three adaptive capabilities are needed: (1) Vigilant market learning that enhances deep market insights with an advance warning system to anticipate market changes and unmet needs, (2) adaptive market experimentation that continuously learns from experiments, and (3) open marketing that forges relationships with those at the forefront of new media and social networking technologies and mobilizes the skills of current partners. The benefits of these adaptive capabilities will only ...

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Closing the Marketing Capabilities Gap

From the Publisher:
Becoming a global company once meant penetrating markets around the world. But the demands of the knowledge economy are turning this strategy on its head. Today, the challenge is to innovate by learning from the world . 
This book provides a blueprint for companies ready to embrace this new globalization challenge. In From Global to Metanational , international business and strategy experts Yves Doz, Jose Santos, and Peter Williamson introduce a radically different kind of company-the metanational-defined by three core capabilities: being the first to identify and capture new knowledge emerging all over the world; mobilizing this globally scattered knowledge to out-innovate competitors; and turning this innovation into value by producing, marketing, and delivering efficiently on a global scale. 
The authors explain why traditional global strategies are no longer sufficient to differentiate leading competitors, what the knowledge economy means for managers, and why opportunities to leverage globally dispersed knowledge are growing. Most important, they outline exactly how managers can build a metanational advantage for their own organizations by: 
* Prospecting for and accessing untapped pockets of technology and emerging consumer trends from around the world 
* Leveraging knowledge imprisoned in a multinational's local subsidiaries 
* Mobilizing this fragmented knowledge to generate innovations, profits, and shareholder value 
Drawing from the experiences of pioneering metanationals including STMicroelectronics, ARM, Acer, Nokia, Shiseido, and PolyGram, the book shows how today's multinationals can use their existing global networks to gain an important head start in the global game-and how newcomers can leapfrog traditional competitors by rapidly building a new-style metanational corporation. 
Must-reading for every leader-from the CEO of a new global venture, to the executive of a currently successful multinational, to the founder of an e-business startup getting ready to "go global"-this pathbreaking book shows how to reshape strategies to compete and win in the global knowledge economy. 
"From Global to Metanational brings fresh insights to the management of multinational enterprise in today's knowledge-intensive economy. Moving beyond the traditional view of promoting international expansion to win market access, this thoughtful yet practical book describes the next level of how companies must compete in the global arena. Written by three of the world's leading thinkers in the field of international management, this book will change the thinking of executives and scholars alike." 
Christopher Bartlett, Daewoo Professor of Business Management and Chair of the Program for Global Leadership, Harvard Business School Author Biography: Yves Doz is Timken Professor of Global Technology and Innovation at INSEAD. Jose Santos is Professor of International Management at INSEAD. Peter Williamson is Professor of International Management and Asian Business at INSEAD's Euro-Asia Centre.[EBK1]

From Global to Metanational: How Companies Win in the Knowledge Economy

From Global To : Metanational

Many companies have supply chains that are global. They start with the sourcing of components and raw materials from around the world, then move their basic manufacturing to low-cost locations overseas. But few organizations have innovation processes that are equally global. That is, rarely do businesses have innovation activities that integrate distinctive knowledge from around the world as effectively as global supply chains integrate far-flung sources of raw materials, labor, components and services. 

But some companies ? Nokia, Airbus, SAP and Starbucks, among them ? have managed to assemble an integrated "innovation chain" that is truly global. They have been able to implement a process for innovating that transcends local clusters and national boundaries, becoming what the authors call "metanational innovators." This process requires three steps: prospecting (finding relevant pockets of knowledge from around the world), assessing (deciding on the optimal "footprint" for a particular innovation) and mobilizing (using cost-effective mechanisms to move distant knowledge without degrading it).When done properly, metanational innovation can provide companies with a powerful new source of competitive advantage: more, higher-value innovation at lower cost.

Is Your Innovation Process Global

Not long ago, many observers worried that ever-expanding multinationals many of which had revenues exceeding the gross domestic products of smaller countries were going to take over the world. But as globalization marches onward, powerful local companies are increasingly winning out against multinational competitors. This is especially true in emerging markets, where multinationals are assumed to enjoy superiority and CEOs are counting on growth. In China, the ice cream, laundry detergent and appliance markets provide interesting examples of this phenomenon. Despite the presence of multinationals in these markets, the market-share leaders are local companies. A similar pattern is being repeated in other emerging markets. The authors note, however, that in some cases multinationals have been able to resist the market gains of local competition, whether through first-mover advantages or by acquiring the leading local players and nurturing their local identity and strengths. For decades, multinationals were able to make good returns by acting as efficient global conduits for assets that were difficult to transfer, including intangibles such as product designs, technologies, management systems and company cultures. Transfers within the multinational company were more efficient than obtaining those assets through open-market transactions. However, a number of forces have been eroding that advantage. First, in the drive to reduce costs, established multinationals increasingly focused on activities with the highest returns. This meant that lower-value activities were outsourced and often offshored to emerging economies, creating global markets in which local companies can also source components and services. The result is that once-closed value chains have been opened up, enabling local players to source plug-and-play modules that can be combined to create products very similar and sometimes superior to those of foreign multinationals. If multinationals are to succeed against local competition in emerging markets, the authors write, they need to move beyond the credo of integrate globally and adapt locally. They will need to create new advantages in target markets by integrating their businesses with the local commercial networks and the society itself. They will need to help shape local markets, rather than just adapt to them

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Jose Santos

Papers

From Global to Metanational: How Companies Win in the Knowledge Economy

From Global To : Metanational

Is Your Innovation Process Global

The new mission for multinationals

Discovering Strategy: Dealing with Uncertainty by Harnessing Serendipity