The International Operations of National Firms: A Study of Direct Foreign Investment

TLDR: The story about the delayed publication of this seminal work is by now probably familiar to most specialists in international business as discussed by the authors, and it is a belated recognition of the brillance of Hymer's thesis.

Abstract: The story about the delayed publication of this seminal work is by now probably familiar to most specialists in international business. As reported in his laudatory introduction, Professor Kindleberger recommended Hymer's doctoral dissertation for publication by the M.I.T. Press in 1960. The publication committee of the Department of Economics at M.l.T. rejected publication of the thesis, one of the reasons being that "the argument was too simple and straightforward." Hymer apparently did not bother to have the thesis chapters submitted for journal publication, and so it was left to Kindleberger to advertise the thesis in his textbook on international economics. Professor Kindleberger is also too modest to mention that his own first rate book on American Business Abroad is a brilliant summary and extension of Hymer's theoretical work. In any case the 1960 Hymer thesis became a basic reference in all subsequent work on the multinational corporation (MNC), but one which many readers found hard to acquire. Its recent publication is to be welcomed, and is a belated recognition by M.I.T. of the brillance of Hymer's thesis.