Multinationals and Global Capitalism From the Nineteenth to the Twenty First Century

This book provides a unique contribution to contemporary globalization debates by providing an accessible survey of the growth and role of multinational enterprises in the world economy over the last two hundred years. The author shows how entrepreneurs built a global economy in the
nineteenth century by creating firms that pursued resources and markets across borders. It demonstrates how multinationals shifted strategies as the first global economy disintegrated in the political and economic chaos between the two world wars, and how they have driven the creation of the
contemporary global economy.
Many of the issues of the global economy have been encountered in the past. This book shows how entrepreneurs and managers met the political, ethical, cultural and organizational challenges of operating across national borders at different times and in different environments. The role of
multinationals is placed within their wider political and economic context. There are chapters on the impact of multinationals, and on relations with governments.
The focus on the shifting roles of firms and industries over time rather than abstract trade and capital flows provides compelling evidence on the diversity and discontinuities of the globalization process. The book explains the history of multinationals across a wide spectrum of manufacturing,
service and natural resource industries from an international perspective, which ranges widely across different countries. It provides an essential historical framework for understanding global business.
An accessible survey of the history of international business worldwide, this book will be key reading for students taking courses inInternational Business, Business History, Multinationals, and Entrepreneurship; and of interest to academics and researchers working in these areas.

This book provides an essential historical framework for understanding global business. The author shows how entrepreneurs built a global economy in the nineteenth century by creating firms that pursued resources and markets across borders. It demonstrates how firms shifted strategies as the first global economy disintegrated in the political and economic chaos between the two world wars, and how they have driven the creation of the contemporary global economy. Many of the issues of the global economy have been encountered in the past. This book reveals how entrepreneurs and managers met the political, ethical, cultural, and organizational challenges of operating across borders at different times and in different environments. The role of multinationals is placed within their wider political and economic context. There are chapters on the impact of multinationals, and on relations with governments. The focus on the shifting roles of firms and industries over time provides compelling evidence on the diversity and discontinuities of the globalization process. The book explores the history of multinationals across a wide spectrum of manufacturing, service and natural resource industries. By providing an accessible survey of the history of international business worldwide, this book will be key reading for students taking courses in International Business, Business History, and Entrepreneurship; and of interest to academics and researchers working in these areas.

1 - Concepts
2 - Multinationals and Globalization
3 - Natural Resources
4 - Manufacturing
5 - Services
6 - Crossing Borders
7 - Managing Multinationals
8 - Public Policy
9 - Multinationals and Home Economies
10 - Engines of Growth?
11 - Conclusions
Appendix I - The world's top fifty non-financial multinationals, ranked by foreign assets, 2001
Appendix 2 - Glossary
Appendix 3 - Time Line

Joseph C. Wilson Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School. He previously taught at the universities of Cambridge and Reading, and at the London School of Economics, in the U.K. He is the author and editor of many books and articles on the history of international business, including British Multinational Banking 1830-1990 (OUP 1993) and Merchants to Multinationals (OUP 2000). He is a former President of both the European Business History Association and the Business History Conference of the United States, is co-editor of the journal Business History Review, and editor of the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Business History.

This book provides an essential historical framework for understanding global business. The author shows how entrepreneurs built a global economy in the 19th century by creating firms that pursued resources and markets across borders. It demonstrates how firms shifted as the first global economy disintegrated in the political and economic chaos between the two world wars, and how they have driven the creation of the contemporary global economy.