عنوان

States and firms :

Number

TLets287047

Title Proper

States and firms :

General Material Designation

[Thesis]

First Statement of Responsibility

Sally, Mohomed Razeen.

Title Proper by Another Author

the political economy of French and German multinational enterprises in international competition.

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London)

Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.

1991

Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree

Ph.D.

Body granting the degree

London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London)

Text preceding or following the note

1991

Text of Note

This thesis entails the examination of the internationalisationduring the 1980s of the twelve leading French and German-ownedmultinational enterprises [MNEs] in chemicals and electronics.They represent a significant part of the phenomenon of EuropeanownedMNEs taking their places alongside U.S. and JapaneseownedMNEs as the main commercial actors in internationalcompetition. MNEs in the chemical and electronics sectors havebeen selected for analysis because they are technology-intensivein many of their businesses, which are at the cutting-edge ofindustry globalisation.This process of recent internationalisation is used to addressa problematique that goes to the roots of institutional politicaleconomy : how and why has the internationalisation of theseMNEs interacted with their "embeddedness" in the domesticstructures of the French and German political economies,particularly in terms of their power relationships with externalactors such as the home governments and financial institutions ?What are the French-German comparisons involved ?The primary political economy themes are as follows : theMNEs' roles as political actors, especially viewed in terms of theirbargaining power relations with the home [central] governments;home government industrial policy vis-â-vis the MNEs; MNEfinancial relations with banks in France and Germany; MNEpolitical activity at the level of the European Community -- themain geographical focus of internationalisation -- which isespecially evident in technology policy.The empirical argument presented is thatinternationalisation imparts a dynamic that induces convergenceeffects between the French and German political economies, mostimportantly in the manner in which the MNEs are embedded inthem. Such convergence is however limited and qualified by theenduring differences in the constitution of state-finance-industrylinkages in France and Germany.It is argued that the primary theoretical contribution of thisstudy is the inclusion of a business organisation approach, at thelevel of the firm, to put the spotlight on fundamental questions of political economy. Research in political economy has tended tooverlook the role of the firm. The changes wrought by theinternationalisation of business urgently require better firm-levelconceptualisation and empirical research.

Management & business studies

Sally, Mohomed Razeen.

London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London)

Electronic name

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y