Multinational Enterprise Political Risk And Organisational Change

Hitherto, the organization of international business has been studied mostly from a managerial point of view or by examining the relationship between firms and the economy. Yet, the development of the modern, multinational firm - the most important type of business organisation - has been strongly influenced by the conflicts that bedeviled the twentieth century. The volatile macroeconomic and political environments experienced by international business point to how important it is to study political risk. Consequently, Multinational Enterprise, Political Risk and Organisational Change: From Total War to Cold War breaks new ground: it argues that non-market elements and historical context are key to understanding the way international business has been organised. This edited volume offers an historical approach to analysing how multinational enterprise has developed over time and around the world, through a series of well-crafted chapters, on important topics in international economic and business history, written by authorities in their respective fields of study and research. The study is based on the underlying premise that the coming of the two World Wars, the devastating and long-term consequences of such total wars, and the ideological challenge of the Cold War acted as a pivot points in shaping the nature and character of multinational firms. By examining such phenomena, this study offers insights to anyone who has an interest in business, economic or political history, management and business studies, or international relations. Chapter 1 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

This book is about political risk for multinational companies. It describes and analyzes the complex, conflicting relationships between politics and international business. First, a theoretical framework is meticulously constructed. Second, a new dataset on political risk is presented and analyzed. Third, a statistical investigation of the relationship between risks and the location decisions of multinationals is performed. Eye-catching examples of political risk phenomena - such as kidnappings, nationalizations, and armed conflicts - are presented and commented upon throughout the text. The broad focus and real-world examples will provide valuable lessons for business managers, government officials, political risk analysts, and insurers and, more broadly, all students of global affairs and international business.

The accurate assessment of political risk can make the difference between success and failure for a multinational corporation, which must keep corporate objectives in sight while operating in a large number of widely varying environments. While environmental or political risk assessment has become an explicit function in many firms and is inherent in all foreign investment, the uncertainties of foreign political environments continue to pose critical problems for managers. In Managing Political Risk Assessment, Stephen J. Kobrin describes and analyzes the techniques of political risk assessment employed by U.S. multinationals. His analysis draws on organizational theory, economics, political science, and international relations. The study reveals that those charged with political risk assessment have often not been fully integrated into the core of the managerial process, information from subsidiaries is often biased, and the flow of data is poorly controlled. As a result, virtually all firms experience difficulties in using environmental assessment in planning and making decisions. Kobrin persuasively argues that the thorough integration of the assessment function into the managerial process is a necessary step, as the need for political risk assessment intensifies with the increased interaction between international business and its social and political surroundings. Political scientists, institutional economists, managers, and students and teachers of international business will all profit from Kobrin’s excellent synthesis of knowledge in this area of scholarly interest. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1982.

Essay from the year 2011 in the subject Business economics - Marketing, Corporate Communication, CRM, Market Research, Social Media, grade: 1,3, University of St Andrews (School of Management), language: English, abstract: Identify the main types of political risk encountered by multinational corporations and discuss how these risks can be minimized. Introduction The controversy between the Kazak government and the Italian oil company ENI about the exploitation of Kashagan ́s oil fields is only one out of many cases, in which political violence acts or governmental decisions threatened foreign investments of a multinational enterprise (MNE). In April 2006, the Dacion and Jusepin oil fields, operated by ENI and the French company Total, were taken over by the Venezuelan government, because they rejected to change their business operations into joint ventures with the state-owned oil company PDVSA (Ferrari and Rolfini 2008). Stated by Kesternich and Schnitzer (2009) some recent empirical studies identified that for MNEs political risk is one of the most important factors when considering a foreign investment. Foreign investments nowadays seem to be even more risky in terms of pollution that result in natural catastrophes such as caused by BP (Heller 2011), cultural conflicts or political disturbances for which Lybia (Yang 2011) represents a recent example and an increasing social disparity (Bloch, Koepplinger and Wolfrum 2007) [...]

In a competitive and increasingly internationalised business world, many companies rely on the high risk/reward ratio of operating in unstable areas. Those companies willing to engage in emerging or developing countries can often be exposed to a politically volatile environment over which they have little control. Political risk, therefore, is one of the most hazardous challenges that an international business can face. In A Short Guide to Political Risk you will find a business-centric introduction to political risk that will familiarise international managers with the concept and accelerate the learning curve towards proficient and coherent political risk management. Robert McKellar explores: the key political risks that companies have faced in the recent past, and current trends in the evolution of the political risk landscape; the concept of political risk and its constituent elements; models and approaches for assessing political risk; the principal options for managing political risk, and suggestions for organisational structures to ensure a coherent and consistent approach; as well as wider issues that a company needs to consider in developing its own attitude and philosophy on political risk. A Short Guide to Political Risk is an essential introductory guide for risk managers and for all senior managers concerned with their organisation's global performance and reputation.

In der Unternehmensgeschichte wurde das Thema "Sicherheit" bislang wenig systematisch bearbeitet. Der Band macht einen ersten Versuch, die Ansätze der Historischen Sicherheitsforschung auf Unternehmen anzuwenden und die historische Dynamik von "Sicherheit" jenseits statischer Risikobegriffe an Fallbeispielen seit dem späten 19. Jahrhundert zu analysieren. Gemäß den theoretischen Annahmen der Historischen Sicherheitsforschung gehen wir davon aus, dass die konkrete Bedeutung von "Sicherheit" im jeweiligen historischen Zusammenhang verhandelt wurde. Die Sicherheitserwartungen von Unternehmen können nicht allein aus ihrer Orientierung an Marktrisiken erklärt werden. Ihre Wahrnehmung von Risiko und Gefahr folgte historisch wandelbaren "Sicherheitsgrammatiken". Mit Beiträgen von Marcus Böick, Christian Kleinschmidt, Mark Jakob & Nina Kleinöder, Sabine Pitteloud, Kristin Stanwick Bårnås, Christian Marx, Ole Sparenberg, Sascha Brünig und Eva Schäffler. Dieser Band steht im Zusammenhang mit der Nomos-Schriftenreihe "Politiken der Sicherheit", die vom Sonderforschungsbereich/Transregio 138 "Dynamiken der Sicherheit" an den Universitäten Marburg und Gießen herausgegeben und unterstützt wird.

'A challenging research monograph that will appeal to international business scholars in the area of transaction cost economics (TCE), political risk, multinational enterprise (MNE) host country bargaining, and international joint ventures. It offers both theoretical and empirical advances in this area.' - Alan Rugman, Journal of International Business Studies