Corporations and Structural Change in the World Economy

The major agents of change in the world economy are corporations. Firms do not act in a vacuum and the context - set by the government, consumers, suppliers, the level of extant technology and the culture of the countries in which the firms operate - plays a key part in determining the outcome of the changes they initiate. Further, firms are reactive as well as proactive. They react to the context and to other firms. This chapter examines current controversies in comparative economic structure, including the nature of competitiveness, the nature of the ‘Asian miracle’, the public/private sector divide, the role of trade blocs and the notion of the competition of cultures. These issues are presented as ‘new stylized facts’ which need to be explained by successful models of multinational enterprises (MNEs) (Buckley and Casson 1976, 1985). Finally, extant models of multinationals are discussed and extended by questioning traditional notions of ownership, exchange, competition and information.