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This article aims to analyze individual attitudes toward the impact of multinational enterprises (MNEs) on local businesses. These individual attitudes are important in understanding voters' preferences, which studies show to affect governmental policies. MNEs' market entry location decisions are conditioned by the host's political environment. Moreover, MNEs' attempts to attain legitimacy in their host contexts ultimately affect their bottom line, so how the public perceive MNEs matters.

Using a large‐scale data set, the paper carefully delineates between a set of potential mechanisms influencing individual attitudes to globalization in the context of individuals' attitudes toward the impact of MNEs on local businesses.

The article demonstrates that there is remarkable heterogeneity and complexity in individual attitudes toward the impact of MNEs on local businesses and that these attitudes differ across regions and across countries. It is found that better educated individuals, those employed in the private sector, and those who do not have nationalistic tendencies are more likely to consider that MNEs are not harming local firms, while the opposite holds for those who are employed in “less skilled” occupations, such as those working in plants or in elementary occupations. The article also provides evidence that individuals' attitudes are determined by more than the labor market calculations these individuals might have. In fact, the socializing influence of education and the socializing impact of the individuals' type/sector of occupation also significantly determine the individual attitudes under study.

This area of research remains substantially under‐developed in the literature that analyzes individual attitudes toward globalization, which focuses on individual attitudes toward trade and immigration. Thus, the article not only aims to broaden the work on individual attitudes toward globalization, but it also aims to facilitate further discussion on the specific topic of individual attitudes toward MNEs.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

This study aims to investigate how different academic fields within and outside of international business (IB) engage with the topics of social value creation in the context of multinational enterprises (MNEs). The aim is to take stock of the main themes and offer suggestions for future research avenues.

The paper undertakes a scoping review. The authors use the Web of Science database to identify relevant articles. The database search yielded 466 articles. The NVivo software was used to code and identify key thematic areas.

The matrix analysis performed in NVivo yielded 15 main thematic areas spanning 37 research fields. However, further analysis revealed that 89 per cent of the articles originated from 13 fields. Furthermore, while IB journals represent the second-largest field home to publications related to the social value creation of MNEs, they only account for 12 per cent of the sample.

The paper responds to prior calls to reduce disciplinary silos through the performing of a thematic analysis across a multitude of research fields.

The research empirically examines the role of artificial intelligence (AI) integrated with social customer relationship management (SCRM) in multinational enterprises (MNEs) towards international relationship management under social distancing conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study initially undertakes pertinently focused theoretical research in the fields of international marketing, knowledge management, and customer relationship management. And, utilizing the theories of resource-based view (RBV) and dynamic capability view (DCV) theory, the study develops a theoretical model that is subsequently empirically validated through a survey and structural equation modeling.

The study highlights the importance and means of adopting AI-integrated social CRM by MNEs, in the context of international relationship management, under the Covid-19 social distancing conditions. The study more specifically elucidates the role and significance of MNE leadership approach and support towards the adoption of AI-integrated social CRM systems and, ultimately, performance improvement of MNEs under such conditions.

The study presents insights and prescriptive explications on a topic at the heart of state-of the-art technology-based international marketing in the explicit context of the primary business-defining environment of the Covid-19 pandemic. The research provides practicable suggestions to MNEs' leadership towards the adoption of an AI-integrated social CRM system. And the study presents a unique model for international relationship management under social distancing conditions, potentially applicable during other crises.

The research is original and on a ‘fresh’ topic that combines the latest technological advancements in business (AI-integrated CRM) with the present critical business context (pandemic). The research develops a tested theoretical model that (a) is unique in its field; (b) provides a solid foundation for further research; (c) bears generic value and application during other-than-Covid-19 conditions; and (d) enhances the understanding of important fields of international marketing, including international customer relationship management and global knowledge management.

The purpose of this chapter is to develop a framework that can be used to study the impact of multinational enterprises (MNEs) on sustainable development and poverty alleviation in developing countries. In the 3-year project awarded by the EC-FP7 program, six universities from Europe and three partners from developing countries participated: Brazil, Ghana, and India. For this purpose, a thorough literature review is done and a framework is presented. To confirm the conceptual framework, we performed several case studies with three MNEs in two countries, Ghana and India. Data collection was done through qualitative in-depth interviews with managers in the headquarters of MNEs, the subsidiaries, and the “linked” local firms and host governments. Results confirm our conceptual model that the autonomy of the subsidiary, strategies of MNEs, and local government policies play a major role in achieving positive externalities from MNE operations in developing countries. The key contribution of this study is the development of a relevant conceptual framework that can be used in the overall project. Our study confirms that an interaction between the MNE subsidiary and the local government is essential for the linkages and spillovers to occur that may benefit local economic development and poverty reduction in developing countries.

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) are increasingly seeking to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability and inclusiveness within the societies they operate in, often by highlighting the amount of tax they pay. The author proposes to summarize channels through which tax impacts the achievement of sustainable development goals (SDGs) and analyze them in relation to a single goal, SDG 10 (reduced inequalities) in a single region (the Central and Eastern Europe, CEE). The impact of tax is often ambivalent, but above all it is hard to quantify as there are many stakeholders involved and corporations still tend to disguise their internal information. The author analyzes MNEs’ operations in the CEE region to better understand how reporting standards influence the achievement of SDG 10, focusing on country-by-country reporting (CbCR) and non-financial reporting of European banks and other corporations who publish CbCR on a voluntary basis. The authors perform a quantitative analysis of CbCR data and a qualitative investigation of 201 non-financial reports by 30 MNEs. From the theoretical viewpoint, this research may help to construct a framework to evaluate the tax impact of a given company. Given that, this chapter also outlines why and how it can be beneficial for MNEs to publish voluntary reports it can also serve to motivate increased voluntary participation of MNEs in the transition to sustainability.

This study investigates the impact of multinational enterprises (MNEs) on economic and human development in Africa. Specific focus is placed on the local managerial capability building. Capability building is an important part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) framework and is considered a necessary prerequisite for achieving poverty alleviation targets. The low level of local capabilities is a well-recognized issue in Africa. The study also addresses the emerging stream of research devoted to MNEs from developing countries. Such MNEs have a different level of managerial capabilities, a different corporate culture, and different operation models compared to MNEs from developed countries. This study analyzes the industrial development of Ghana and compares cases of Chinese and European MNEs operating in this country. On the basis of multimethod analysis, we provide extensive policy implications.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the interaction between multinational enterprises (MNEs) and public governance institutions in regions of limited statehood by focusing on three areas of inquiry: first, the impact of MNEs in these environments; second, the mechanisms and levels through which MNEs engage with external governance processes; and finally, the strategic motivation for the mode and level of engagement.

The authors follow an applied qualitative research approach, drawing on the principles of case study design, through interviews with executives that were involved in setting up four MNEs in Afghanistan.

The results reveal a relationship between the depth of country embeddedness and the level of engagement of MNEs with public institutions and this is related to issues around risk mitigation and time horizons. Deeper embeddedness in the local markets brings greater exposure to risk leading to more and wider engagement in governance processes and cross-sector partnerships in order to influence these concerns.

The research contributes to institutional theory and demonstrates the interplay between organizations and the institutional surroundings. MNEs in Afghanistan are deeply affected by institutional weakness which contribute toward greater uncertainty and impact their behavior, but MNEs also have a direct bearing on institutions.

In fragile and conflict-affected states, MNEs can contribute toward peace and institution building and reinforce cycles of positive development, or they can further pathological behavior and contribute to conflict.

MNEs are increasingly going to be expected to step into the gaps associated with institutional voids and this will require a different approach to doing business and their choice of approach will have a direct bearing on social outcomes in host countries.

The authors reveal two models of MNE engagement in these areas of limited statehood, namely an embedded vs autonomous model and examine their implications.

Governments worldwide have adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and are committed to attain them by 2030. Moreover, they recognize that they cannot mobilize the necessary resources and capabilities for this purpose alone. Hence, they have called for cooperation from all stakeholders including multinational enterprises (MNEs) to assume responsibility and strive to contribute to the SDGs. However, since co-partnering with the state for inclusive development is outside the traditional mandate of MNEs, this chapter explores the ways in which policy can nudge MNEs to contribute to the first pillar of sustainable development, namely SDG1—to end poverty in all its forms everywhere. A two-stage methodology is applied to address the research queries. First, a conceptual framework on impact of MNE interventions on SDG1 is developed. Second, the framework is validated through a meta-analysis of the abstracts of articles selected via a scoping review of the economics and management literature. This leads to an in-depth understanding of policy design features that can nudge MNEs to make positive contributions toward poverty alleviation. Four distinct pathways foreign direct investment (FDI), public–private partnerships (PPP), corporate social responsibility (CSR), and knowledge transfer are identified for nudging MNEs toward SDG1. Nevertheless, the potential impact may not be realized due to the inappropriate strategies of the MNE, the drawbacks of the policies of the host government, and/or systemic challenges of the host country context. This chapter further explores the positive and negative impact on these pathways as a step toward exploring how MNEs can contribute to all the SDGs.

This paper aims to investigate whether multinational enterprises (MNEs) are more or less likely than local firms to violate their employees’ human rights in emerging economies, whether regional institutional pressures influence the likelihood of violating employee human rights and whether the density of MNEs in a region affects the likelihood of employees’ human rights violation by local firms.

Building on neo-institutional theory, this paper hypothesizes that, in an emerging economy, MNEs violate their employees’ human rights significantly less than local firms do. Moreover, it is hypothesized that the quality of regional institutions only influences the social behavior of local firms toward their employees. In addition, it is hypothesized that the density of MNEs in a region has a positive effect on local firms’ attitudes toward employee human rights. These hypotheses are examined using a sample of 1,211,638 respondent–year observations in 32 Mexican regions between 2005 and 2014.

This paper shows that MNEs are less likely to violate their employees’ human rights than local firms are. It also provides evidence that regional institutions do not influence MNE behavior toward employee human rights violation, but affect local firms. Furthermore, contrary to what was hypothesized, the density of MNEs in a region has a negative rather than positive influence on local firms’ respect of employee human rights.

This paper advances understanding of the behavior of MNEs in an emerging economy setting and contributes to the ongoing debate in the literature on their social impact.