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This paper aims to contribute to the debate concerning the asserted end of the globalization process.

This paper is a description of the evolution of all Swedish MNEs, the 50 largest companies and the ten truly global MNEs, building on data compiled by the authors, mainly from annual reports.

The largest Swedish MNEs have continued to globalize and have at the same time improved their financial performance during the period of study, 2010-2016.

The proposition that multinationals are heading home cannot be confirmed in the Swedish case. There is therefore a need to compare Swedish experiences with other national examples to better generalize the findings.

The political decisions regarding external trade and foreign direct investment should support continuous liberalization and facilitation of cross-border economic interaction.

As Swedish MNEs are more globalized than the average in advanced economies, this study offers insight into the contemporary internationalization process.

The authors discuss a dominant logic as the main idea behind a global marketing logic (GML) of an MNE and investigate how local stakeholders’ influence the feasibility of applying the GML in emerging markets. The aim of the paper is to enhance the understanding of the factors that influence the local stakeholders' acceptance of the MNEs' GML and the different activities of MNEs that may increase the acceptance.

The authors apply a qualitative case study method investigating three Swedish MNEs and their activities while implementing a GML in the big emerging markets. The authors study their relationships with business, political and social stakeholders.

The authors identify three persistent contents of the GML: (1) a consistent value chain role across markets, (2) standardized, premium products/services and promotion strategies, (3) a corporate brand-based identity. The development of trust, commitment, legitimacy and power within local stakeholders’ relationships influences the approval. The acceptance of the MNE's GML by local stakeholders strengthens its market position.

The authors extend the knowledge by investigating the nature of a GML and explain to what extent it may help MNEs to gain a competitive position. The authors also discuss how global and local activities may influence local stakeholders' acceptance. This study contributes towards a better understanding of how and to what extent a GML can be successful.

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.

The purpose of this study is to examine how different innovation efforts can support multinational enterprises’ (MNEs’) pursuits of sustainable development goals (SDGs) in emerging markets and under what circumstances they are applied.

The article comprises in-depth case studies on two high-profile Swedish MNEs: a telecom firm and a fast-fashion firm, with data collected both at the headquarter-level and local-market level.

The study shows that MNEs pursue a selection of prioritized SDGs in emerging markets. To overcome challenges related to attaining these goals, we find that MNEs engage in innovation efforts at different levels of commitment. In some instances, they engage in operational innovation aimed at relieving symptoms of sustainability misconduct and ensuring compliance. In other instances, they engage in systemic innovation efforts, which involve the actual market structures underlying sustainability problems.

MNEs are increasingly incorporating the United Nations SDGs into their innovation strategies. The study contributes to international business research on MNEs’ roles in realizing the SDGs by conceptualizing and discussing two pertinent approaches to innovation.

This paper explores the determinants of R&D location of US multinational enterprises (MNE). The major aim is to determine the impact of intellectual property rights protection on R&D investment by US multinationals in a sample of developed and developing economies. Some of the major findings show that in developing economies, MNEs primarily rely on the scope of foreign direct investment, while locating their R&D facilities overseas. On the other hand, for developed countries, the scope of patent protection laws is a major factor for MNEs to undertake R&D investment. Another finding is that in developing economies, location of R&D is motivated by the need to adapt products and processes to conditions in foreign markets. Further, in the food and chemical industry, evidence shows that weaker patent protection may be desirable for technology to flow to these sectors in developing economies. An important policy implication is that entry of firms enhances global innovations.

The purpose of this paper is to identify major developments in corporate innovation. The author focuses on the behavioral differences between MNEs from developed and emerging markets in the way they locate their R&D activities.

With the help of descriptive statistics, the paper identifies major trends in the global distribution of innovative activity. The novel source of patent statistics, Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications, is used as a proxy for innovative effort by leading MNEs. This paper is among the first attempts to analyze the global geography of innovation based on PCT statistics.

The analysis underscores differences in the patenting activities of MNEs from emerging and advanced markets. It confirms that innovative activity by major MNEs remains largely home-based, which contradicts the premise of the global nature of corporate innovation. At the same time, the growing importance of China as a research center attracts MNEs from a variety of developed markets. Emerging MNEs also file patent applications domestically. Most Chinese R&D subsidiaries of MNEs from advanced economies in our sample do not pursue technological specialization, as they produce patents in the same technological areas as the corporate headquarters or other subsidiaries.

A number of assumptions about the innovation geography of major MNEs were empirically tested. An attempt was made to fill the gaps in our understanding of innovation strategies pursued by MNEs in emerging markets. The author uses the concept of MNEs as meta-integrators to explain the observed dynamics. Its explanatory power is more convincing as applied to our data than the concept of national systems of innovation.

The purpose of this paper is to present a synthesis of transnational tendencies in multinational enterprises (MNEs), to theoretically analyse the result and to study whether managers in MNEs have experienced the predicted tendencies.

The synthesis is based on an extensive literature review which is analysed by transaction cost economics. Identified tendencies are studied in a survey of managers in MNEs.

The study provides an overview of a fragmented research area and suggests explanations for new tendencies described in the literature. The empirical study suggests that some tendencies have been more prevalent than others.

The survey was conducted with MNEs with substantial activities in Sweden. It investigates how managers perceive changes that have occurred during the past several years.

The paper analyses a synthesized view of transnational tendencies in MNEs and the results of a survey of how managers have perceived the tendencies described in literature.

The research proposition of this paper is that multinational enterprises (MNEs) were important in the process of growth and divergence that took place in the world in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The rate of growth of GDP per capita was unprecedented, but it was coupled with an increasing gap between the developed and the developing countries. MNEs are even more important in the growth and convergence process that started at the beginning of the twenty-first century where the gap is closing. Global sourcing is the strategy that has led to closing the gap while high growth continues. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The study is based on macroeconomics general equilibrium model in an imperfect market and on looking at the inventive process as the driving process of the development and the location of MNEs. Using a financial economics model of assets and liabilities, it is shown that MNEs affect the geopolitical distribution of income and wealth through expanding their liabilities. The methodology is a combination of applying economic model and using historical and current data to motivate the use of the model and to validate the models and the conclusions derived from them.

MNEs and major global companies before the name MNE was used were shaped by major macroeconomic processes like the inventive process and the same time they were the prime movers of the two major economic processes of the last 200 years: growth and divergence and growth and convergence. The ideas-led growth model shows why MNEs are becoming larger. As MNEs became bigger they start to import inputs through value maximizing strategy of global sourcing. This led to transfer of value to suppliers in emerging markets that grow over time and eventually it led to new MNEs from emerging markets large countries like China and from smaller countries in Asia and elsewhere. The growth convergence process and the resulting changes in the geopolitical distribution of MNEs is assisted by rapid changes in technology that reduces transactions cost. The continuation of rapid changes in transactions costs is likely to change the current structure, strategy and the location of MNEs and may reverse the growth convergence process once more.

The study begins with aggregate macroeconomic processes and relates them to the development of MNEs and in particular to the development of MNEs from emerging markets. It highlights the importance of global value chains and global sourcing in the process of growth and divergence and the turning of the “Wheel for Fortune” toward China and India as it has been prior to the sixteenth century.

This paper argues for the benefits to international business (IB) of taking a much longer view at the engagement by multinational enterprises (MNEs) with host locations.

The authors showcase a project tracking the engagement by MNEs with Australia over the past two centuries. Extensive archival work has been undertaken to identify and document modes of entry, home countries, industries, operational modes and company types among the MNEs operating in Australia. The authors also describe the shifting nature of Australia as a host location.

The authors demonstrate the historical and ongoing diversity of ways in which MNEs interact with a host. They show that different organisational forms have prevailed over time, and that considerable operational mode changes can best be observed when a long lens is adopted. The authors show how these mode changes interact with host country dynamics, and also the broader context of the MNE and its altering strategies.

The authors urge IB scholars to embrace longer timeframes to capture the complexity of MNEs’ growth and adaptation more meaningfully.

By taking such a long-run perspective, the authors shed new light on the importance of moving beyond simple snapshots to analyse key IB constructs and phenomenon.

This study aims to understand the role of drivers, underlying challenges and, consequently, the implications of the reverse knowledge transfer (RKT) process for the multinational enterprises (MNE)s.

A dyadic qualitative research design was used with a cross-country design covering perspectives from both the headquarters and subsidiaries from the USA, Denmark, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. In-depth interviews were conducted with managers in multiple sectors such as information technology, telecommunications, project management and engineering.

The study reveals the constraints and drivers of the RKT process, and furthermore elaborates on the implications for MNEs. RKT can lead to the development of new processes, subsidiary independence and intra-organizational knowledge transfer. Besides, it can entail challenges such as position insecurity for subsidiaries and a blurring of the MNE market vision. The findings demonstrate several implications for the MNEs.

The study highlights the direct implications of RKT for the multinational enterprises. The findings serve as a practical guide for global managers seeking to improve their competitive edge.

The study presents a framework of the RKT process from emerging market subsidiaries to parent companies, that demonstrates the role of drivers, underlying challenges and implications of the RKT process for the MNEs.