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This paper aims to outline the Italian framework of rules against economic crime and to verify if Italian legislation provides for appropriate and effective measures according to own needs both at a national and European level.

The paper uses a comparative approach by examining the European and Italian legal systems for finding analogies and differences between them.

The study has revealed the need of a greater international harmonisation of criminal laws and penalties as well as the transnationality of the economic crime cuts the chance of success of every national strategy, given that transnational criminals are encouraged by the awareness that their cross-border activities complicate law-enforcement efforts against them.

To maintain a common international level in the protection of individuals from the risk of economic crimes and to enforce the effectiveness of European and national regulations.

The achievement of a high level of protection, for public security and social cohesion, to prevent and reduce economic crimes, in particular, cybercrimes.

To ensure a high level of security for the general public by taking action against money laundering, cybercrimes and other sorts of misconducts.

Fighting economic crime requires the close cooperation of law enforcements from different countries, which the traditional law enforcement institutions are not designed to provide.

The purpose of this paper is to chart, analyse and attempt to explain, the changes in the scope of consolidation over the last century in national and transnational regulations. It first concentrates on the four countries which have been the main drivers of change (the USA, the UK, Germany and France) and then on the transnational regulations of the EU and International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). This issue is of great topical importance (e.g. the IASB's standard on consolidation of 2011).

The author synthesises the literature and then analyses the extensive set of accounting requirements over a century from the four countries, the EU and the international standard setters. Three theoretical perspectives (transnational operations, financing and diffusion of ideas) are assessed as explanations for the developments.

Definitions of subsidiary have ranged from the simple to the byzantine, including poor use of such words as “control” and “power”. Over time, there have been many types of exclusion from consolidation (e.g. based on lack of ownership, lack of control, dissimilarity or foreignness), but the scope has gradually widened. In terms of the conventional understanding of international accounting differences, the US concentration on ownership and the German concentration on control are unexpected. However, the theoretical perspectives allow an explanation, largely in terms of financing and diffusion of ideas rather than transnational operations.

Policy implications concern the improvement in the use of such terms as “control” and “power”. Suggestions are made for clarifying the scope of consolidation.

This is the first paper to analyse the scope of consolidation over a century up to the present on a transnational basis, and the first to seek to explain the developments in a theoretical context.

Educational standards debates are a promising area of investigation for transnational study by historians of education. Drawing upon the work of Foucault, Kliebard, and Aldrich, the paper critically examines some of the outstanding features of the emerging debate over literacy and numeracy standards that sharply divided teachers, educational officials, parents, and employers in New Zealand during the mid-to-late 1950s. These included the polarisation of opinion across the nation, the involvement of the national media, and the tactics of mass persuasion adopted by the various protagonists.

The paper utilises contemporary theory to critically interrogate an historical episode in which controversy over literacy and numeracy standards in schools led first to an in-house report, and finally to a national inquiry. The paper draws upon contemporary newspaper commentary, professional journals and parliamentary debates, as well as a considerable amount of archival material held at Archives New Zealand repositories in both Wellington and Auckland.

The paper contributes to the field by illustrating the way in which historical debates over literacy and numeracy lie at the intersection of completing claims to truth. Behind such claims lie rival conceptions of education that make it unlikely that standards issues will ever be resolved satisfactorily. Hence the title of the paper, which refers to a jocular suggestion by a newspaper editor of the time that only an “August Assembly of Suave Venusians” could adjudicate in the debate.

The value of the paper is that it links current theories on transnationality with archival research in order to critically examine a national case study. Much of the primary source material has never been utilised previously for research as Archives New Zealand has only just released the relevant files for research purposes.

In March 1998, the first major revision of the European Merger Control Regulation (MCR) came into effect with particular implications for the demarcation of authority for merger control between member states and European level competition authorities and for the treatment of joint ventures. The overall balance of the reform is mixed. Changes to the threshold test, for example, ensure that the MCR will capture proposed concentrations which have a Community dimension but which were missed by the original test. However, the cost of the revision is greater complexity and, with this, greater opacity. Both tests are form‐based and deal with aggregate turnover and are insufficiently sensitive to capture the competition effects of the merger in individual product markets. Article 9 implicitly recognises this flaw by providing a second decentralisation test. Again, the revision of Article 9 has added to the complexity of the operation of the MCR. An alternative would be to dispense with Article 9 altogether. The revisions improve the consistency of the MCR by introducing a “one stop shop” for the treatment of joint ventures, some of which were previously dealt with under Article 85. However, the codification of joint venture provisions creates a situation in which the Commission is required to investigate aspects of a joint venture which are national rather than European in nature.

The purpose of this paper is to clarify how Chinese multinationals perceive factors affecting the integration-responsiveness (I-R) framework.

This study extends quantitative and conceptual studies that have clarified and assessed the underlying factors that influence multinational enterprises’ (MNEs) international business strategy choices relating to global integration and local responsiveness with the use of cross-level and in-depth interviews. Top management perceptions from nine Chinese MNEs with operations in Australia are detailed.

The study obtains empirical evidence on applying the I-R framework in the context of MNEs from emerging markets. Also the hybrid factors affecting both integration and responsiveness synchronously have been confirmed by Chinese multinationals.

As a cross-sectional study, the paper focuses on senior executives’ perceptions on factors affecting the I-R framework. This analysis would be enriched by melding these perspectives with extensive secondary data on the companies concerned to assess the ratings assigned.

When studying factors affecting global integration and local responsiveness prior studies have centred on multinationals from advanced economies and/or their subsidiaries in emerging markets. This concentration leaves unclear the relevance of developed country centred findings to MNEs from emerging markets and their subsidiaries in advanced economies, and the demonstration of how emerging markets MNEs perceive factors affecting the I-R framework.

Using a sample of 76 US‐based multinational firms, this study tests two hypotheses: whether top management teams' national diversity, and the number of countries of operation worldwide are related to other established indicators of internationalization. Results suggest that both hypothesized indicators are aspects of the nomological network for a firm's internationalization.

This paper aims to analyse the organizational and geographical (by nation-states) boundaries of the firm and their impact on labour and to develop a theoretical framework in which firms’ boundaries are analysed from the point of view of labour as a main stakeholder in the firm.

The paper considers the boundaries in terms of: perspectives (legal/proprietary, responsibility and control); stakeholders (shareholders and managers as well as labour, governments and suppliers) and dimensions (organization of production, geographical/by nation-state and sectoral). The paper analyses various organizational forms of production in terms of control (over labour process and brand), responsibility for labour employed across the value chain and labour bargaining power. The firm is seen in the context of labour as main stakeholder and of strategic control versus the property rights view of the firm. The paper contains references to some real-life cases which support the arguments developed at the theoretical level.

In terms of organizational boundaries, the paper analyses hybrid forms of firm organization and their implications for the position of labour. In the context of geographical boundaries, conclusions are drawn on the impact of transnational corporations (TNCs)’ direct activities on labour. Changes in organizational and geographical boundaries are seen as strategic moves that lead to the fragmentation of labour and to the weakening of its bargaining position. There is an analysis of the role of nation-state regulatory regimes in creating opportunities for TNCs’ advantages towards labour. The basic pillars of this theoretical approach are emphasis on labour as a main stakeholder as well as one of the main actors towards whom firms develop strategies and who, in turn, develops countervailing strategies; and the assignation of responsibility for labour over that part of the value chain – which could be the whole of it – over which the firm exercises strategic control.

More case study work would further support the arguments in the paper and lead to refinements of the theory.

For labour, cross-country strategies are developed, and it is argued that the principal firm should take responsibility for the labour force on the basis of the “control” perspective rather than the “legal/proprietary” one. At the macro level, it could be argued for policies that lead to more homogeneous regulatory regimes across countries and in particular within the EU. There are implications for the strategies of trade unions within and across countries. There is also a call for overcoming academic disciplinary boundaries in research specifically those between economics, business strategy and sociology of labour and industrial relations.

The work puts labour at the forefront of analysis in the boundaries of the firm. It develops a theoretical framework for this analysis and for its policy implications including policies by trade unions.

This paper seeks to explore the applicability of the eclectic framework of international production in explaining the growth of transnational crime groups.

The paper adopts a comparative discussion perspective. It examines a number of both similarities and differences between legitimate and illegal international business organizations suggesting that similarities between the two are sufficient to ensure the usefulness of existing explanatory frameworks which focus on ownership, location and internalization (OLI) advantages.

Similarities are apparent in the growing internationalization of criminal activities and the emergence of network structures. Key changes in the business environment, particularly globalization and technological change, are affecting both legitimate and illegal business. Like legitimate business, international crime is undergoing significant change. Increased diversification is apparent as traditional criminal activities – gambling, loan sharking and prostitution – are combined with cross‐border automobile smuggling, art and archaeological theft, arms trafficking, trade in illegal wildlife products and credit‐card fraud.

The discussion suggests a “mirroring” of legitimate international business strategies and structures by transnational criminal organizations. This raises interesting policy implications as to how such organisations might develop over time and how policy could be used to contain such activities.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the role that the nation‐state plays in influencing the behaviour of the transnational companies (TNCs) and how it affects one's view of TNCs as efficiency‐ versus strategy‐driven institutions.

The paper starts with a brief historical analysis of the main theories of international production and the TNCs, to which it then relates the role of the nation‐state and of strategic approaches.

The characteristics of the nation‐states that affect the behaviour of TNCs are linked to their regulatory regimes regarding fiscal, currency and social security regulations. These create opportunities for advantages of operating across frontiers and thus for specific strategic behaviour towards labour and governments.

The theoretical approach presented will need to be supported by empirical findings.

There are policy implications specifically related to the fact that multinationality per se gives advantages and that actors other than the TNCs may have to move towards achieving a multinational organization.

The paper questions the international character of most current theories of the TNC, arguing about the necessity to put the nation‐states with their different characteristics at the heart of the explanations of TNCs' activities and suggests a strategic rather than efficiency approach to theories of the TNC.