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The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of major structural changes on the conceptualization of the transnational corporation (TNC) based on foreign direct investment (FDI) and on indicators of transnationality.

Analysis of three major structural changes which impact the current conception of transnationality. They are: the rise of digital companies; the increased role of finance in the economy; externalization of activities via non-equity modalities (NEMs) with an impact on FDI and on the labour market.

The paper finds that the current concept of transnationality needs widening to take account of companies with a low degree of fixed assets abroad such as the digital and the financial companies and those internationalizing via NEMs, as well as to take account of the evolving relationship between TNCs and labour.

Future research along the lines proposed should consider: working explicitly with the new, inclusive concept of transnationality and arrive at an empirical estimate of the proposed indices of transnationality which modify and amplify the current United Nations Conference on Trade and Development indices.

Useful for understanding the nature of transnationality in the twenty-first century and for developing policies.

The paper proposes a new concept of transnationality and of the TNC, one that allows for new ways of organizing direct business activities abroad. It also proposes broadening the list of indicators of transnationality.

In response to COVID-19 global outbreaks, Canada, and Australia, two favored destinations by international students, as the contexts of this essay, have enacted different international education policies, which will be investigated through the narratives. The authors discuss transnationality and mobility as key terms in the internationalization of higher education (HE) studies through their experiences as three Vietnamese doctoral students in Canada and Australia. Transnationality is attended through a narrative of a Vietnamese returnee struggling with bringing unfamiliar knowledge of gender and sex education from the West into a Vietnamese HE context. Mobility is unpacked through stories of a Vietnamese doctoral student in Canada stuck in Vietnam due to the COVID-19 despite inviting policies from the Canadian government to international students. This experience is connected to another Vietnamese student’s experience in Australia about a controversial act to discourage international students from staying in Australia if they cannot support themselves during the pandemic. The authors’ stories are created and retold personally for introspective and contemplative reflections on what the authors have experienced and offer considerations for how transnationality and mobility in international and comparative education could be understood through education, equity, and inclusion.

This paper aims to conceptualise a framework of “transnational human resource management” (HRM) and to demonstrate the validity of the model.

Evidence is drawn from survey of 93 large Japanese multinational companies (MNCs). Data are analysed through descriptive statistics, hierarchical multiple regression analyses and mediation effect analyses.

The analysis reveals that the practices for normative and systems integration are associated with increasing levels of social capital and geocentric staffing, respectively, and the social capital and geocentric staffing fully mediate the relationship between normative and systems integration and transnationality.

The research extends the integration theory in international HRM and demonstrates the validity of our framework for transnational HRM. The authors also shed light on the reality of the integration aspects of international HRM in Japanese MNCs.

Since the launch of the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) in 2003, Hong Kong cinema is believed to have confronted drastic changes. Hong Kong cinema is described to be dying, lacking creative space and losing local distinctiveness. A decade later, the rise of Hong Kong – China coproduction cinema under CEPA has been normalized and changed the once pessimism in the industry. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how Hong Kong cinema adjusted its production and creation in the first 10 years of CEPA.

Beginning with a review of the overall development, three paradigmatic cases are examined for reflecting upon what the major industrial and commercial concerns on the Hong Kong – China coproduction model are, and how such a coproduction model is not developed as smooth as what the Hong Kong filmmakers expected.

Collectively, this paper singles out the difficulties in operation and the limit of transnationality that occur in the Chinese context for the development of Hong Kong cinema under the Hong Kong – China coproduction model.

This is the author’s research in his five-year study of Hong Kong cinema and it contributes a lot to the field of cinema studies with relevant industrial and policy concern.

The paper takes the lead from Forsgren and Yamin (2022), “The MNE as the ‘crown of creation’?: A commentary on mainstream theories of multi-national enterprises”, and accepts that the MNE can, indeed, be seen as the “crown of creation” in the world of business. The purpose of the paper is to show that this is due to advantages of multi/transnationality that must be sought outside rather than within the firm itself.

The paper argues that the advantages of multi-nationality derive from the differences in regulatory regimes between nation-states and, specifically, from laws and regulations regarding the following: labour and social security, industrial policy, taxation and environmental regulations. Some examples are given.

It is claimed that the transnational company (TNC) has the ability to operate as a unified centre of strategic decision-making, and this gives it an advantage compared to operators it bargains with who do not possess such ability. Three such operators are discussed: labour, governments of nation-states and suppliers. In TNCs’ operations with foreign countries, a distinction is made between the spatial dimension and the regulatory regimes dimension. The interaction between these two dimensions leads to discussions on: regions within nation-states and their regulatory regimes, global value chains (GVCs) and free/investment zones (F/IZs). The conclusions draw policy implications and research agenda implications touching also on issues of TNCs as creator/destructors of social values.

The paper refers to other published work by the author – solo or as co-author – where the arguments are further developed, including the finding of a detailed case study. There are policy implications regarding labour and its trade unions (TUs) as well governments and their taxation and industrial policies. Details of such policies need further development.

There are implications for theory development, policies and for research agendas.

Governments of nation-states and institutions within them – such as TUs – should try to co-ordinate rather than compete with each other in their bargaining with transnational companies. The breakaway of regions within nation-states further increases the power of TNCs.

In the development of theories of the TNC, this work shifts the focus from internal characteristics within the firm and its markets to external ones: to the nation-states as jurisdictional loci. The distinction between spatial and regulatory regimes dimensions in dealing with transnational activities allows a novel viewpoint on: regions, GVCs and IZs. A novel viewpoint is also given in relation to the role of TNCs in social value.

The paper discusses how the Commission is shaping a decentralisation policy in the antitrust field. The paper details the procedural architecture ‐ “degrees of priority”, “preconditions for decentralisation” and “Community interest” ‐ which gives the Commission sole discretion to decide whether an antitrust case is dealt with by Brussels or is referred to a Member State. It reveals that the decentralisation procedure has been set up by the Commission, with the blessing of the Community courts, but with little real consultation with the Member States. The paper points out that the decision whether to decentralise turns on a new, qualitative and Commission decided Community interest test. The paper emphasises that the Community interest test runs in parallel with ‐ and has a similar function to ‐ a number of decentralisation provisions which already exist. The final section of the paper contrasts Community interest as a decentralisation test with the rival, and pre‐existing, quantitative approach to decentralisation ‐ the Community dimension test ‐ contained in the EC Merger Control Regulation (MCR). It explains that both tests have strengths and weaknesses and that the recent reform of the MCR has not fully addressed these concerns in respect to Community dimension. The paper’s main conclusion is that the Commission’s appropriation of the ability to decide which Member States are competent to deal with decentralised antitrust cases has created the possibility of a fragmented or two‐speed Europe in competition regulation.

Despite the well-established impact of consumer ethnocentrism (CET) on purchase intentions, extant literature offers limited evidence on actual purchase behaviour. The purpose of this paper is to address the gap by investigating the factors underlying variations in CET behaviour using reported brand purchases. Product category, product cost and visibility, brand and country of origin (COO) of purchased products are investigated for their impact on the differences in the behavioural effects of CET.

This study uses survey data collected in the USA from a sample of 468 consumers. Self-reported brand purchases are used and involve ten product categories, 432 brands, and 22 countries of origin. Logistic regressions for repeated measures are used to test the hypotheses formulated.

The results confirm that product category is an important determinant of the behavioural effects of CET. CET also has a significant impact on purchases of the most expensive product categories rather than frequently purchased convenient items. Contrary to existing empirical evidence, cultural similarity does not mitigate the negative effects of CET and product visibility does not strengthen the behavioural effect of CET.

The study results should enhance managers’ understanding of the determinants of ethnocentric behaviour. The results caution managers about the value of self-reported measures and indicate that product features other than COO may be more effective in mitigating the negative effects of CET.

This study contributes to extant literature on CET and COO by investigating, for the first time, the problem of inconsistent predictions of purchase behaviour in the context of foreign vs domestic brands. For this purpose, the study adopted a novel methodological approach to investigate actual brand purchases.

Because of the recent interest on the globalization process generated by global restructuring, the local as the site where this change occurs has emerged as a principal entity for study. Divergent opinions have developed that either downgrade the importance of the local and focus instead on flows, transnational social structures, and translocal spaces or that highlight the centrality of the local as a cause or as a result of globalization, thereby maintaining the traditional focus and emphasis on place as either container, process, or setting.⁴

This study provides a deeper insight into the performance effects of internationalization of the most international multinational enterprises (MNEs). Most MNEs perform their business activities within their home-regional block of the world – North America, Europe or the Asia-Pacific block. Whether these regional strategies pay off is explored by means of two analyses: first, the impact of internationalization in terms of the transnationality index, and second, the impact of foreign intra-regional sales on performance is examined. Results indicate that regional strategies smooth performance declines in the early stages of internationalization but also smooth performance increases during a phase of high-foreign expansion.

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.