Multinational enterprises, development and globalisation: Some clarifications and a research agenda

This paper revisits an earlier contribution (Narula and Dunning 2000) and considers how economic globalisation has changed the nature of the MNE, MNE motivations, the MNE subsidiary and the modalities by which they interact with domestic economic actors. Most developing countries, however, have responded reactively. We discuss how the opportunities and challenges for developing countries in following an MNE-assisted development strategy have changed over the last decade. The growing share of industrial activity owned and controlled by MNEs does not always result in a proportional increase in development effects, because individual MNE establishments have different potential for externalities. Concatenation is important: when stage-inappropriate MNE activities are established, crowding-out or regulatory capture is a likely outcome. We highlight the need for systematically linking MNE and industrial policies, but differently than in the import-substitution era. Attracting the 'rights kind' of MNE activity remains important, but the greater heterogeneity requires more customisation of policy tools. Lastly, we warn of the dangers of underestimating the social and political costs of structural adjustment and rapid institutional change associated with globalization.FDI, spillovers, industrial policy, governments, development, WTO, globalisation, developing countries, liberalisation

Globalisation and New Realities for MNE-Developing Host Country Interaction

Globalisation has resulted in the increased mobility and knowledge intensity of the ownership advantages of MNEs, which they increasingly seek to utilise in conjunction with the created-asset intensive location advantages of countries. We highlight that that the relative opportunity sets (and thus bargaining positions) of both developing country host governments and MNEs varies by the stage of economic development and the motive of FDI. In general, globalisation has shifted the balance in favour of the MNE, and governments increasingly need to provide unique, non-replicable created assets in order to get foreign firms to be ''locked into'' these locations.international economics and trade ;

Developing countries versus multinationals in a globalising world : the dangers of falling behind

Abstract not availableinternational economics and trade ;

Explaining the 'new' wave of outward FDI from developing coountries : the case of Taiwan and Korea

Abstract not availableinternational economics and trade ;

Analysis and algorithms for partial protection in mesh networks

This paper develops a mesh network protection scheme that guarantees a quantifiable minimum grade of service upon a failure within a network. The scheme guarantees that a fraction q of each demand remains after any single link failure. A linear program is developed to find the minimum-cost capacity allocation to meet both demand and protection requirements. For q ≤ 1/2, an exact algorithmic solution for the optimal routing and allocation is developed using multiple shortest paths. For q >; 1/2, a heuristic algorithm based on disjoint path routing is developed that performs, on average, within 1.4% of optimal, and runs four orders of magnitude faster than the minimum-cost solution achieved via the linear program. Moreover, the partial protection strategies developed achieve reductions of up to 82% over traditional full protection schemes.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF grant CNS-0626781)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF grant CNS-0830961)United States. Defense Threat Reduction Agency (grant HDTRA1-07-1-0004)United States. Defense Threat Reduction Agency (grant HDTRA-09-1-005)United States. Air Force (Air Force contract #FA8721-05-C-0002

Network protection with multiple availability guarantees

We develop a novel network protection scheme that provides guarantees on both the fraction of time a flow has full connectivity, as well as a quantifiable minimum grade of service during downtimes. In particular, a flow can be below the full demand for at most a maximum fraction of time; then, it must still support at least a fraction q of the full demand. This is in contrast to current protection schemes that offer either availability-guarantees with no bandwidth guarantees during the downtime, or full protection schemes that offer 100% availability after a single link failure. We develop algorithms that provide multiple availability guarantees and show that significant capacity savings can be achieved as compared to full protection. If a connection is allowed to drop to 50% of its bandwidth for 1 out of every 20 failures, then a 24% reduction in spare capacity can be achieved over traditional full protection schemes. In addition, for the case of q = 0, corresponding to the standard availability constraint, an optimal pseudo-polynomial time algorithm is presented.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF grants CNS-1116209)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF grants CNS-0830961)United States. Defense Threat Reduction Agency (grant HDTRA-09-1-005)United States. Defense Threat Reduction Agency (grant HDTRA1-07-1-0004)United States. Air Force (Air Force contract # FA8721-05-C-0002

Policy opportunities and challenges from the Covid-19 pandemic for economies with large informal sectors

In the developing world, the informal economy can account for as much as 80% of the population. I focus on the urban component of informality, where both informal employment and informal enterprises are especially vulnerable to the pandemic-induced economic shock. I explain the complex nature of informality, some of the reasons for its persistence, and its interdependency with the formal economy, especially in the manufacturing sector, through global value chains. Large firms (whether MNEs or domestic firms) sub-contract considerable activity to informal enterprises, but this is precarious in character. I suggest the crisis provides the circumstances for greater active engagement with informal actors, by placing informal enterprises on par with formal firms within industrial policy. I propose integration and registration, as opposed to formalization, and the provision of state support without taxation. The role of the state is also crucial in matchmaking, creating incentives for GVCs to engage with informal actors systematically, and to reduce the transaction costs for informal actors in such engagement. These actions are likely to provide benefits in the longer run, even if they prove costly in the short run