Multinational corporations are often associated with human rights violations and devastating environmental pollutions. Despite this, non-governmental organizations, human rights groups and the United Nations Global Compact are now encouraging multinational corporations to engage in activities that are promoting peace and development for individuals in vulnerable communities and developing countries. This study is carried out in order to reach an understanding of the phenomenon of multinational corporations and their contribution to increased global development. Through an abductive content analysis and with the implementation of Archie B. Carroll’s model of corporate social responsibility, the research strives to find answers for the two selected research questions. The ambition is to combine the subjects of business ethics and peace and development in order to discuss the issues of MNC and obstacles for global development. The result shows that one cannot generalize all multinational corporations as a contributing role for increased conflict in developing countries. When peace, stability and development are in the business’ interest, the corporation should not have issues of engaging in peace-building activities that can ensure that all individuals that are affected by the business operation can benefit from its revenues.

Numerous empirical studies have shown the difficulties associated with the transmission of knowledge and the limitations of its diffusion process. What are the implications of these difficulties and limitations to international economics? This dissertation deals with this question by looking at how productive knowledge plays a role in the evolution of the comparative advantage of nations and the international expansion of multinational corporations. The first chapter finds that a country is 65% more likely to start exporting a good that is being exported by any of its geographic neighbors, consistently with evidence on the limited geographic patterns of knowledge diffusion. The second chapter finds that migrants, serving as carriers of productive knowledge, play a role in explaining the appearances of new export industries in both their sending and receiving countries. In particular, in terms of their ability to induce exports in the average country, an increase of only 65,000 people in the stock of migrants is associated with about 15% increase in the likelihood of adding a new product to a country's export basket. The figure becomes 15,000 for skilled migrants. The third chapter looks at how the barriers to knowledge transmission within the firm limit the horizontal expansion of multinational corporations. The findings suggest that multinational corporations are, on average, about 12% less likely to horizontally expand a sector that is one standard deviation above the mean in the knowledge intensity scale.

We investigate a multinational corporation's (MNC) decision to appoint host-country national (HCN) managers to foreign subsidiaries based on the institutional context of and familiarity with the host country. HCN managers are commonly associated with specialized knowledge, superior responsiveness, and higher legitimacy. Yet, we argue that local familiarity of HCNs can also be perceived as risky or harmful by MNC parents. We analyze how formal and informal institutions affect the trade-off between positive effects and potential costs associated with HCN managers ("Local allies" vs. "Trojan horses"). We find that legal institutions protect foreign MNCs from potential costs, encourage the use of HCNs and reinforce their benefits. Corruption and corruption distance, however, increase perceived costs associated with HCN managers up to a point at which they outweigh their perceived benefits.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi investigar a relação entre o ambiente institucional brasileiro e a conquista de mandatos mundiais pelas subsidiárias estrangeiras. Como parte de um novo modelo de empresa multinacional que precisa combinar a organização de uma rede integrada que proporcione flexibilidade, facilite o aprendizado, a transferência de conhecimento com a inovação entre as diversas unidades (BARTLETT, GHOSHAL, 1998), a subsidiária se destaca como unidade de análise na literatura em estudos que investigam os seus papéis, seu processo de evolução e a maneira como concorrem entre si em diferentes países (BARTLETT, GHOSHAL, 1986; BIRKINSHAW, MORRISON, 1995). Dependendo do mercado em que atuam, da receptividade da matriz, da sua capacidade de inovação e capacidade de criar competências podem passar por um processo de aumento gradual de suas responsabilidades e relevância estratégica, podendo conquistar o mandato mundial,ou seja, o ganho do controle estratégico pela subsidiária sobre determinadas atividades e região. Concorrendo em diferentes ambientes institucionais, as subsidiárias representam a busca das multinacionais por vantagens de localização, por fatores institucionais que estimulem a inovação e desenvolvimento tecnológico e de um aparato que o sustente como por exemplo um sistema de proteção à propriedade intelectual eficiente e incentivos fiscais. Assim, a visão deste trabalho sobre as instituições abrange os pilares regulatório, normativo e cultural-cognitivo, segundo o arcabouço teórico desenvolvido por Scott (2008). A fim de analisar o mandato mundial nas subsidiárias foi realizado um survey com 172 subsidiárias estrangeiras no Brasil. Para investigar a influência institucional no \"mandato mundial\" foi utilizada a técnica de estudo de caso com a subsidiária brasileira da Siemens AG, de origem alemã. Os resultados do survey mostraram que 25,6% das subsidiárias respondentes podem ser classificadas como de mandato mundial. O estudo de caso, por sua vez, apresentou algumas evidências de que há uma relação positiva entre ambiente institucional favorável e a conquista do mandato mundial pelas subsidiárias revelada principalmente nas leis de incentivo fiscal para a atração de centros de P&D para o Brasil, principalmente por meio da redução de custos. As certificações tri-norma também são relevantes na inserção e integração da subsidiária à a cadeia de valor global. Aspectos culturais como características da mão-de-obra brasileira também são vistos como fator de destaque da subsidiária brasileira. / The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate how the achievement of world mandates by foreign subsidiaries located in Brazil is related to country\'s institutional environment. As part of a new model of multinationals companies\' organization, that need to combine the organization of an integrated network that provides flexibility, learning and knowledge transfer with innovation among the various units (Bartlett, Ghoshal, 1998), the affiliated company stands out as a distinct unit of analysis. In the literature about subsidiaries there are studies investigating their roles, the process of evolution and how they compete in different countries (Bartlett, Ghoshal, 1986; Birkinshaw, Morrison, 1995). Depending on the market in which they operate, the receptivity of their parent company, their capacity for innovation and building skills, they pass through a process of gradual increase of their strategic autonomy and relevance, gaining responsibilities and finally achieving the world mandate, the strategic control by the subsidiary on certain activities and region. Competing in different institutional environments, the subsidiaries represent the search by multinational enterprises for locational advantages and institutional factors that push innovation and technological development and a famework that supports this through, for example, an efficient intellectual property protection system and tax incentives (OLIVEIRA JR et al, 2009). Thus, the view on institutions of this study covers the regulatory, normative and cultural-cognitive pillars, according to the theoretical framework developed by Scott (2008). In order to analyze the word mandate of the subsidiaries a survey was conducted with 172 foreign subsidiaries stablished in Brazil. To investigate the institutions\' influence on \"world mandate\" a case study was conducted with Siemens AG\'s Brazilian subsidiary. The results of the survey showed that 25.6% of the participant subsidiaries can be classified as world mandate. The case study presented some evidences of a positive relationship between institutional environment and the achievement of world mandate by subsidiaries. This influence was perceived mainly through incentive laws in the attraction of R&D centers to Brazil, especially through cost reduction. The tri-standard certifications are helpful for the subsidiary\'s insertion and integration in the global value chain, an this fact makes the standard a requirement for all the providers of the company. The case showed that cultural features such as flexibility of Brazilian labor are a factor for subsidiary\'s success as well.

Abstract This thesis investigates how Finnish firms, as examples of Western firms, control and steer the operations of their subsidiaries in Russia and the Baltic countries and the role of accounting in the management control systems. The thesis consists of three essays, which focus on different aspects of the role of accounting in the management control systems. Even though the issues discussed in this thesis are probably not unique to the area of the former Soviet Union, the characteristics of business in this context highlight specific management control questions relating to organising and using power within management control systems. The first essay investigates the changing role of accounting in a knowledge transfer process between a head office and subsidiaries to show the importance of informal communication and cooperation in the development of accounting. Only after some time of intense informal cooperation and the development of social capital in the accounting-mediated knowledge transfer can more formal accounting controls can be relied on. The second essay illustrates how the central social position of an individual can be reproduced and how it affects accounting and formal reporting in the control system. The third essay investigates the role and power of an intermediate subsidiary in using accounting for controlling and steering the operations of its subsidiaries, when the intermediate acts between the subsidiaries and its own Western parent company. The intermediate can invoke the tensions between divergent social systems and thus use accounting signifiers according to its own needs, legitimating its existence despite the inflexibility the multilevel organizational structure may cause. Therefore, the whole thesis suggests that accounting plays an important role in integrating firms in very different contexts, but this can only happen with the help of more informal supportive structures and knowledgeable agents who utilise accounting. This is how accounting develops business thinking so that the practices adapted to the local demanding circumstances could also give something back to the parent companies.

With increasing foreign revenues, multinational corporations’ need for expatriate assignments shows little sign of slowing down. Maintaining an expatriate is a costly and complicated process, and if the expatriate fails in his/her assignment, the expatriate exercise becomes even more costly for all involved. A prominent issue in international staffing literature is the premature return of an expatriate to his/her home country or resignation during or shortly after the foreign assignment. An expatriate may be defined as an employee who works for a firm but is not a citizen of the country in which the firm is located (host-country). However, he is a citizen of the country in which the organisation is headquartered (parent country). Losses and damages resulting from expatriates returning prematurely or resigning during or shortly after a foreign assignment add up to considerable costs. Considering these costs, it is imperative that expatriate assignments are managed effectively. The above raises the following research questions: <ul> <li>What is the relationship between job attitudes and expatriate managers’ intention to return prematurely from foreign assignments or to resign during or shortly after foreign assignments?</li> <li>What specific aspects of job attitudes are perceived by expatriate managers’ as critical to their adjustment while on a foreign assignment?</li></ul> The main aim of this research is an empirical investigation into the variables influencing expatriates’ job attitudes and a statistical examination of the relationship between job attitudes and expatriates’ intention to quit or return prematurely. The envisioned result is to identify organisational practices that will facilitate expatriate adjustment during a foreign assignment. Successful adjustment will ultimately reduce the number of expatriates returning prematurely and resigning from a foreign assignment, thereby saving multinational corporations considerable expenses. The research was conducted through self-administered questionnaires. A convenience sample with purposive characteristics, comprising of South African managers on foreign assignments, was used. Response was received from 71 managers. The study relied on descriptive and inferential statistical procedures to analyse the quantitative data and analytical induction to analyse the qualitative data. The results of the study showed a negative relationship between certain favourable job attitudes and intention to quit a foreign assignment. Using the Spearman’s rho test the following correlations proved to be significant: role conflict (-.369), job characteristics (-.391) and co-workers (-.349). Job characteristics (-.107), promotional opportunities (.282) and roleconflict (-.312) were identified, usinglogistic regression, as the variables playing a critical role in the expatriates’ decision to quit. The qualitative data analysis added the following critical adjustment aspects: commitment to the vision of the organisation, supportive supervision, organisational support practices, reasonable compensation packages, and realistic expectations. Based on the variables identified as critical, an organisational best practice framework is proposed. This framework can serve as a managerial guideline for South African multinational corporations to facilitate expatriate adjustment. / Thesis (PhD (Organizational Behavior))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Human Resource Management / unrestricted

This dissertation is an attempt to use the radical political economy approach, which assumes that there is a connection between a state’s strategic interests and the interests of dominant multinational corporations (MNCs) located within a state’s territory, to explain continuity in the USAID development agenda and lending patterns during the past 30 years of development aid to Haiti. Employing the qualitative method of "process-tracing," my study concludes that the radical political economy approach has an explanatory power when it comes to understanding continuity in the USAID development agenda and lending patterns during the past 30 years of development aid to Haiti. The evidence shows that USAID has implemented in Haiti, from the 1980s through the post-9/11 Washington Consensus period, neoliberal policies that conform to the political economy of US multinational corporations (US MNCs). Contrary to the claim that the USAID-sponsored post-earthquake development paradigm has departed from previous development strategies, the study has shown that USAID has used the occurrence of the January 2010 earthquake tragedy to accelerate in Haiti the implementation of a neoliberal agenda congenial to the business promotion of multinational investors, particularly US multinational corporations. In terms of the way ahead, the study argues for the implementation of a new development approach articulated by a legitimate Haitian state and primarily intended to promote the socioeconomic development of the poorest Haitians.

Doctor Educationis / An organisation or country that aims to experience industrial tranquillity and collaboration among social partners in employment relations must put in place an outstanding and potent conflict resolution mechanism. Within the context of labour relations, conflict is predictable in the workplace environment and the result could be a strike or lockout. This result can be avoided if there is an appropriate conflict settlement machinery on the ground. Overall, conflict resolution mechanisms must be centred around negotiation and dialogue which is an integral part of dealing with discord whenever it arises in employment relations. This study seeks to investigate the efficacy of mechanisms for conflict resolution in employment relations at a multinational company in Nigeria and South Africa. The study also examines the effectiveness of the machinery for regulating the affairs of labour relations statutorily or voluntarily. Additionally, the study undertakes a comparative analysis of different mechanisms employed whenever conflicts arise in both employment relations environments that are in South Africa and Nigeria. This analysis gives more insight into how conflict resolution mechanisms work in South Africa as compared to Nigeria. Moreover, the study explores the necessary tools and frameworks of legislative resolution instruments that lead to long-term reconciliation and peace thereby reducing the rate of disputes in employment relations in South Africa as well as Nigeria. A non-experimental descriptive research design that utilises a survey approach was adopted in the study. The research employed a mixed-method approach, that is, qualitative and quantitative data collection methods. A total of 400 questionnaires were distributed to respondents in two organisations, 200 for each organisation in Nigeria, and South Africa respectively via online google forms. A total of 363 responses were returned for the quantitative data collection while a total of 20 respondents participated in online interviews as part of the qualitative data collection. Thus, the final aggregate sample size for this research was 383 participants. Results from the study indicated that the conflict resolution mechanism in South Africa functioned successfully compared to that of the counterpart organisation in Nigeria. Moreover, the study revealed that South Africa has a developed apparatus for managing industrial conflicts. possibly in Africa as a whole. This was found to be xi because of how the South African government rigidly pitched a high labour legislative framework and requirement concerning labour conflict resolution. This is intended to create a conducive and harmonious labour relations environment. It is assumed that introducing a similar legislative framework into Nigeria’s labour relations environment will also foster a more harmonious relationship amongst the parties and social partners. Finally, the study proposes and recommends that host environments of multinational corporations in Africa must continuously review their conflict resolution frameworks so that it serves as a guide for the operations of multinational companies that come to their countries. In addition, the study highlights that such mechanisms must make provision for opportunities for employees to feel that they are heard through sincere dialogue processes and effective communication channels between employers and employees. Overall, the study recommends that accommodating and congruent conflict resolution strategies must be encouraged among members of staff to facilitate a nonviolent labour relations atmosphere.

Multinational corporations operating in emerging markets have to be able to operate within the institutional context of those markets. Emerging markets institutions are mostly in transition or remain undeveloped and create a variety of institutional voids. International Business scholars have also been grappling with understanding how multinational corporations deal with liability of foreignness in the host environments in which they operate. The research canvassed the views from multinationals operating in South Africa as an emerging market. This study relies on institutional theory to understand how the institutional voids in emerging markets create specific liabilities of foreignness for the multinational corporations. How multinational corporations respond to these liabilities of foreignness is investigated. / Mini Dissertation (MPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MPhil (International Business) / Unrestricted

No / The McDonald's Corporation is not only the largest system-wide sales service in the world, it is a phenomenon in its own right, and is now recognized as the most famous brand in the world. By providing a detailed analysis of the extent to which the McDonald's Corporation adapts or imposes its labour relations policies in Europe, this volume represents a real life case study revealing the interaction between a global multi-national enterprise and the regulatory systems of a number of different European countries. Key features include: an overview of the McDonald's Corporation's development and structure; an analysis of its corporate culture and the issues of franchising; an examination of key union strategies, including systems of co-determination, consultation and collective-bargaining; and a chapter dealing specifically with European legislation, in particular the McDonald's European Works Council. The author systematically analyses the conflict between the McDonald's Corporation and the industrial relations systems of the European countries within which it operates, and exposes this conflict as an 'unequal struggle' between economic liberalism and collectivism.