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The Future of the Multinational Enterprise pp 32–65Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

A Long-run Theory of the Multinational Enterprise

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Abstract

It is little exaggeration to say that at present there is no established theory of the multinational enterprise. Previous economic and statistical studies of the MNE can be criticised on the grounds that they lack a comprehensive theoretical basis. But from another point of view the fault lies with the orthodox theories of production and trade because as presently formulated they are unable to explain or predict the post-war growth of MNEs. We shall argue that the growth of the MNE is one aspect of a radical change in business organisation which has outdated the orthodox theory of production.1

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Notes

  1. For a recent survey of the orthodox theory of production see G. C. Archibald (ed.), Theory of the Firm, Selected Readings (London, 1974). The theory of trade is based on the theory of production, see for example

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  2. M. C. Kemp, The Pure Theory of International Trade and Investment (Englewood Cliffs, 1971).

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  3. The discussion below owes much to the classic analyses by R. H. Coase, ‘The Nature of the Firm’, Economica, 4 (1937), 386–405;

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  4. N. Kaldor, ‘The Equilibrium of the Firm’, Economic Journal, 44 (1934), 60–76; and

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  5. E. T. Penrose, The Theory of the Growth of the Firm (Oxford, 1961).

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  6. R. Vernon, Sovereignty at Bay (London, 1971).

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Authors
  1. Peter J. Buckley
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  2. Mark Casson
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Copyright information

© 1976 Peter J. Buckley and Mark Christopher Casson

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Buckley, P.J., Casson, M. (1976). A Long-run Theory of the Multinational Enterprise. In: The Future of the Multinational Enterprise. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-02899-3_2

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