Transnational Corporations

obligatory courses

The main aim of the course is to develop a better understanding of the nature and role of transnational corporations and of the effects of their operations. Typical attributes of such corporations are examined as well as their organizational, geographical and sectoral profiles. The course then moves to examine the principal theories of transnational corporations, issues of ownership and control and to the complex interface between their interests and those of the countries where they operate.

1/Transnational corporations definitions and classifications

2/Scale of operations

3/Country origin

4/Attributes (including foreign direct investment as separate from foreign portfolio investment)

5/Organization and structure

a)vertical and horizontal integration, diversification

b) cooperation with focus on strategic alliances

6/Geographic structure of FDI

7/Sectoral structure of FDI

8/Determinants of foreign market entry

9/Transnational corporations theories, including:

a/those dealing with market structure and oligopolistic reaction (S. Hymer, C. Kindleberger,

F.T. Knickerbocker)

b/those dealing with currency areas (R.A. Aliber)

c/international product life cycle (R. Vernon)

d/internalization theory (P. Buckley, M. Casson)

e/eclectic paradigm of international production (J.H. Dunning)

f/investment development path theory (J.H. Dunning)

g/externalization theories

h/global commodity chains concept

i/born globals

j/3D theory of R. Grosse

10/Stages and forms of expansion on foreign markets

11/Forms of control and ownership

12/Keiretsu and chaebols

13/Transnational corporations from emerging markets

14/The role of clusters in attracting transnational corporations

15/The effects of transnational corporations activity on their home and host countries

16/The state - transnational corporations relationship:

a/conflicts and policies concerning transnational corporations in developed countries

b/conflicts and policies concerning transnational corporations in developing countries

c/conflicts and policies concerning transnational corporations in East European countries

17/Transnational corporations and the role of UNO

18/International regulation of transnational corporations

a/codes of conduct

b/bilateral investment treaties

c/dispute resolution mechanisms

d/promoting foreign direct investment

19/Internationalization measures as applied to transnational corporations and foreign direct investment

20/Transnational corporations’ investments in Poland and those of Polish firms abroad

21/Investments of Russian transnational corporations

22/Transnational corporations’ investments in China and those of Chinese corporations abroad

-- J. H. Dunning, S.M. Lundan: Multinational Enterprises and the Global Economy. Cheltenham 2008.

- EY’s Attractiveness Survey Europe, June 2018

-M. Gorynia: Strategie zagranicznej ekspansji przedsiębiorstw. Warszawa 2007

- UNCTAD: World Investment Report 2018. New York and Geneva 2018

- R. Wolniak: Korporacje transnarodowe, w: A. Bąkiewicz, U. Żuławska: Rozwój w dobie globalizacji. Warszawa 2010.

Knowledge: Students have basic knowledge of firms’ internationalization process and of its effects on economic, social and political structures in their home and host countries.

Students understand and have enhanced knowledge of main transnational corporations theories, and have basic knowledge about the functioning of transnational corporations.

Students know methods and tools, including those on acquiring data, which allow to examine transnational corporations, their structures and endogenous and exogenous processes.

Students have knowledge concerning norms and regulations dealing with the functioning of transnational corporations.

Students have knowledge about the processes of change in transnational corporations and the causes, progress, scale and consequences of such changes.

Skills: Students have skills of identifying the process of firm internationalization, viewing it from the perspective of transnational corporations theory.

Social competences: Students show skills of professional task execution, linked to knowledge of theory and empirical research.

S_W01, S_W02, S_W03, S_W04, S_U01, S_U02, S_U03, S_U04, S_K01

Examination after course completion