Outward foreign direct investment by Polish state-owned multinational enterprises: is ‘stateness’ an asset or a burden?

State-owned enterprises (SOEs) are commonly associated with undue advantages due to preferential treatment by the state. Simultaneously they are often quoted as handicapped given the notorious state interference, management problems and agency tensions. They used to be regarded as a mainly domestic issue but in the context of globalisation and the fact that states enter treaties with new obligations, SOEs’ performance ceased to be solely a domestic problem, increasingly so as state-owned multinational enterprises (SOMNEs) emerge. This article presents the results of research on Polish SOEs’ outward foreign direct investment (OFDI). It offers an overview of overseas activities of nine major Polish firms with a state stake and aims to contribute to the conceptual literature on foreign investments conducted by SOMNEs. We distinguish between FDI by SOMNEs as specific – privileged (facilitated) or discriminated (hampered) – investments subject to the home country’s state power and the host country’s state perception.     

Bridging the great divide? Making sense of the human rights-CSR relationship in UK multinational companies

Human rights (HR) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) are both fields of knowledge and research that have been shaped by, and examine, the role of multi-national enterprises in society. Whilst scholars have highlighted the overlapping nature of CSR and HR, our understanding of this relationship within business practice remains vague and under-researched. To explore the interface between CSR and HR, this paper presents empirical data from a qualitative study involving 22 international businesses based in the UK. Through an analysis based on sensemaking, the paper examines how and where CSR and HR overlap, contrast and shape one another, and the role that companies’ international operations has on this relationship. The findings reveal a complex and multi-layered relationship between the two, and concludes that in contrast to management theory, companies have bridged the ‘great divide’ in varying degrees most notably in their implementation strategies.     

新时期中国-伊朗跨国投资领域及实施初探

中国加入WTO后,面临着国内产业结构升级换代和企业海外发展的现实抉择.考虑到中国在能源、交通、机电、轻工、水力水电、大坝、机械等方面有明显的比较优势以及伊朗在传统手工地毯、开心果栽培等方面拥有的独特技术优势,积极开展新时期中国-伊朗跨国投资便成为中-伊两国的自然选择.从跨国投资理论、产业结构演变理论、区域规划理论等角度来分析新时期中伊两国间开展跨国投资的领域、投资方式和投资战略设计,并提出相应对策,更能有效地推动两国日益紧密的经贸联系进入新阶段.     

日本转移定价税制研究

转移价格是指跨国关联企业之间进行交易时使用的价格。70年代以后，随着日本经济实力的增强，日本企业经营国际化迅猛发展，出现了许多利用国际关联企业转移所得而避税的情况，而日本有关跨国公司转移定价的税制的实施，使这一避税现象得到了了的避免。随着我国加入WTO后外资的更多进入，加强转移定价的管理势在民行，学习发达国家的先进做法，将有助于我们在这方面少走弯路。     

国际产业转移的动因与趋势

20世纪90年代以来,在经济全球化和知识经济的共同推动下,国际产业转移再掀高潮,其转移的动因更趋多元化,并呈现出一系列新的特征与趋势。揭示当代国际产业转移的动因、背景和趋势,以掌握国际产业转移的一般规律。     

跨国并购理论比较研究

跨国并购是企业并购活动跨越国界的延伸,是当今企业海外扩张的一种主要方式,备受企业界、理论界关注。本文从三个方面对有关企业并购的研究文献做一概述,旨在了解有关跨国并购研究的现状,提出需要进一步研究的问题。     

Multinational firms, international trade and international telecommunications

The study analyses the determinants of international telephone, telex, telegram and leased lines communication between the United States and 46 countries. It focusses on the role of multinational firms, international trading firms and new information technologies within the framework of the theory of transaction costs.Results of the econometric estimates suggest that: (a) technological conditions of telecommunication infrastructure, i.e., international diffusion lags of new information technologies, play an important role in the explanation of international telephone and telex telecommunication flows but not in the demand for telegraph and leased lines, (b) multinational firms use international telecommunication to reduce the coordination costs and are strong customers of leased lines and telephones, but less so of telex and telegrams, (c) international trading firms exhibit less clear preferences in the use of the different media to reduce transaction costs.     

Why Capital Income Taxes Survive in Open Economies: The Role of Multinational Firms

This paper discusses the role of multinational firms and double taxation treaties for corporate income taxation in open economies. We show that it is optimal for a small open economy to levy positive corporate income taxes if multinational firms are taxed according to the full taxation after deduction system or the foreign tax credit system. Positive corporate taxes also occur in the asymmetric case where some countries apply the exemption system and others apply the tax credit system. If all countries apply the exemption system, the optimal corporate income tax is zero. We also show that, under tax competition, corporate income taxes are not necessarily too low from the perspective of the economy as a whole. While the undertaxation result is confirmed for the case of the exemption system, tax rates may also be inefficiently high if the deduction or the credit systems are applied.     

跨国战略联盟与我国汽车业的发展

汽车制造业是近几年我国工业行业中利润增长最快的行业,汽车业的发展得益于战略联盟的应用。我国企业尤其是汽车业应当重视跨国公司的这一发展新趋势,不断开拓与国外跨国公司的合作形式,以提高我国汽车业的国际竞争力和国际化经营水平,同时要注意防止联盟的陷阱。     

世界主要跨国石油石化公司的发展之路

为实现在未来20年里把中国石油和中国石化建成具有较强国际竞争力的跨国公司这一发展目标，文章从宏观角度研究和探讨世界主要跨国石油公司的发展历史、现状和趋势，总结出可供中国石油、石化可借鉴和吸取的共性经验和经营策略。