Game‐park capitalism,globalization, and multinational companies: An overview and a research agenda

This article paints a broad‐brush picture of a modernizing and reglobalizing world, following a path that can metaphorically be described as leading from unfettered “savannah‐type capitalism” over an interwar state‐controlled “zoo mentality” to a system of managed “game‐park capitalism.” I propose an agenda for studying the effects of what is ironically both a more integrated and an increasingly multipolar world on the role, strategies, and practices of incumbent multinational companies and their challengers. International business is portrayed as a learning race where I especially direct scholarly attention to internationally active companies' abilities to handle and benefit from the periphery, understand and serve customers, manage knowledge and interfaces, tap the international factor markets, and project a contemporary image. ©2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.