Suchergebnisse

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to show how the nature of the activities conducted by multinational enterprises globally and the governance modes are changing. Essentially, multinational enterprises (MNEs) structure and organize their activities in a more complex, fragmented and geographically dispersed manner. In this paper, the authors suggest that the evolution of MNEs and the rising importance of global value chains (GVCs) require a refinement of FDI motivations rather than a drastic change in the existing categories. The authors begin with a historical overview of evolving firms' international strategies and FDI motivations, before developing arguments to support the view that the fine slicing of economic activities on a global scale, and the combination of governance modalities ought to be integrated into the presentation of investment motivations. The discussion ends with implications for governments and policymaking.


Design/methodology/approach
– This paper is a conceptual paper.


Findings
– Key suggestions to refine the presentation of investment motivations are presented, together with policy recommendations.


Originality/value
– This paper provides a novel approach to ways of refining investment motivations by integrating GVC considerations, and drawing policy implications from this process.

This article investigates whether Human Resource Management (HRM) in Greece is maintaining its national character or whether it is converging towards a model that potentially clashes with the country's traditional societal values. This issue fits in the wider convergence–divergence debate that has been the concern of many cross-cultural researchers. Using data collected from Greek firms and subsidiaries of multinationals (MNCs) located in Greece, we compare the two groups on specific HRM practices. The aim is to show how HRM practices of Greek firms differ from those of MNCs subsidiaries and examine the extent and the way these HRM practices reflect Greek national culture. Our empirical results indicate that HRM practices in Greek firms reflect national culture to a great extent. Moreover, they imply that in some areas MNC subsidiaries have realized a considerable degree of adaptation, embracing practices that are in line with the Greek cultural environment.

According to the authors, as the Single European Market (SEM) develops into an economic reality it is inevitable that this will have an impact on the world economic order. They believe that the SEM represents both a threat and an opportunity to non-European firms and the potential for European firms' expansion threatens multinationals. The authors examine the implications of the SEM for Asian-Pacific firms. (DÜI-Sen)