An Imperfect Competition Theory of the MNE

Abstract

The multinational firm, as the central actor in international business, has been studied extensively across countries and intensively within companies. No single theoretical structure can deal with all important aspects of these firms. Nonetheless, some powerful explanatory tools such as the international product cycle and the transactions cost/internalization theory have shed substantial light on MNE activities. The imperfect competition theory presented here explains 6 major MNE decisions (for example, production location and market servicing methods) with a simple model, which can be extended to explore other important issues.