ABSTRACT
In January 2017 The Economist published a leading article entitled ‘In Retreat: The Multinational Company is in Trouble’ ( The Economist 2017). It noted: ‘The retreat of global firms will give politicians a feeling of greater control as companies promise to do their bidding’. Talk of the end of an era for the global firm may be premature but it does capture the commonly perceived tension between national governments and multinational enterprises (MNEs). However, the standard account is of the rise of MNEs and the consequent decline of the nation-state and national governments. Certainly, the first time The Economist is believed to have referred to MNEs, that was the approach they took. ‘Companies Outgrow Countries: A New Kind of Economic Animal – Mastodons of the Future? – Is Displacing Growing Weight Throughout the World Economy’ was the title of a leading article which went on to highlight ‘the inherent flexibility towards national sovereignty that internationally spread private companies possess’ ( The Economist 1964). 1 Since the 1960s multinational enterprise was increasingly viewed as the future and nation-states (and their governments) as ‘just about through as an economic unit’ (Kindleberger 1969: 207 and more recently Ohmae 1990 and Strange 1996). In the most extreme form of this zero-sum power game between multinationals and governments democracy is seen as being replaced by the quiet power of big business (for example Hertz 2001; Korten 2001; George 2015).
