ABSTRACT

In the period since the Second World War the prevalence and significance of multinational enterprises (MNEs) has increased almost unabated, although admittedly the financial crisis of 2008 and subsequent global economic slowdown has put the brakes on to a certain extent. However, this ongoing globalisation process continues to see a higher incidence of MNEs operating in different locations and the influence of those MNEs as producers, employers and users of local resources as well as local suppliers continues to rise accordingly. The purpose of this chapter is to critically explore the extent of the current literature addressing two key questions directly resulting from this inexorable rise in the prevalence and importance of MNEs within the global economy. With these being firstly what it is that determines the pattern of MNEs’ investment decisions and secondly, once they are situated in a particular foreign location, how do they manage the people employed by the organisation and how is this influenced by different locational factors?