Politická ekonomie 2006, 54(5):679-690 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.579

Teória transakčných nákladov a jej vplyv na stratégie nadnárodných spoločností

Dagmar Lesáková
Ekonomická univerzita v Bratislave.

Transaction costs theory and its impact on strategies of multinational enterprises

The theory of internalization currently seems to be generally accepted as a possible explanation of multinational enterprise. The issue of the theory is that a multinational enterprise has developed a firm-specific advantage in its home market, usually in the form of intangible assets, giving the firm some superior production, product, marketing or management knowledge. If these assets are not exploited through market or contractual transactions, an "internal" market has to be created. Expansions outside the firm's domestic market will then take form of horizontal and vertical integration. The firm either establishes or buys manufacturing plants outside its home market. The multinacional enterprise thus exists because of "market failures" or high "contracting costs". The firm wants to protect its intangible assets and to be able to control the price, which others pay for the use of these assets. The internalization theory has also much to say about the modes of cross border resource transfer. We come to the conclusion that the internalization theory can be considered as a useful tool to describe and advice the governance structures in MNE even in recent days, especially regarding the management of innovation and knowledge transfer between subsidiaries and corporate centre and subsidiaries themselves. We conclude that a mix of autonomous and corporate induced activities has to be created, in order to respond to the local market and in the same time to look for an international economy of scope. What will be needed for the future research in this aspect is an "inside behaviour" research of the differentiated network MNE.

Keywords: transaction costs theory, internalisation theory, differentiated network, location-bound knowledge, firm-specific knowledge
JEL classification: F23

Published: October 1, 2006  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Lesáková, D. (2006). Transaction costs theory and its impact on strategies of multinational enterprises. Politická ekonomie54(5), 679-690. doi: 10.18267/j.polek.579
Download citation

References

  1. Barlett, C.A., Ghoshal,S.: Managing Across Borders: The Transnational Solution. In Porter, M.E.: Competition in Global Industries. Boston, Harvard Business School 1986.
  2. Birkinshaw, J.: Entrepreneurship in the Global Firm. London, Sage 2000.
  3. Buckley, P.J., Casson, C.: The Future of the Multinational Enterprise. London, Macmillan 1976. Go to original source...
  4. Doz, Y., Prahalad, C.K.: Managing MNCs: a search for a new strategic paradigm. Strategic Management Journal. 1991, no. 12, p. 145-164. Go to original source...
  5. Dunning, J.H.: Some antecedents of internalization theory. Journal of International Business Studies. 2003, vol. 34, no. 2, p. 108-115. Go to original source...
  6. Frost, T.S., Birkinshaw, J.M., Ensign, P.C.: Centers of excellence in multinational corporations. Strategic Management Journal. 2002, vol. 23, no. 11, p. 997-1018. Go to original source...
  7. Lesáková, D.: Nové trendy v marketingu tretieho tisícročia. Ekonomický ČAsopis. 2001, č. 6, s. 1030-1042 (Bratislava, Slovak Academic Press).
  8. Lesáková, D.: Výskum a vzdelávanie v ére "nového marketingu". Ekonomický ČAsopis. 2003, č. 9, s. 1146-1158 (Bratislava, Slovak Academic Press).
  9. Táncošová, J.: Joint ventures - teoretický náČRt a praktické skúsenosti. Bratislava, Ekonóm 1996. ISBN 80-225-0734-2.
  10. Šikula, M.: Globalizácia - rázcestie civilizácie. Bratislava, Ekonóm 1999. ISBN 80-88848-46-6.
  11. Rugman, A.M., Verbeke, A.: Subsidiary specific advantages in multinational enterprises. Strategic Management Journal. 2001, no. 3, p. 237-250. Go to original source...
  12. Verbeke, A.: The evolutionary view of the MNE and the future of internalization theory. Journal of International Business Studies. 2003, vol. 34, no. 6, p. 498-513. Go to original source...
  13. Williamson, O.: The Mechanism of Governance. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press 1999.

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY NC ND 4.0), which permits non-comercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.