The Rise of the Global Company
Multinationals and the Making of the Modern World

Readable, wide-ranging history of multinational enterprise, exploring its role in international events and influence on globalization and the modern world.

Robert Fitzgerald (Author)

9780521614962, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 7 January 2016

636 pages, 39 tables
22.8 x 15.2 x 2.7 cm, 1 kg

'Robert Fitzgerald has presented a formidable collection of historical data on a myriad of global companies in his book.' Miles Kahler, H-Diplo

This is the first full account of how an influential form of commercial organization - the multinational enterprise - drove globalization and contributed to the making of the modern world. Robert Fitzgerald explores the major role of multinational enterprises in the events of world history, from the nineteenth century to the present, revealing how the growth of businesses that operated across borders contributed to an unprecedented worldwide transformation and deepening interdependence between countries. He demonstrates how international businesses shaped the economic development and competitiveness of nations, their politics and sovereignty, and the balance of power in international relations. The Rise of the Global Company uses the lessons of history to question prominent contemporary interpretations of multinationals and their consequences, and offers a truly wide-ranging survey of multinational enterprise, spanning two hundred years and five continents.

1. Multinationals, states and the international economy
2. Empires of business: 1870–1914
3. The reverse gear?: 1914–48
4. Cold War and the new international economic order: 1948–80
5. Global economics?: 1980–2012
Conclusion: international business in time
Tables
References
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: International business [KJK], Economic history [KCZ], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL]