The Global Business Environment – Evolution and Dynamics

Faculty of Business and Law Assignment

Assessment Information

This assignment is an INDIVIDUAL assignment.

This assignment requires you to write a 2000-word individual report on the following question:

Critically assess the main power resources relevant to the bargaining relationship between States and multinational corporations. Illustrate your answer with reference to the OIL industry.

In writing your answer you need to refer to the diagram on page 244 of the core module text book: P.Dicken, Global Shift: Mapping the Changing Contours of the World Economy (7th edition), London: SAGE. Please note, however, that it is essential this is supplemented from material from the reading lists provided on Aula and from your own independent research.

In preparing your answer you may find it helpful to reflect on some of the following questions (please note the report does not require you to answer these questions, they are merely to stimulate your thinking):

• What resources do States have that MNCs want? Conversely what resources do MNCs have that states want?
• How can States use their resources to exert power over MNCs and vice versa?
• Under what circumstances (or ‘contingency’ to borrow the term we use in the lectures) do these resources generate the most power? For example, a key power resource available to States in many industries is that they control access to their domestic market. Which States are likely to have the most power in this regard and why?
• What constraints do States and MNCs face in their bargaining relationship?
• Does the power of States and MNCs vary over time?