Die Verbundaktivitäten deutscher Unternehmen gewinnen seit geraumer Zeit an Bedeutung. Darin schlägt sich nieder, dass sie funktional stärker differenziert und spezialisiert sowie zunehmend internationalisiert sind. Nachdem sich die globale Arbeitsteilung geändert hat, stößt die klassische...

Brände in Textilfabriken und Selbstmorde bei Computer-Zulieferern machten jüngst deutlich: In asiatischen Werken, die für den europäischen und amerikanischen Markt produzieren, herrschen teilweise skandalöse Arbeitsbedingungen. Als Maßnahmen gegen diese Missstände werden Sozialkapitel in...

Trade in intermediate goods as one possible link between rising trade and foreign direct investment is examined. To explain growing intermediate goods trade, three hypotheses are brought forward: outsourcing, global sourcing and the increasing importance of MNE networks. These hypotheses are...

Feenstra and Hanson (1997) have argued in the context of the North American Free Trade Agreement that US outsourcing to Mexico leads to an increase in the skill premium in both the US and Mexico. In this paper we show on the example of Austria and Poland that with the new international division...

Internationale Direktinvestitionen sind zum wichtigsten Motor der Globalisierung geworden. Während sich die westdeutschen Exporte seit 1980 etwa verdoppelten, stiegen die ausländischen Direktinvestitionsbestände deutscher Unternehmen im gleichen Zeitraum auf das Vierfache an. Die Zahl der...

Globalisation (in the sense of increased international trade) is usually associated with gains from trade but also distributional effects where e.g. capital owners gain and workers lose, both in real terms. In recent years, globalisation seems to be synonymous to international mergers of firms....

The paper addresses the position occupied by China in the new international division of labour now developing as value chains become increasingly frag-mented and work is relocated in the context of globalisation. China is currently experiencing an extremely dynamic industrialisation process, and...

It is often argued that the process of globalization has mainly favoured large-scale multinational companies which are able to organize their business efficiently within internal hierarchies. However, globalization has not only pushed cross-border intra-finn transactions but also other...

This report summarizes 39 detailed ETLA case studies of global value chains (GVCs). The findings suggest that the value added in global value chains is less tied to their tangible aspects than what conventional wisdom suggests. Intangible aspects of GVCs tend to be more important, but their poor...

The Knowledge Capital Model (KC-model), described in Markusen (2002), encompasses both market size (horizontal) as well as factor endowment (vertical) explanations to why multinational production occurs. Although the KC-model seems intuitively appealing, the empirical support has, so far, been...