Assessment Information

This assignment is designed to assess learning outcomes:

1. Critically engage with competing explanations for economic globalisation since 1945 Analyse the global business environment in different industrial sectors and evaluate the strategies corporations deploy to manage those environments
2. Demonstrate understanding of the global business environment by communicating, both verbally and in writing, complex ideas and arguments about the evolution and dynamics of the world economy
3. Locate, identify and synthesise appropriate information to design, conduct and report research into business and management issues, both individually and as part of a team This assignment is an individual assignment.

This assignment requires you to write a 2000 word essay on the following question:

Are multinational corporations or states the most powerful actors in the global business environment? Illustrate your answer with reference to the AUTOMOBILE industry.

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

• What are the main factors that affect the relative bargaining positions of multinational corporations and states operating in this industry? (for instance why might a state wish to attract an automobile company to its territory? Why might a multinational wish to locate in a particular country?) HINT – you may find it helpful here to refer back to the diagrams in lectures 4 and 10.
• How would you characterize relationships between multinational corporations and states in this industry – are they cooperative or antagonistic? Do they compete or cooperate?
• Are relationships between states and multinational corporations static or changeable? In other words, do they compete at some times and cooperate at others?
• Do state-owned enterprises play a prominent role in this industry? What implications does this have for the essay question?