Multinational Enterprises, Technological Change & Local Economic Development
Instructor Name
Simona Iammarino
Instructor Biography
Simona Iammarino is Professor of Applied Economics, Department of Economics & Business, University of Cagliari, Italy; Visiting Professor, Department of Geography & Environment, and member of the Board of the LSE-Cañada Blanch Centre, London School of Economics (LSE), UK. Her main interests are: Multinational corporations, globalisation & local economic development; Economic geography of innovation; Regional economic development & policy. She has published more than 70 articles in major peer-reviewed journals, 2 co-authored books, and numerous book chapters, working papers and policy reports. She is co-editor of the Journal of Economic Geography, and member of the Regional Studies Association Executive Group. Simona has long-term experience in externally funded international research projects, and in consultancy projects for various international organisations (e.g. EU Commission, OECD, United Nations, ADB, etc.) and numerous government agencies. Simona was awarded the ERSA Prize in Regional Science 2024. arguably the highest prize in regional science.
URL: https://www.unica.it/unica/page/it/simona_iammarinoCourse Description
This course aims to provide students with an in-depth understanding of the long-term, structural causes and implications of globalisation processes. The pace of technological change and globalisation forces led by Multinational Enterprises challenge continuously modes of production and innovation and sustainable development trajectories worldwide, providing incentives to upgrading and growth. On the other hand, the transformations in the global division of labour brought about by globalisation processes and technological change have shown negative effects in terms of uneven distribution of wealth and rising inequality across countries and regions. Examples of questions addressed in the course are: What are the main forces of today’s globalisation? What are multinational enterprises? What are their corporate strategies and why do they matter? Why do some industries (or part of them) leave some areas for others? Who are the countries and regions who “win” and those who “lose”? Students will learn theoretically informed approaches for explaining these processes, supported by empirical evidence at various scales of geography.
Learning Outcomes
Critically discuss the most important theoretical explanations of the main actors behind international production and innovation – i.e. the global firms, or Multinational Enterprises – their geographies, behaviours and strategies (essential skill: processing information)
Discuss the long-term implications of the processes of globalisation and technological change and the consequences of key trajectories and constraints in local economic development (essential skill: processing and comparing information)
Analyse the consequences of a changing global competitive and institutional environment for industrial competition, economic growth and socio-economic development of countries and their regions (essential skill: interpreting and criticizing information)
In addition, students will further strengthen intellectual and communication skills
Course Schedule
The hours of lectures will be normally structured as 1h:45min lecture by the lecturer, followed by Q&A and collective discussion.
Lecture | Topic (2.5 teaching hours) |
1 | Introduction to the course: trends in economic globalisation |
2 | Background: the business firm in economic theory, innovation capacity and industries |
3 | Multinational Enterprises (MNEs 1): definitions, trends and theory |
4 | Multinational Enterprises (MNEs 2): strategies and general impacts |
5 | Multinational Enterprises and FDI (MNEs 3): some examples of the impacts in home and host economies |
6 | Global Value Chains (GVCs): concepts and empirics |
7 | GVCs and geography: the case of European countries and regions |
8 | MNEs, technology and geographical inequality (case 1): Monopoly, Big Tech and regional inequality in the USA |
9 | MNEs, technology and geographical inequality (case 2): Critical Raw Materials and the global race to technological transitions |
10 | Deglobalisation, Decolonialising economics, Degrowth: debates on the Ever-Evolving Economic Globalisation |
Reading List
Coe, N.M. and Yeung, H.W.C. (2019) Global production networks: mapping recent conceptual developments. Journal of Economic Geography, 19(4), 775-801
Crescenzi, R., & Iammarino, S. (2018). Global investments and regional development trajectories: the missing links. In Transitions in regional economic development (pp. 171-203). Routledge.
Ernst, D., Kim, L. (2002) Global production networks, knowledge diffusion and local capability formation, Research Policy 31 (8–9), 1417–1429.
Feldman, M., Guy, F. and Iammarino, S. (2020) Regional income disparities, monopoly & finance, Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, rsaa024, https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsaa024
Giuliani, E. and Macchi, C. (2014) Multinational corporations’ economic and human rights impacts on developing countries: a review and research agenda, Cambridge Journal of Economics, 38:2, 479–517.
Iammarino S. and McCann P. (2013) Multinationals and Economic Geography. Location, Technology, and Innovation, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham UK and Northampton (MA) USA.
Kenney, M., & Zysman, J. (2016) The rise of the platform economy. Issues in science and technology, 32(3), 61.
Li, Y., Ascani, A. and Iammarino, S. (2024) The Material Basis of Modern Technologies - A Case Study on Rare Metals, Research Policy, 53:1, 104914, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2023.104914
Rikap, C. and Lundvall, B-A (2020) Big Tech, Knowledge Predation and the Implications for Development. Innovation and Development, 1–28
Student Assessment
A written examination in class (1 question of choice out of 3), with questions on main theories and concepts, to be developed with supporting empirical evidence and cases, on the causes and consequences of globalization.
