The current wave of globalization started in 1990 (the "second unbundling" according to Richard Baldwin). Companies started to use their western knowledge combined with lower wage rates. This led to the phenomenon which we now call global value chains and the "fragmentation" of production processes.
In that period, the number of multinationals must have grown, but I can't seem to find any statistics on the number of MNEs or their importance for the economy. Does anyone know of any data in this field?
Helo
Biggest companies You can find in Frbes Global 2000 ranking. Number of HQs aggregated to metropolitan areas and sectors You can find in:
Csomós G, 2012. GaWC Data Set 26: Global Command and
Control Centres, 2006/2009/2012. Available at: http://www.
lboro.ac.uk
Their importance in global economy is here:
Csomós G, 2013. The command and control centers of the United
States (2006/2012): an analysis of industry sectors influencing
the position of cities. Geoforum, 12(50): 241–251. doi: 10.
1016/j.geoforum.2013.09.015
Simple analysis of european biggest companies by metro areas:
Raźniak P, Winiarczyk-Raźniak A, 2015. Did the 2008 global
economic crisis affect large firms in Europe? Acta
Geographica Slovenica, 55(1): 128–139. doi: 10.3986/AGS.
740
or new concept used biggest global corporations. It will be publisched in january 2017, byt in attachement You can find proofreading version.
regards
Piotr
The best source to start is the World Investment Report by UNCTAD, available at the site of this organization
Abel
Indeed, some of the World Investment Reports (e.g. the World Investment Report 2009) have had data on the number of MNEs; or you may find them in other UNCTAD publications. I think the latest estimate was approximately 100,000 MNEs, with about 900,000 affiliates.
The World Investment Reports also have data on the economic importance of foreign affiliates, too. Go to table I.4 in the year 2016 report (Selected indicators of FDI and international production, 2015 and selected years). You will find such numbers as the sales of foreign affiliates, the value added of foreign affiliates, the total assets of foreign affiliates, the exports of foreign affiliates and employment by foreign affiliates, and comparative data for world GDP, gross fixed capital formation, and exports, for selected years, such as 1990, 2005–2007 (pre-crisis average), 2013, 2014 and 2015.
A note on the list of largest companies (Forebes et al.): a large company does not equal a multinational. There are very large uninationals, but also small and medium-sized MNEs. This is so because the definition of an MNE is not a firm beyond a certain size but a firm that owns at least one affiliate (which could be a subsidiary, an associated company, a branch or a representative office) abroad.
Reffering to the traces suggested by the authors of previous answers I would like to draw your attention to the paper: Transnational Corporations in the World Economy: Formation, Development and Present Position, Copernican Journal of Finance and Accounting 2015, vol. 4, issue 1, pp. 55-70 (http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/CJFA.2015.004).
For European Union countries data are published by Eurostat (Fats data).
I agree with Chiara Bentivogli, you can use Eurostat data on number of affiliates of european countries in the rest of world. It's a very detailed database, however, it has many missing values. But it can be a good starting point.
You might like to look at the Orbis dataset. It could be that you have access to it via your university's library. There are also some free trial options: https://orbis.bvdinfo.com/version-20161229/home.serv?product=orbisneo
Good luck,
Jaroslaw
Hi everyone, this is an old tread, but I would like to know if anyone has writtena further update on MNCs number, affiliates, employment etc, which updates UNCTAD 2009 and Jaworek M., Kuzel M. (2015), tha latter being the most updated paper I found in term of data crunching. Thanks.
please if you find some data about it, I really need 2019's data
Rutger Hoekstra
Alessandra Mezzadri Arama Dalel Could you find statistics for 2019? Would appreciate if you can share your sources.
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