The late and turbulent transition from a largely rural and peasant society to a modern urban state involved the crisis of rooted popular traditions and the emergence of mass cultural forms. As a result, Italy, once the centre of a cultural world, has increasingly found itself on the periphery of an American media empire and serious questions of cultural identity have been raised. The Italian case is further significant on account of the theoretical and political problems it has posed. As well as dealing with these and related topics, the book examines current tendencies, such as the rapid...

Multinational enterprises have played a crucial role in postwar international economic integration. They have promoted intra-firm trade, technology transfer and internal movements of capital and human resources. This important book provides wide-ranging new evidence on their role in globalising the service sector - especially financial services - in establishing international networks of R & D and in developing trade and investment linkages in Asia. Particular attention is given to the participation of multinationls in management contracts and joint ventures, and the significance of this for...

Multinational firms are often seen as controlling the secrets of industrial success, and conversely, as causing industrial decline. As a consequence their activites are the subject of intense debate. This study assesses the role of multinational enterprise in international competition - including trade and technology licensing - and analyses the profound implications that follow for policy formulation. This is the first book to use a systematic comparative approach, in which the experience of five major developed economies, the USA, Japan, the UK, Sweden and West Germany, are appraised using...

We are currently in a period of rapid global change that is of profound importance, but the nature of which is difficult to comprehend. A crucial element in any such comprehension must be an understanding of its ethical dimension since ethical ideas enter into the structure of international orders. Particular ethical questions are also, of course, of great intrinsic interest and importance. This book covers both aspects through an analysis of key concepts and issues.