What is new about global corporations? Interpreting statistical data on corporate internationalization

In the debate on globalization it is often argued that multinational corporations (MNCs) have gained increasing power due to their growth and due to new global or transnational structures and strategies. This paper presents empirical evidence - especially from various national statistics ignored in the debate so far - that contradicts these assumptions and allow a deeper understanding of the development of the structures of MNCs. These data indicate that foreign direct investment (FDI) is not a good indicator for the real growth of MNCs. Rising prices of cross-border M&A transactions lead to high growth-rates of FDI while the real growth of MNCs has developed quite steadily over many decades. In manufacturing only affiliates in the periphery of MNCs' home regions show an accelerated expansion (partly due to the opening-up of Eastern Europe and China). Over-all, the development of MNCs does not show significant new characteristics in the 1990s, neither in quantitative nor in qualitative terms. Despite the continuous tendency to globalize managerial coordination, truly integrated global configurations have not emerged. Network-like manufacturing structures - and thus also the mobility of production - are still confined regionally. The final section tries to develop an explanation for the fact that MNCs are assigned this important new role in the globalization debate.