The Free-Standing Company in the World Economy, 1830-1996

This is “not”, however, a typical collection of conference proceedings. Instead, the authors have substantially revised their findings in light of criticisms offered at the meetings and have taken up issues debated by the other participants. The result is a very lively volume that reflects the divergent opinions and viewpoints of eighteen leading scholars in the field of international business. It really is a hard volume to put down once one picks it up. EH.NETand H-Business (Gordon Boyce, School of Economics and Finance, Victoria University of Wellington) 07/99This book is unquestionably the definitive work on this subject.'Journal of International Business Studies 32:4 2001 reviewed by Robert Grossea volume that is impressive and important’Hans de Geer, Business History, January 2000”…here is an impressive cast of both FSC [free-standing company] sympathisers and sceptics, with all of the original papers subjected to extensive critical review and with clear evidence that the editors required that they address fundamental and clearly-specified empirical and theoretical issues. …the end result is a gem: a book in which, unlike so much ‘progress’ in the historical and social sciences, a paradigm is really decomposed, theoretically andempirically, in time and space.” Roger Middleton, Enterprise and Society, March 2000.“…we can highlight Wilkins’s concluding chapter as a model of balanced judgement about what is now known and what might be the agenda for the second decade of research.” “This is Economic History at it’s best…” Roger Middleton, Enterprise and Society, March 2000The range of concerns reaised by the concept attests to its value and must attract a wide readership to this volume. Those interested in institutional economics will find the theoretical chapters and the case studies particularly stimulating. The book will be useful to scholars of multinational enterprises of all types, international business, and, of course, business and economic history. EH.NET and H-Business (Gordon Boyce, School of Economics and Finance,Victoria University of Wellington) 07/99

Mira Wilkins is a Professor of Economics at Florida International University. Harm Schroter is a Visiting Professor at the University of Konstanz.