The global strategies of multinational enterprises and government policies: Ford Motor Company and the automobile industry in Canada and Mexico.

摘要

The central question of this dissertation is how the global strategies of Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) have changed fundamentally the power relationship between those actors and States in a context of growing cross-border economic integration. The answer is explored through a comparison of the interaction between the global strategies of Ford Motor Company and the policies of the Mexican and Canadian governments towards the automobile industry as a determinant of industry outcomes during the 1960--1993 period. Two main factors justify this case study. On the one hand, the fact that Ford is the most transnational of all automakers and a leader in introducing or adopting technological innovations in the industry. On the other hand, that the Canadian and the Mexican automobile industries have become part of an integrated system of production in North America, largely as a result from the structural transformations undergone by the automobile industry worldwide during the 1980s.;The theoretical contribution of this dissertation lies in addressing MNEs' strategies as explanations for change in the international arena, which contrasts with traditional approaches of International Relations and International Political Economy that focus mainly on State policies. The empirical evidence of this dissertation also demonstrates the complexity of MNEs-States power relations. On a more practical vein, this dissertation suggests ways to assure the efficacy of both government policies and firms' strategies in a context of regional economic integration.