Multinational corporations and economic development: the lessons of Singapore.

• Author: Nizamuddin, Ali M.

Introduction

Today, multinational corporations (MNCs) comprise a central place in the world economy. Before World War II, terms such as "multinational" or "transnational" were seldom used to describe international economic relations. Although transnational entities like the British East India Company and joint-stock enterprises existed in the past, the expansion and proliferation of multinational agents is a recent phenomenon. The hyperbolic spread of transnational activity has spawned a spirited debate and the concomitant development of theoretical models that seek to explain their causes and effects.

This study examines why MNCs gravitate toward certain economies and not others. The cause for this is to be found primarily at the state level and governmental policies designed to reduce market risks (i.e., political instability, inadequate infrastructure, and a poor regulatory environment) for prospective investors. Two competing paradigms seek to explain state policies and foreign investment decisions. The neoclassical model is predicated on the self-sufficiency of the market and prescribes a reduced role for the state. Dependency theory, which is far more skeptical of multinational activity, asserts that state institutions become hostage to foreign capital. Both paradigms, however, fail to explain the rise of multinational corporations and economic development in Singapore. Recognizing that Singapore is poorly endowed in natural resources, state leaders adopted a series of measures that reduced market risks and created a host country climate attractive to foreign investment. The process of modernization in Singapore was inextricably tied to liberal foreign investment policies that sought integration into the world economy. The state was an instrumental agent that spearheaded growth and was not controlled by powerful multinationals centered in more developed countries.

Alternative Explanations

1. The Neoclassical School and State Involvement

   In the neoclassical conceptualization of a world economy composed of small, decentralized, and unitary agents, state intervention in the economy is discouraged. (1) The collective interplay of self-interested rational actors produces an equilibrium outcome that is socially optimal. According to the Ricardian principle, not every country can produce every good it needs. Consequently, nations sell those goods and services in which they have a comparative advantage. It is understood that certain countries can produce some goods more efficiently than others. (2) For instance, Patrick J. Buchanan, a prominent conservative commentator, once lamented the fact that he had purchased two dozen roses imported from South America for his wife for Valentine's Day. A vocal critic of free trade, he recommended that the United States should try to cultivate its own rose industry rather than be dependent on imports. (3) In so doing, Buchanan failed to realize that South America can produce roses more efficiently than the United States because its climate is much more conducive to growing roses in February. In order for Americans to produce roses during winter, green houses would have to be established everywhere, and as such, resources would have to be diverted from the efficient production of other goods such as cars or computers. This would deviate from the principle of comparative advantage which asserts that states need to take advantage of their differences and create those goods which they can produce most efficiently and sell them in international markets unencumbered by trade and investment barriers.

   Since the neo-classical model is predicated on the self-sufficiency of the market, the policy recommendation is that states should play a minimal role in the economy. According to Adam Smith, the father of laissez-faire economic theory, state intervention should be restricted to three areas: ensuring domestic security (i.e., the establishment of rule of law); providing national security; and, the provisioning of public goods (e.g., the construction of roads, bridges, dams, and other infrastructural projects). (4) Regulations that impede international trade (e.g., tariffs, quotas, voluntary export restraints) should be removed so that states can trade freely and make effective use of their comparative advantage in the production of goods.

   A similar logic extends to foreign investment. Barriers to foreign investment should be removed so that MNCs can enter and operate freely in local economies. The less a country's bureaucracy is hampered by obstreperous regulations, the more attractive it becomes to foreign investors. Increased investments by multinationals are said to improve the conditions of the host economy by introducing new sources of capital and technology. The neoclassical model contends that foreign direct investment enhances competition, creates jobs, and generates domestic growth. This, in turn, has spillover effects on the ancillary sectors in the economy, thus promoting greater innovation and production. According to Harry Johnson, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, multinationals bring to less developed hosts, "a 'package' of cheap capital, advanced technology, superior management ability, and superior knowledge of foreign markets for both final products, and capital goods, intermediate inputs, and raw materials." (5) Again, the policy recommendation by proponents of this school of thought is to prescribe reduced state involvement in the process of wealth creation.

2. Dependency Theory and State Involvement

   Borrowing from Marxist thought, dependency theory is far less supportive of international trade overall and the role of MNCs specifically. According to advocates of this school of thought, foreign firms are "the organizational embodiment of international capital" (6) whose operations are seen as the quintessential example of capital domination by the center (rich countries) on the periphery and semi-periphery (poor and intermediate countries, respectively). Proponents of dependency theory assert that these powerful enterprises cause distortions in the national economy by pushing domestic producers out of the local economy while absorbing local capital. (7) Aside from perversely affecting developmental patterns, MNCs are also deemed responsible for undermining the national autonomy of underdeveloped countries. They are able to conduct such campaigns by forging alliances with local elite and segments of the technocratic class. If state leaders should decide to pursue nationalistic policies of market closure, MNCs would not only exert pressure from abroad but also from within domestic society as a result of this unholy alliance. (8)

   According to dependency theory, MNCs have specialized skills and resources that less developed countries may not possess. These multinational enterprises have at their disposal enormous organizational resources, capital and technology, and managerial expertise that they can deploy to pursue their interests after entering a host economy. As political scientist Robert Gilpin observes: "Through vertical integration and centralization of decision-making, the multinational corporation seeks to perpetuate its predominant position with respect to technology, access to capital, sources of supply, or whatever else gives it competitive advantage and market power." (9) In short, superior capabilities give MNCs greater bargaining leverage when dealing with host governments. As a consequence, underdeveloped countries cannot negotiate on equal terms with these powerful multinational enterprises and ultimately become hostages to their interests.

   Both schools of thought fall short in their effort to explain the impact of state intervention in the economy. Neoclassical thought is flawed in that it sees virtually all types of state intervention as harmful for the economy. Prominent economists such as Amartya Sen and Douglass North have made a distinction between "market conforming" and "market displacing" interventions. (10) The latter concept refers to state involvement that stifles private activity (e.g., cumbersome licensing arrangements that make it difficult to start a business and raise the necessary capital impede entrepreneurship). The former concept refers to the type of state involvement witnessed in East Asia from the 1950s through the 1970s. Here, the state plays a supportive role in the process of modernization. Institutions like the Ministry of International Trade and Industry in Japan, for example, provide local firms with capital, technology, grants, and whatever else is necessary to enhance competitiveness and productivity. (11) Clearly, appropriate state intervention that does not circumscribe initiatives can perform a vital role for countries. The weakness of dependency theory is that it sees the state as a reflexive entity having terms dictated to it by powerful multinational interests. Host countries are not helpless supplicants, rather they are active participants in the modernization process. Numerous cases of successful state involvement in Asia have undermined both neoclassical and dependency theory claims. As this case study of Singapore will show, state policies designed to minimize market risks were crucial in attracting foreign investment and the interests of these foreign firms did not override the developmental goals of the host country.

   Concepts and Terms

1. Multinational Corporations

   How can MNCs be conceptualized? MNCs can be defined as a cluster of corporations that operate in at least two host countries that are linked by a parent company through bonds of common ownership. MNCs that establish an operation in another country (host country) are referred to as a subsidiary; the main branch in the home country is known as the parent company. If Mitsubishi Motor Company of Japan set up a plant in India, for example, the subsidiary would be the operation in India...