This study adopts network analysis of Transnational Corporations(TNC) of six Asian and European countries as a transnational actor. The aims of the study are 1) to provide social science framework which can lead to more objective understanding of TNC ...
This study adopts network analysis of Transnational Corporations(TNC) of six Asian and European countries as a transnational actor. The aims of the study are 1) to provide social science framework which can lead to more objective understanding of TNC and 2) to test empirically the validity of the argument that TNC can replace the role of the nation-state in international order, as many scholars have argued recently, by recasting the relationship between TNC and the nation-state.
The framework of this study is derived from the complex network theory put forward by Barabasi and the theoretical implications thereof are applied to the case studies. This study tries to verify two hypotheses based on the arguments of Barabasi's network theory. First is about the growth and development process of TNC. In a networked world, the process in which national non-state actors rise to the transnational actors through link competition is conditioned by national and regional traits in which non-state actors are located. The different capacity of resource mobilization, expected benefit and cost which are heavily conditioned by national and regional characteristics determine the contents and speed of becoming transnational. These differences determine the scope of influence, mode of action, organizational structure, way of issue handling and the relationship with the home and host government of TNCs. This is to argue that national and regional characteristics are important variable in the growth and development of TNCs.
Second is about the influence of TNCs on international order. According to Barabasi, when there is an attack on hub from outside, network is exposed to fatal weakness. Based on the argument of Barabasi, we try to verify the hypothesis that the growth of regional networks and intensification of competition among the networks will lead to the more conflicts and clashes among TNCs, thus ultimately leading to more instability and chaos in international order.
The theme of the first year is 'varieties of growth and development process of TNCs,' which is our first hypothesis. The independent variables are globalization and informatization and the dependent variable is TNC. As national non-state actors are exposed to globalization and informatization, the pressure of global competition increases. We try to explore how national non-state actors in the globalization process become transnational. Through the case study of six countries, we argue that each process is different reflecting national and regional characteristics. As a result, the scope of influence, mode of action, organizational structure, the ways of issue handling and relationship with the home and host government of TNCs will be shaped differently. The comparative study of this process and result is the core of first year research.
The theme of second year is 'the relationship between TNCs and international order,' which is our second hypothesis. Independent variable is TNC and dependent variable is international order. Main focus is intensification of competition among TNCs such as M&A and what kind of influence it will have on international order. Will increased effort of TNCs to expand their own network lead to more prosperous world economy and peaceful world or to turbulent world economy and more unstable international order This is the main question of second year research.