Towards a Social Regulation of the Global Firm?

Multinational firms are both a motor and a transmission belt for the internationalization of economic and social relations. The economic development and even the prosperity of most nations seem to be inextricably linked to the scope and intensity of the activities of the approximately 65,000 multinational firms and their 850,000 foreign affiliates operating in one area or another of the planet. The wealth of nations is thus tied to their capacity to partake of the international trading system by attracting foreign direct investment and finding their niches of competitive advantage within an increasingly global economy.