ABSTRACT
O v e r the last three decades , developing countries have often v iewed transnational corporat ions ( T N C s ) in largely negative terms. Whi l e m a n y observers v iewed T N C s as undesirable but often necessary, others saw them as the instruments o f core - country capitalist exploitation o f peripheral economies . A c c o r d i n g to such analyses, T N C s have few positive roles in the deve lopment o f T h i r d W o r l d nations and, in fact, create d e p e n d e n c y effects which constitute one o f the main obstacles to growth. However , developing countries ' views o n foreign T N C s seem to have changed over the last two decades and, consequently, they are n o longer descr ibed in such negative terms. In fact, developing countries are n o w scrambling to attract foreign capital. Underly ing this change is the belief that T N C s can indeed play a significant role in their host countries ' technological deve lopment . But is this opt imism justified?
