ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to analyse the different strands in the emergence of the modern and distinct theories of international production from 1960. There was no distinct theory of international production prior to 1960 because, apart from that organised by individual entrepreneurs in the period prior to 1914, it consisted largely of resource-based investments undertaken by firms from developed countries in developing countries. These resource-based direct investments, as well as portfolio investments, were largely explained by locational theories of international trade and capital movements. The relevance of historical antecedents to the emergence of the distinct theory of international production was first analysed by Cantwell, Corley and Dunning (1986). The modern theory of international production has drawn from the theories of capital movements, trade, location, industrial organisation, innovation and the firm.
