ABSTRACT
The previous chapter explored some of the theoretical and conceptual issues of TNC involvement in EMCs, with particular reference to the impacts of globalization. In this chapter, we move to examine the changing geographies of transnational corporations in emerging market countries. Within the territories of these countries, TNCs have an increasing significance. On the one hand, they can ‘transform’ spaces within those EMCs that have decided to insert themselves forcefully within the evolving world economy. TNCs can be the main ‘global’ agents responsible for creating local specializations of production for world markets through the rapid inflow of capital investment and technology, and the subsequent growth in exports. On the other hand, spaces in EMCs can also be defined by lack of investment interest on the part of TNCs and lack of local specializations for world markets; the impacts are different (stagnant production, out-migration of inhabitants, lack of new technologies) but the lack of a global/local nexus is fundamental to understanding the economic geography of such spaces.
