ABSTRACT
In recent years, the theory of the MNE has benefited from research on the economics of internal organisation by Williamson (1975), (1979), (1981) and others. Since the MNE internalises transactions which might otherwise have taken place in an external market, this theory has come to be known as the ‘internalisation theory’ of the MNE. However, the theory has been formulated at a rather general level, which led Buckley to comment in Chapter 2 (p. 42) that the idea of multinational internalisation, as articulated by Rugman (1981) and others, is ‘a concept in search of a theory’.
