ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the relevance of the eclectic paradigm to explaining the recent growth of Multinational Enterprises business services in the UK. Foreign branch offices directly serving the needs of another main activity are almost certainly the largest source of office employment generated by MNEs in the UK, including MNEs in the resource and manufacturing sectors and some physical service companies such as transport operators. Engineering consultancy Only one-quarter of the engineering consultancy respondents indicated that they had either exported their services to the UK or licensed a UK firm prior to the establishment of their office in the UK. 'Language' is an important influence on location choice for most respondent offices, and is particularly so in the computer and information technology sector. Although business services may be classified in many ways, one adopted a very simple taxonomy, distinguishing between branch and regional offices.
