ABSTRACT
This chapter expresses the extent to which it is desirable and possible to widen the theoretical framework one has adopted to consider the same subject matter from an interdisciplinary perspective. One shall examine the extent to which it is possible to offer a unifying interdisciplinary paradigm which might be used as a framework by which all the relevant variables affecting international production may be better identified, interpreted and evaluated. The Japanese scholars stress the importance of information accumulating among transacting participants in leading to strong ties between firms producing at different stages of the value-added chain. Competition and anti-trust legislation in one country might prevent firms from merging or forming collaborative alliances, but in another it may allow it. The transaction-cost paradigm is useful in identifying situations in which the structure of the principal/agent relationship is appropriate. The chapter has suggested that the eclectic paradigm is robust enough to embrace non-economic variables.
