Multinational Enterprise and Government Controls on Outward Foreign Direct Investment in the United States and the United Kingdom in the 1960s

Abstract

The 1960s have been seen as critical in the development of multinational enterprise by social scientists. Business historians have provided a context to these developments but are only now beginning to consider the 1960s in the light of access to archival material. This article analyses the nature and extent of the tension between multinational enterprise and U.S. and U.K. national governments in the 1960s caused by the tightening of controls on FDI introduced to resolve balance of payments problems. A comparative approach is adopted to illustrate that these tensions were not restricted to the U.S. The tension revolved around different conceptions of business investment decision-making and of the contribution of multinationals to the national economy. It is also suggested that the impact of these measures was at the micro-level and this highlights the value of business history approaches.

The rise of techno-geopolitical uncertainty: Implications of the United States CHIPS and Science Act

“…The Committee’s mandate is to assess all aspects of military, economic, geopolitical, technological, and diplomatic challenges. History shows that the U.S. government attempted in the 60s to influence and curtail the operations of home country MNEs, yet such attempts did not have any greater impact on the long-term trend towards liberalization and globalization (see Rollings, 2015 ). If this repeats in the aftermath of the Act, then the Act may not with certainty herald a full paradigmatic shift.…”

Gender, Race, and Entrepreneurship

“…Business historians have taken a broader perspective. While they have contributed to our understanding of American multinationals at this time (for example Wilkins 1974;and Rollings 2011), this has been only one of their fields of interest. One of the most obvious contributions by business historians was to show the existence of MNEs in other sectors of the economy, notably the service sector.…”

Review of periodical literature published in 2011

“…The study of Britain's postwar economic development and industrial performance leads us to a number of detailed and extremely rewarding case studies. Readers looking for original research in this area are advised to search out either of the following—an account by Rollings on the tensions in the 1960s between national governments and the business investment decisions of multinational enterprises; and an article by Higgins and Toms dealing with the Chandler‐Williamson thesis and the strategy, structural characteristics, and financial performance of British firms from the 1950s to the 1980s.…”