Duncan M. Ross

The multinational enterprise and subsidiary evolution: Scotland since 1945

This paper explores the major developments in the multinational enterprise (MNE) literature; along with the research conducted on Scottish-based MNE subsidiaries and the policy changes that have taken place in Scotland aimed at promoting foreign direct investment (FDI). It is suggested that subsidiaries may evolve from the branch plant to the developmental and the entrepreneurial subsidiary type; with each of these three subsidiary types contributing differently to the economic development of the host country. The empirical evidence from an in-depth analysis of IBM, Greenock, Scotland attests to the importance of the entrepreneurial subsidiary activities for the host economy. Implications for research and public policy are discussed.

'Penny banks' in Glasgow, 1850-1914

This paper explores the extent and nature of ‘Penny bank’ saving in Glasgow during the second half of the nineteenth century. Penny banks existed as part of the network of philanthropic organisations in the quintessential industrial city, and they were frequented by the poorer sections of the working class – those for whom saving represented a difficult and occasionally sacrificial effort. They were a voluntary and individualist decision to engage in saving, in contrast to the mutual organisations, such as friendly and industrial welfare societies which also proliferated in this period. The enormous success of penny banks in Glasgow, and throughout the United Kingdom, is powerful evidence that a great deal of saving was happening, even amongst the poorest sections of society. Careful examination of the activities of two penny banks suggests that they operated both as short-term liquidity stores and as vehicles for longer-term and larger-amount savings.

Savings bank depositors in a crisis: Glasgow 1847 and 1857

Savings banks were created as a means to encourage the newly created working class to save for the uncertainties of urban industrial life. This article explores the success of the Savings Bank of Glasgow, and pays particular attention to the response of savers to the financial and commercial crises of 1847 and 1857. The crisis of 1847 was shallower but longer lasting in Glasgow, while that of 1857 was greatly exacerbated by local conditions in the short term, but of little long-term importance to savers. It suggests that, in both crises, some elements of contagion may have been present but that those who panicked in 1857 were systematically different from those who did not.

Inward foreign direct investment and constitutional change in Scotland

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to undertake an analysis of the implications of potential Scottish independence for inward foreign direct investment (FDI), multinational enterprise strategies and the local economy. Design/methodology/approach – This paper takes a multidisciplinary approach drawing on literature and evidence in the international business and management, political economy and economic geography fields to analyse the role and impact of inward FDI in Scotland following possible Scottish independence. Findings – Scotland continues as an attractive location for FDI, with greater diversity than hitherto. While the country’s comparative advantages in immobile natural resources provide some protection from uncertainty, weak embeddedness is a risk factor irrespective of independence. A range of transition costs of independence are identified, which could be high and of indeterminate duration, and some will be sector-specific. There are also new possibilities for tailoring of policies and pot...

Industrial and commercial finance in the interwar years

The relationship between industry and the financial system in the interwar years has been extensively discussed, almost always with a perspective of seeking to allocate some kind of blame for poor performance. This approach stems from two closely related fundamental positions. The first of these, inspired by the work of Hilferding (1910), postulates a hegemony of financial capital over the needs of productive industry. Authors such as Newton and Porter (1988) have argued that the interwar years can be seen as a period in which the core institutional nexus of the Bank of England, the Treasury and the City of London exercised a malign influence on policy making – the return to the gold standard at an inappropriate exchange rate being the prime example. The needs of manufacturing were systematically ignored by a banking and financial system obsessed with liquidity and unattainable standards of creditworthiness (Ingham 1984). The second approach is located in the general institutional understanding of the decline of the British economy. This takes the view that, by the interwar years, the set of institutions and ways of doing things, which had delivered so much economic success and prosperity to Britain in the nineteenth century, were no longer appropriate to the new environment of international competition in the industries of the second industrial revolution (Chandler 1990). Adherents of this view suggest that the financial system, as it had developed over the previous century, acted as a constraint on the reallocation of resources from the declining staple industries to the newer, high-technology, growth-oriented sector

Implications for International Business of Separatist Movements: The Case of Scottish Independence

In September 2014, the people of Scotland will vote in a referendum proposing that Scotland should become an independent country. If voters in Scotland accept the proposal, Scotland would become a new country. The White Paper containing the case for independence (Scottish Government, 2013) clearly states that an independent Scotland would continue to be an open economy. In these circumstances, foreign direct investment (FDI) both inward and outward, and foreign trade, would be central to the Scottish economy. In effect, a yes vote leads to the creation of a new small developed economy that is heavily integrated into the global economy. In different parts of the world, separatist movements are seeking to break away from the countries they currently are part of, for example, Wallonia and Flanders in Belgium, Catalonia, and the Basque Country in Spain, Quebec in Canada, various parts of Indonesia and in many other places. International business research has not investigated the implications for FDI and trade of the possibilities of successful separatist movements creating new small open economies. It is possible that a number of new small open economies could emerge in the coming years. There is research, but not much, on existing small open economies and FDI and trade (Barry and Kearney, 2006; Hooley et al, 1996). This work reveals that small open economies can prosper and attract considerable volumes of FDI that often stimulates exports.