The third edition incorporates the many additions to our knowledge of multinationals accumulated in research appearing in the past decade. It shows how economic analysis can explain multinationals' activity patterns and how economics can shed conceptual light on problems of business policies and managerial decisions arising in practice.
To explain the logic of these arrangements, the author draws on the analytical resources of industrial economics and the theory of contracts. He addresses the winner-take-all character of many creative activities that brings wealth and renown to some artists while dooming others to frustration; why the "option" form of contract is so prevalent; and why even savvy producers get sucked into making "ten-ton turkeys" such as "Heaven's Gate".