European business research in perspective

As Europe – especially the European Union (EU) – represents one of the most advanced forms of integration of regional organisations. In drawing from corporate strategy, the chapter offers a better understanding of the phenomenon of regionalisation by discussing and challenging popular perspectives on the topic found in the international business literature. All of the studies aim to improve understanding of multinational corporations (MNCs) scope, which is a key issue in strategy research. Organisations constantly face corporate-level issues, which can be grouped into the categories of scope and value creation. Scholars have long shown an interest in the magnitude of globalisation and regionalisation, and the scope of MNCs' operations. The second stream explaining the phenomenon of regionalisation bases its arguments on aspects of organisational structure. MNC regions are defined in terms of regional denominators, that markets within a region are perceived as closer than markets outside that region.