Introduction: the rise of multinationals from emerging economies—achieving a new balance

The spread of particularly American multinational enterprises (MNEs) in the first half of the last century marked an increasing domination of the world economy by these firms. In the second half of the twentieth-century the dominance of American firms was challenged by a wave of MNEs from Europe, Japan and Newly Industrialised Economies. At the turn of the century it is, however, a group of rather ‘unexpected’ firms, such as Embraer, Huawei and Tata, from emerging economies that have stamped their mark on the world stage. Since then more MNEs from emerging economies are joining their ranks. The rise of emerging economy MNEs (EMNEs) has coincided with a shift in many aspects of production from industrialised countries to emerging economies and the accelerating dispersion of international R&D activities. In some emerging economies, this process is accompanied by the rise of a type of state capitalism. These changes pose challenges and bring opportunities for all participants in international business, including EMNEs themselves, developed economy MNEs (DMNEs), governments and multilateral organisations such as the World Trade Organization (WTO).