Australian Firms Abroad before 1970: Why So Few, Why Those, and Why There?

D. Merrett

Business History, 2002, vol. 44, issue 2, 65-87

Abstract: This article draws on the FDI literature to theorise about the likelihood that firms based in a small, highly protectionist and commodity exporting economy located in the south-west Pacific might become multinationals before 1970. It is argued that the scale, structure and geographic isolation of the Australian economy mitigated against large outflows of FDI relative to domestic investments and to GDP. While this contention holds at the macro level, hundreds of firms from the resources, services and manufacturing sectors have been identified as being multinationals. For the most part, their overseas investments were peripheral adjuncts to domestic business. Moreover, the overwhelming bulk of investment was concentrated in countries immediately adjacent to Australia, particularly New Zealand.

Date: 2002
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DOI: 10.1080/713999270

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