Book Reviews : Jarle Bergo: Multinasjonale selskaper - Vel signelse eller problem, Universitetsforlaget, Oslo-Bergen-Tromse 1974. (Norwegian Foreign Policy Studies, No. 8), 98 pp
| Published date | 01 March 1974 |
| Date | 01 March 1974 |
| DOI | 10.1177/001083677400900131 |
| Author | Arne Jon Isachsen |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
315
for
Norway
would
be
the
reinforcement
of
Soviet
amphibious
and
airlift
forces
in
the
re-
gion
which
might
be
made
possible
through
reductions
in
Central
Europe.
Such
an
im-
balance
of
forces
along
the
Northern
frontier
would
be
even
more
pronounced
should
the
MBFR
agreements
include
restrictions
covering
NATO
reinforcements
to
Northern
Norway.
Norway’s
primary
interest
in
the
East-West
negotiations,
then,
is
to
obtain
a
ceiling
on
the
Soviet
force
level
in
the
Kola
Peninsula,
espe-
cially
with
regard
to
mobile
assault
forces,
and
to
achieve
accord
on
an
anti-surprise
control
system
including
advance
notice
on
military
maneuvers,
agreement
on
maneuver-free
zones,
and
exchange
of
observers.
The
Norwegian
team
is
under
no
illusions
that
fulfillment
of
these
goals
is
going
to
be
easy,
mainly
because
of
the
asymmetry
of
the
existing
situation
on
the
Northern
Cap.
For
while
the
USSR
has
one
of
its
most
vital
mi-
litary
bases
at
Murmansk.
NATO
has
very
little
in
this
area.
No
NATO
forces
are
allowed
in
the
frontier
district
of
Finnmark
or
in
the
air
above
or
the
territorial
waters
outside
it,
nor
are
nuclear
arms
and
permanently
sta-
tioned
NATO
forces
permitted
in
Norway.
This
asymmetry
is
partly
explainable
in
purely
geographical
terms,
but
it
is
partly
also
a
re-
sult
of
the
non-provocative
policy
which
Nor-
way
has
followed,
both
with
regard
to
this
par-
ticularly
sensitive
area,
and
in
general.
In
the
opinion
of
this
reviewer,
Norway
is
further
disadvantaged
by
the
political
asym-
metry
which
exists
between
the
open
societies
of
NATO
and
the
closed
societies
of
the
War-
saw
Pact
countries.
The
Norwegian
team
does
not
investigate
the
consequences
of
this
parti-
cular
problem.
But
this
is
a
methodological
weakness
found
in
strategic
analyses
of
other
nations
as
well.
At
any
rate,
such
political
asymmetry
only
underlines
the
crucial
importance
for
Norway
of
finding
adequate
compensatory
offers
to
make
to
the
Soviets
to
obtain
the
arms
con-
trol
provisions
necessary
to
her
security.
In
this
regard,
the
Norwegian
team
concludes
that
such
counter-offers
can
hardly
be
found
by
Norway
herself,
but
must
be
sought
in
a
wider
arena.
One
possibility
they
mention
is
that
NATO
could
promise
to
keep
aircraft
car-
riers
out
of
the
waters
east
of the
line
formed
by
Greenland/ I celand/Faroe
Islands/Shetland
Islands
if
the
Russians
would
promise
not
to
transfer
amphibious
forces
from
the
Baltic
to
the
Northern
Fleet.
Important
as
this
question
of
compensatory
offers
is,
though,
the
team
does
not
really
come
to
grips
with
it,
nor
does
it
spend
much
time
investigating
possible
strategies
for
nego-
tiation.
Presumably
the
Norwegian
scholars
felt
that
this
could
be
better
done
by
an
in-
ternational
body
representing
several
countries
with
stakes
in
the
Arctic
area.
Thus,
the
initial
analysis
carried
out
by
the
Norwegians
is
best
seen
as
a
highly
useful
starting
point.
The
problems
have
been
identi-
fied,
the
focus
set.
It
is
thus
possible
to
begin
the
search
for
solutions.
ARNE
JON
ISACHSEN
Jarle
Bergo:
Multinasjonale
selskaper -
Vel-
signelse
eller
problem,
Universitetsforlaget,
Oslo-Bergen-Tromse
1974.
(Norwegian
Foreign
Policy
Studies,
No.
8),
98
pp.
This
book
has
been
written
by
an
economist
at
the
Norwegian
Institute
of
International
Af-
fairs
with
the
stated
goal
of
providing
students
in
the
social
sciences
with
some
insight
into
the
phenomenon
of
multinational
enterprises.
This
goal
is
well
served
as
the
book
is
a
use-
ful
review
of
the
main
issues
involved.
In
what
follows
I
shall
summarize
the
ideas
of
the
book
and
offer
some
additional
comments.
The
issues
discussed
are:
-
What
is
a
multinational
enterprise?
-
What
makes
an
enterprise
go multina-
tional ?
-
Multinational
enterprises
in
the
world
eco-
nomy.
-
The
effects
of
multinational
enterprises
on
home
and
host
country.
How
to
define
a
multinational
enterprise
is
widely
discussed
in
the
literature.
Bergo
pre-
sents
us
with
various
suggestions
and
touches
upon
concepts
like
transnational -
and
inter-
national -
enterprises.
As
the
criterion
for
multinationalism
he
suggests
that
the
enter-
prise
should
be
able
effectively
to
influence
decisions
taken
in
at
least
one
country
out-
side
the
home
country.
The
concept
of
’in-
fluencing
effectively’
is
thereafter
subject
to
closer
examination
and
the
conclusion
reached
by
Bergo
is
that
influence
other
than
through
direct
ownership
may
be
of
great
importance,
although
statistically
difficult
to
measure.
Economic
theories
purporting
to
explain
why
firms
go
international
usually
take
as a
point
of
departure
the
idea
advanced
by
Hymer
in
1960
that
some
kind
of
monopoly
power
is
needed
for
a
successful
direct
foreign
invest-
ment.’
The
monopoly
power
of
the
foreign
company
may
be
in
the
market
for
finished
goods
or
in
the
market
for
factors
of
produc-
tion.
It
gives
the
foreign
firm
a
necessary
advantage
so
that
it is
not
driven
out
of
com-
petition
by
the
local
firms
with
their
better
knowledge
of
the
domestic
environment.
Bergo
gives
a
good
analysis
of
the
various
forms
of
monopoly
power
and
ends
up
with
a
brief
dis-
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