Thursday, July 9, 2015
J103 (13 rue de l'Université)
In response to globalization in the late twentieth century, European multinational firms
sought to reduce costs and increase profits by investing in markets across Europe, especially in the
European peripheries, which offered them both cheap skilled labor and, perhaps more importantly,
pent-up demand and a market of 500 million consumers at close proximity to firm headquarters.
By establishing subsidiary networks across the continent, firms like the German auto manufacturer
Volkswagen AG, French Paribas Bank and the British super-grocer Tesco contributed to the
integration of the economies of Europe, effectively achieving the goals of the 1957 Treaty of
Rome by means of their private pursuit of profit. This paper analyzes the role of multinational
firms in European integration, the building of the European Union.
sought to reduce costs and increase profits by investing in markets across Europe, especially in the
European peripheries, which offered them both cheap skilled labor and, perhaps more importantly,
pent-up demand and a market of 500 million consumers at close proximity to firm headquarters.
By establishing subsidiary networks across the continent, firms like the German auto manufacturer
Volkswagen AG, French Paribas Bank and the British super-grocer Tesco contributed to the
integration of the economies of Europe, effectively achieving the goals of the 1957 Treaty of
Rome by means of their private pursuit of profit. This paper analyzes the role of multinational
firms in European integration, the building of the European Union.
