4Foreign Oil Majors in Japan and the Second World War
Introduction
As far as large MNEs with worldwide networks are concerned, especially in cases where the host country is either small or less developed, the company may have the power to influence the host country, in economic, political or strategic terms. This may hold more true if the home country of the MNE is a powerful state or, in the case of the MNE, controls strategic material. Studies on Latin America and Iran have revealed how MNEs can have such an impact on sovereign states, and demonstrate the importance of examining the mutual interaction between MNEs and states.1
As emphasised in the introduction to this volume, the rivalry among sovereign states plays a pivotal ...
