The notion of a firm with a unique national identity is quickly fading. A Bermuda-incorporated, Paris-headquartered firm, listed on the NYSE with US-style investor protections and disclosure rules, a chief information officer in Bangalore, a chief finance officer in Brussels and a chief operating officer in Beijing may not sound nearly so fanciful in the near future. The conclusion that 'the center cannot hold', however, does not necessarily mean that 'things fall apart'. The same forces that have dictated the changing shape of the multinational firm over the last several decades will propel these changes as well, even if much hand-wringing is likely to occur. An appropriate response to these developments should acknowledge the difficulties inherent in policies predicated on characterising firms as exclusively linked to specific countries.
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