THE GLOBAL DIMENSION
THE GLOBAL DIMENSION
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home-grown multinationals, particularly in Asia. Until the 1990s, the
world's trade was dominated by North America and Europe, but East
Asia is now a powerful third force; together, the three trading areas
account for the vast majority of MNC activity, about 1/3 of world
exports and around 60% of manufacturing output.
VARIETY IN NIC COMPANIES THE ULTRAMAN
BATTLE
Many Westerners tend to think of Asian business as almost wholly
based on heavy manufacturing and information technology, driven
by state-run central planning; but less earthy businesses are increas-
ingly common. As an illustration, here is an example of a recent
court battle between a Japanese and a Thai company over the
intellectual property rights for a cartoon character.
Ultraman, a popular cartoon character from Asia, originally
appeared in comics in the 1940s. A 1960s television series
featuring the superhero was sold widely across the world. In
2001, Tsuburaya Productions of Japan sued Chaiyo Production in
Thailand alleging unauthorized reproduction of Ultraman images
and claiming 100 million baht (£1.6mn) in damages. Chaiyo's boss,
Sompote Sangduenchai, argued that he had originally proposed
the Ultraman character to Tsuburaya's late founder, Eiji Tsuburaya,
and that it was inspired by images of traditional Thai buddhas. He
also claimed that Tsuburaya granted Chaiyo the rights to produce
Ultraman movies worldwide outside Japan in return for finan-
cial assistance given in the early 1970s. The character has evolved
substantially over the years, and the case, Thailand's highest profile
intellectual property dispute of the year, revolves around the defi-
nition of Ultraman Tsuburaya claims the present character was
not designed until 1966.
WHY BECOME AN MNC?
Although the largest MNCs are concentrated in the oil, automotive,
and electronics industries, MNCs overall are in a very wide variety
of businesses. Most economists think that the principal motive for
