This article examines whether the relative market value and corporate responsibility (CR) performance of multinational corporations (MNCs) that comply with rigorous international standards are explained by the degree of institutional development, the capitalist model of the country of origin, and the industrial sector in which the MNCs operate. Based on a sample of 336 MNCs from 24 countries included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and the FTSE4Good Index, we find that the corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy among large MNCs is primarily determined by the capitalist (and institutional) model of their country of origin and the sector of activity in which such firms operate. Namely, more than four‐fifths of the firms belong to globally integrated sectors. In general, MNCs perform a global (integrated) CR strategy. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

According to foreign direct investment (FDI) path theory, developed countries are grouped into two phases, known as the fourth and fifth phases. Fourth-phase countries (newly developed economies) show a technological and institutional "gap" in comparison with fifth-phase economies, which explains their lesser capacity to generate direct investment. We found that these countries, which were less developed economies in the 1980s, had undergone a deep structural transformation. This transformation encouraged the multinationalization of firms, which is a differentiating element and one outcome of their development process. These results have clear policy implications: the governments of newly developed countries should take steps to increase the endowment of knowledge-intensive assets. The main contribution of this paper is the theoretical reformulation of the fourth phase of the investment development path theory.Investment Development Path, Outward Direct Investment Stock, Inward Direct Investment Stock, Economic Development, Technological Gap, JEL Classifications: F21, F23, F43,

The basis for Islamic finance lies in the Shariah. In this paper we point out the co-evolution of institutional
change and the banking expansion in Islamic countries; there are certain parallelism between the quantitative and
qualitative developments of the Islamic financing industry and the emergence of supportive institutions. There
are certain convergences of Islamic banking products and institutions towards traditional banking functioning but
keeping their principles. The Islamic financial institutions are effective instruments towards financial and
economic integration at regional and global level. The Islamic economy has also showed a lesser impact of the
global crisis than the western economy.

This study seeks to analyse the impact of political risk variables in the location strategy of Spanish Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) in Europe. Evidence is obtained from the relevance of lower political constraints to attract investments, but the results also highlight the importance of cultural and geographical proximity, which may overtake inconveniences derived from higher corruption or lower economic-freedom levels. Population, low unemployment rates and previous international experience in countries all around the world are also found to play a key role as determinants of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) location for Spanish firms.