01Model
Build the economic model
Falling transport and communication costs, liberalisation and technology deepen cross-border flows. Multinationals coordinate ownership and production across economies.
For globalisation and multinational firms, state the relationship between globalisation and the relevant agents, then identify the ceteris-paribus conditions. The model is a disciplined simplification, not a complete description of reality.
- Define the central variables precisely.
- Identify the agents making decisions.
- State what is held constant and why that matters.
02Evidence
Apply evidence and data
A battery producer considers a Northern Ireland plant linked to suppliers in several currencies.
Application in globalisation and multinational firms means using scale, direction, timing and source to alter the argument. Explain how the evidence changes the mechanism instead of merely naming the context or copying a figure.
- Check units, dates and whether values are nominal or real.
- Separate correlation from a supported causal inference.
- Identify winners, losers and the appropriate counterfactual.
03Analyse
Develop the mechanism
FDI changes capital, technology, demand for labour and trade flows → productivity and income may rise → profit repatriation, bargaining and spillovers affect net benefit.
Carry this globalisation and multinational firms chain far enough to answer the question: identify the agent's response, the resulting market or macroeconomic change and why the outcome matters.
- Explain each arrow in the chain.
- Use the diagram or calculation in the written analysis.
- Distinguish short-run adjustment from longer-run response.
04Evaluate
Evaluate assumptions and magnitude
Outcomes depend on domestic skills, supplier links, tax arrangements, environmental enforcement, resilience and the counterfactual investment.
Evaluation of globalisation and multinational firms should change confidence in the result. Test elasticity, time lags, scale, incentives, distribution and unintended effects rather than adding a generic “however”.
- Which assumption is most fragile?
- Would a different elasticity reverse or only weaken the result?
- What evidence could change the judgement?
05Judge
Reach an informed judgement
For globalisation and multinational firms, choose the argument with the greatest contextual importance and explain why it outweighs the alternative. State the conditions under which it holds rather than repeating the introduction.
The opportunity cost and distributional effect of globalisation matter. Political preferences may affect objectives, but the exam judgement must rest on transparent assumptions and evidence rather than ideology.
- Answer the exact command and scope.
- Rank the decisive factors.
- State a condition, timeframe and possible reason to revise the conclusion.
From theory to a testable claim
Falling transport and communication costs, liberalisation and technology deepen cross-border flows. Multinationals coordinate ownership and production across economies.
Applied taskA battery producer considers a Northern Ireland plant linked to suppliers in several currencies.
Causal chain
FDI changes capital, technology, demand for labour and trade flows → productivity and income may rise → profit repatriation, bargaining and spillovers affect net benefit.
Applied taskRewrite the globalisation and multinational firms chain with one piece of numerical or contextual evidence at the link where it changes the expected magnitude.
Evaluation that does work
Outcomes depend on domestic skills, supplier links, tax arrangements, environmental enforcement, resilience and the counterfactual investment.
Applied taskExplain whether this consideration weakens, delays, redistributes or reverses the predicted globalisation and multinational firms outcome.