The Self-preservation Perspective of the MNE Applied in an Emerging Transnational Social Space: A New Theoretical Lens for Analyzing Anti-societal Firm Behavior

This paper unveils a new way of theorizing the multinational enterprise (MNE) to explain why it may engage in “anti-societal” behavior – that is, behavior that may systematically lead to negative societal outcomes, such as environmental degradation, poor working conditions, or antitrust violations. Our new “self-preservation perspective” of the MNE holds that MNEs exert their relative political power to protect their market position, assets, and strategic advantages from political and economic threats. In doing so, negative societal outcomes can result, not as anomalies but rather as a structural phenomenon rooted in the firm’s intrinsic drive for survival. Drawing on insights from institutional economics and international relations (IR) theory, we argue that self-preservation behavior is more fundamental than profit-maximization behavior, which has long been assumed to be the primary motive of MNEs. We shed new light on why MNEs engage with transnational social spaces through an illustrative case of Tesla’s anti-union activities in Sweden. We observe how self-preservation has influenced Tesla’s resistance to signing collective bargaining agreements in Sweden and has led to the emergence of a self-interested transnational regulatory community that deteriorates labor rights. Thus, we posit that the self-preservation perspective offers a powerful complement to existing international business (IB) theory by providing a critical analytical lens on the societal role of MNEs in the context of the “grand challenges.” This alternative perspective challenges conventional narratives of MNE behavior as primarily cost-efficient, value-creating, or innovative and demonstrates that MNE anti-societal behavior is structural rather than isolated to a few individual cases.