Megafirms: Strategies for Canada's Multinationals

Stephen J. Kees was Chief Librarian, Niagara College of Applied Arts and Technology, Welland, Ontario.

Although they are not in the size class of the major oil companies, a number of megafirms are controlled and based in Canada. This book may be compared with Canadian Multinationals, by Jorge Niosi (Toronto: Between the Lines, 1985). It has much less economic theory than Niosi and deals with more companies.

Much of the material for this volume was gathered by the authors (who are associated with the Centre for International Business Studies at Dalhousie University) through interviews with the chief and senior executives of the companies concerned and from their annual reports. For each product group (e.g., beverages) there is an overview followed by a review of the individual companies. For each company there is a discussion of firm-specific advantages, markets and regulations, and strategy and structure. There are references at the end of each chapter so that further relevant reading is possible.

Altogether this work presents a non-technical look at the giants of Canadian industry and presents some ideas about their future development.