Globalisation or regionalisation? The strategies of the world’s largest food and beverage MNEs

SummaryUsing a database comprising around 7,000 affiliates, this article analyses the geographic pattern of the world’s largest food and beverage multinational enterprises (F&B MNEs) over 1996-2000. Most of the 81 sampled F&B MNEs follow regional strategies. We find nine global firms, with 20% or more of their affiliates in three regions each but less than 50% in any of these regions. 22 companies following a bi-regional strategy, with 20% of their affiliates in each of the two regions, but less than 50% in any region; and 50 firms following a home-region strategy, with affiliates in the home-region accounting for at least 50% of their affiliates. While some MNEs could be considered as global according to their total affiliates distribution, their core business line could be regionally focused. According to ANOVA tests, global firms do not outperform other F&B MNEs; however, they tend to be larger and spread to more countries. A Pearson Chi square test and a Fisher test suggest that F&B MNEs based in different home-regions tend to follow different geographic strategies.