Multinational Enterprise Project

The data was collected in two stages. From 1965 through 1969, data was gathered on approximately 10,000 foreign subsidiaries of 187 of the largest U.S.-based manufacturing enterprises tracing subsidiaries from 1900 until January 1, 1968.

From 1971 through 1973, data was gathered on more than 15,000 foreign subsidiaries of 226 of the largest manufacturing enterprises based outside the United States tracing subsidiaries from 1900 until January 1, 1971. Per agreement with companies, individual parent company names have been redacted from the study data. Use of this data in the past has been primarily through its published form in Joan P. Curhan, William H. Davidson, and Rajan Suri, Tracing the Multinationals: A Sourcebook on U.S.-based Enterprises (Cambridge, Mass.: Ballinger, 1977), James W. Vaupel and Joan P. Curhan, The Making of Multinational Enterprises: A Sourcebook of Tables Based on a Study of 187 Major U.S. Manufacturing Corporations (Boston: Division of Research, Harvard Business School, 1969), and James W. Vaupel and Joan P. Curhan, The World’s Multinational Enterprises: A Sourcebook of Tables Based on a Study of the Largest U.S. and Non-U.S. Manufacturing Corporations (Boston: Division of Research, Harvard Business School, 1973).