旅游管理专业英语（第二版）-Lesson .docVIP

Lesson Eleven Text International Financial Management Notes Vocabulary Comprehension Discussion Exercises Translation Writing Further Reading Case Study of First Union Corporation Terms LIBOR ROI Profile Milton Friedman References Text International Financial Management 1. Multinational Corporation Like consumption, production of goods and services has become highly globalized. To a large extent, this has happened as a result of multinational corporations’ (MNCs) relentless efforts to source inputs and locate production anywhere in the world where costs are lower and profits are higher. For example, IBM personal computers sold in the world market might have been assembled in Malaysia with Taiwanese-made monitors, Korean-made keyboards, U.S.-made chips, and preinstalled software packages that were jointly developed by U.S. and Indian engineers. It has often become difficult to clearly associate a product with a single country of origin. 2. International Financial Markets Recently, financial markets have also become highly integrated. This development allows investors to diversify their investment portfolios internationally. In the words of a recent Wall Street Journal article, “Over the past decade, U.S. investors have poured buckets of money into overseas markets, in the form of international mutual funds. In April l996, the total assets in these funds reached a whopping $l48.l4 billion, far beyond the measly $2.49 billion reported in l985.” At the same time, Japanese investors are investing heavily in U.S. and other foreign financial markets in efforts to recycle their enormous trade surpluses. In addition, many major corporations of the world, such as IBM, Daimler-Benz, and Sony, have their shares cross-listed on foreign stock exchanges, thereby rendering their shares internationally tradable and gaining access to foreign capital as well. Consequently, Daimler-Benzs