Creative Economy Report 2008: The challenge of assessing the creative economy towards informed policy-making
The so called "Creative economy" is an evolving concept based on the potential of "creative assets" to generate socio-economic growth and development, in a globalized world increasingly dominated by images, sounds, texts and symbols.
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UNCTAD launches global databank on world trade in creative products
Geneva, 15 August 2008 - An UNCTAD database providing trade statistics on creative goods and services is available to the public as of today on the Internet. The statistics cover about 235 products related to heritage, arts, media and functional creations.
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 UNCTAD
World Investment Report 2009 |
World Investment Report 2009: Largest transnational corporations adversely affected by financial and economic crisis, report says
 Geneva, 17 September 2009 - The worst global economic and financial crisis in a generation has slowed the international production of goods and services by the world´s estimated 82,000 transnational corporations (TNCs) and their 810,000 foreign affiliates, the latest World Investment Report reveals.
Strong effects were felt by TNCs in 2008 and early 2009, the annual study says. Among transnational firms there were declining profits, increasing divestments and layoffs, and a number of major restructurings and bankruptcies. Nevertheless, TNCs´ foreign affiliates continue to mark their importance in the global economy, accounting for not less than 10% of world GDP and employing about 78 million people -- more than double the total labour force of a major industrialized nation such as Germany.
The World Investment Report 2009, subtitled Transnational Corporations, Agricultural Production and Development, was released today.
The report provides a special focus on the impact of the crisis on the 100 largest non-financial TNCs worldwide. Preliminary estimates reveal a marked slowdown in 2008 in the international sales and assets of these companies (table 1). UNCTAD´s World Investment Prospects Survey (WIPS) 2009-2011 provides some insight into the role of the ongoing crisis on investment flows, revealing that 85% of business executives of the largest TNCs believe that the global economic downturn has prompted cutbacks in their international investment plans.
As in previous years, UNCTAD´s list of the world´s largest 100 non-financial TNCs is dominated by manufacturing and petroleum companies (figure 2). Both of these groups have seen their fortunes change during the crisis as the demand for both manufactured goods and fuels has dropped markedly, erasing or reducing the profit margins at many of the largest companies. Overall, the profits of the largest 100 TNCs in the world fell by more than 25% in 2008. Large TNCs from developing economies likewise have been impacted, but still managed to fill a record seven positions on UNCTAD´s list of the world´s largest 100 non-financial TNCs (figure 3). TNCs from developed countries, however, still account for the largest share of the top 100 non-financial TNCs, with EU-based firms at the top of the list (57 entries), followed by the USA (20 entries) and Japan (10 entries).
Looking forward, while large TNCs appear pessimistic about global FDI prospects in 2009, they are more optimistic about 2010 and 2011. Results of the WIPS survey show that half of TNCs see their FDI expenditures exceeding 2008 levels in 2011 (figure 4). Continuing ambitions to internationalize, as shown by the survey, and a continuing urge to explore expansion possibilities in faster-growing developing and transition economies are among the drivers expected to expand FDI by TNCs worldwide in the coming years. |
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