International spatial distribution of multinational corporations

This article introduces a new concept of international spatial distribution to study the international diversification behaviors of multinational corporations (MNCs). Drawing upon spatial research, this new approach measures and analyzes the geographic diversification patterns of MNCs based on two important spatial dimensions: distance and concentration. By leveraging a sample of the largest U.S. MNCs, we propose a new typology of MNCs based on their international spatial distribution. As a complement of existing approaches to the research on international diversification strategies, we suggest that our concept sheds new light on the location behaviors of MNCs.