Globalisation: pieces of the puzzle

Multinational activity

Martin Luppes himself emphasised the important role of money in the public debate. ‘For instance, much is being said about tax evasion at large companies. Many people are critical of multinationals. Furthermore, digitisation is dissolving national boundaries. Companies are adjusting to such developments and changes are taking place among international networks. CBS should respond to such changes and continuously reflect on the question how we present these in the best possible way. I think it would be a good idea to set up a statistic on Multinational Enterprises which describes trade, investment and innovation activities in value chains. With this statistic, we could provide a more complete picture of all the effects of multinational activity on the national and local economy.’

Cooperation

Aside from speakers working at CBS, there were many presentations by representatives from organisations cooperating with CBS, e.g. universities and the European statistical office Eurostat: ‘They talked about the benefits of collaborating with CBS over the past several years. Thanks in part to this collaboration, we have already come a long way. After all, there are so many different aspects to globalisation; the puzzle is just too large to be pieced together all by ourselves.’ Wilms: ‘Our programme is becoming more and more professional. We collaborate with the world of science in order to conduct innovative and in-depth research. Over the past few years, we have stepped up the international component and cross-border collaboration as well. All this has led to a great appreciation for the work done by our team of globalisation experts, both at home and abroad.’