Whereas once upon a time firms were anchored to a particular country, or at least a continent, today’s corporations are willing to go wherever in the world offers the best business conditions. Jack Welch, a former head of General Electric, has mused that it would be handy for a firm to have its factories on giant barges, so that they could be floated around the world, docking in whichever country offered the best economic conditions at the time.
