Abstract: As a consequence of liberalization policies in the European Union (EU), a number of formerly inwardlooking incumbents in telecommunications and electricity successfully transformed themselves into some of the world's leading Multinationals. The precise relationship between liberalization and incumbent internationalization, however, is contested. This article tests three persuasive arguments derived from the political economy literature on this relationship. The first claims that incumbents most exposed to domestic liberalization would internationalise most. The second asserts the opposite: incumbents operating where liberalization was restricted could exploit monopolistic rents to finance their aggressive internationalisation. The third argument claims that a diversity of paths will be adopted by countries and incumbents vis-à-vis liberalization and internationalization. Using correlation and cluster analysis of the whole sample of EU telecoms and electricity incumbent Multinationals, evidence is found in favour of the third hypothesis. Internationalization as a response to liberalization took diverse forms in terms of timing and extent and this is best explained using a country, sector and firm logic.

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