The Multinational Corporation: The Multinational Corporation

The Multinational Corporation

Introduction

A multinational corporation or worldwide enterprise [1] is an organization that owns or controls production of goods or services in one or more countries other than their home country. [2] It can also be referred as an international corporation, a "transnational corporation", or a stateless corporation. [3]

One of the first multinational businesses was the India Trading [4] company and was created around 1600, around 1602 the Dutch India Trading company was created and remained the largest corporation in the world for nearly 200 years. [5] When we think of Multinational Corporations a few the ones that come to mind are FedEx, Exxon Oil and Gas, United Airlines, Coca Cola, McDonalds, Microsoft and

According to the McDonald 's Corporation website (as of January 2015), McDonald 's has, "retailers in more than 100 countries, with more than 36,000 restaurants serving approximately 69 million people every day."[5} I have eaten at McDonalds restaurants in the United States, Canada and Mexico and while the menus are not all that different what and how it is displayed in very different. The United States, Canada & Mexico have pretty much the same requirements such as nutrition facts the way they need to be listed is very different. Not all countries require they be listed and some have no laws whatsoever with regard to labeling, this is why it is important that they have the ability to control their own production of goods not just for quality but safety as

Language would definitely be an issue, the world has many languages and the same word in English might have a different meaning in another country. The same document might have to be produced in 5 or 6 different languages, interpreters might be needed in certain cases.

Cultural differences might require different delivery hours in the case of FedEx, an altogether different menu for McDonalds, uniform styles may need to be adjusted so as not to offend certain cultures.

The world is not on the same calendar when it comes to holidays, schedules would most certainly need to be adjusted.

Banking and financial transactions involving many different currencies, taxes, exchange rates that change fairly often, financing if needed. While most Multinational Corporations have offices in the countries they do business in, some do not. With the advances in technology, handling the day to day operations would be easier than even 5 years ago, technology cannot handle it