Although MNCs vary widely in their structure and operations, all must be concerned with most, if not all, of the following areas: management, ownership, financing, resourcing, manufacturing, and marketing. 1
Sir David Barran of the Shell Centre, London, views the "international enterprise" as "incorporating everything from the very large-scale type of integrated enterprises to the single-product manufacturer based in one country who finds himself increasingly driven by the exigencies of the business into successive stages of involvement overseas. 2
The most complete operational definition has been given by Jacques G. Maisonrouge, former president of IBM World Trade Corporation. He asserts that there are five criteria for identifying an MNC: 3
- It must do business in many countries.
- It must have foreign subsidiaries with the same R&D, manufacturing, sales, services, and so on, that a true industrial entity has.
- There should be nationals running these local companies; they understand the local scene better than anybody else, and this helps promote good citizenship.
- There must be a multinational headquarter, staffed with people coming from different countries, so one nationality does not dominate the organization too much.
- There should be multinational stock ownership—the stock must be owned by people in different countries.
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