18/09/2026
# # # Multinational Corporations (MNCs)
Multinational corporations (MNCs) are large international companies that operate in several countries and have a major influence on global business. Their size can be comparable to the economies of entire countries. The number and influence of MNCs have grown greatly over the past decades, allowing them to transfer assets, technology, capital, and employees between countries and affect national economies, politics, and cultures.
An MNC typically earns more than **25% of its total sales from operations outside its home country**. These companies manage their foreign operations as an integrated worldwide business system. Their affiliates cooperate closely, while resources such as capital, technology, people, materials, and production activities can be moved to wherever they are most beneficial.
MNCs are generally controlled by a **central management authority** that makes major strategic decisions for the parent company and its foreign affiliates. Their top managers usually have a **global perspective**, viewing the world as one market when making decisions about production, resources, advertising, marketing, and business expansion.
MNCs can have different management orientations. **Ethnocentric companies** focus mainly on their home country, **polycentric companies** adapt to and focus on individual foreign markets, and **geocentric companies** take a worldwide approach without favoring a particular country.
Modern global companies increasingly operate beyond national boundaries. **Nestlé** is an example of a truly global company because most of its sales come from outside Switzerland, its employees and managers come from many countries, and it has operations in almost every part of the world.
