Forward and Backward Integration

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 549.

Through growth, consolidations, and other means, a company can grow into a multinational company, a large organisation with branches in several countries. Multinational organisations are a major force in globalization; commerce is conducted without regard to national boundaries. When you use Google to do an Internet search, you are using the services of a multinational company. Google's headquarters are in Mountain View, California, but it has branch offices in many other countries. Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Nike, and Sony are just a few examples of multinational or transnational companies. Such companies have many beneficial effects. They provide new jobs, goods and services around the world and spread technological advances. When such companies open businesses in poorer countries, the jobs and the tax revenues help raise the standard of living. However, multinational companies can also create problems. Some build factories and give harmful waste products in host countries. Others operate factories where employees work long hours in unsafe working conditions and get low wages.