Country, with over 170,000 affiliates over which they have effective control. The 100 largest

MNEs account for about 40 per cent of cross-border assets.

The multinational corporation takes its principal decisions in a global context and thus often

Outside the countries in which it has particular operations. The rapid growth of these corporations

Since the Second World War and the possibility that conflicts might arise between their interests and

Those of the individual countries in which they operate has provoked much discussion among economists.

MNEs possibly account for over one-quarter of world trade, but earlier fears that they would

come to dominate the world economy now seem misplaced. Bartlett* and Ghoshal** make distinctions

Between three types of international company which are widely accepted as useful. They argue

that neither the decentralized types of business with strong local presence (multinational), nor the

more centralized types of business which build cost advantages through centralized production (global)

or exploit the parent company’s research and development and systems capability (international)

are now sufficient to maximize competitiveness. These authors claim that the transnational company

Which somehow blends these approaches by differentiating contributions by national units to a