What is a multinational group?

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1 Definition and nature of transnational corporations

2 the emergence and development of transnational corporations

3 operating characteristics of multinational corporations

4 the impact of the development of multinational companies on international trade

5 Employment Strategies of Multinational Corporations

[Editor] The definition and nature of transnational corporations

Multinational companies, also known as multinational enterprises, international companies, supranational enterprises and world companies. In the early 1970s, the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations formed a group of celebrities. After a comprehensive investigation of various norms and definitions of transnational corporations, it was decided by resolution 1974 that the name "transnational corporations" should be adopted uniformly in the United Nations.

Multinational companies mainly refer to monopoly enterprises in developed capitalist countries, which are based in their own countries and set up branches or subsidiaries around the world through foreign direct investment to engage in international production and business activities. The United Nations Committee on Transnational Corporations believes that a transnational corporation should have the following three elements: first, a transnational corporation refers to an industrial and commercial enterprise, and the entities that make up this enterprise operate in two or more countries, regardless of the legal form it takes or the economic sector it operates; Second, such enterprises have a centralized decision-making system, so they have the same policies, which may reflect the global strategic objectives of the enterprises; Third, the entities of these enterprises share resources, information and responsibilities.

[Editor] The emergence and development of multinational corporations

Type of enterprise

According to ownership

central enterprises

Local enterprises

state-owned enterprise

Collective-owned enterprises

New state-owned enterprises

enterprise owned by the whole people

State-owned holding company

private enterprise

private enterprise

Single enterprise

individual proprietorship

Public enterprises

Partnership shop

exclusively foreign-owned enterprise

Commercial enterprise

limited partnership

Wholly state-owned company

exclusively foreign-owned enterprise

conglomerate

Mixed ownership enterprise

Chinese-foreign joint venture

State-owned trading enterprises

Chinese-foreign joint venture

International joint venture

International cooperative enterprise

Special general partnership enterprise

According to the enterprise form

business group

family business

Prison enterprise

Real estate enterprise

medium and small-sized enterprises

microenterprise

multinational corporation

one-man company

Special purpose company

Controlled foreign company

According to the company structure

holding company

head office

branch

subsidiary

wholly-owned subsidiaries

Foreign branches

foreign subsidiaries

According to the nature of the company

joint-stock company

Personal company

He Zi Corp.

Human capital United company

unlimited company

limited company

limited partnership

incorporated company

incorporated company

Joint-stock enterprise group

According to business operation

Industrial company

finance company

Industrial and commercial company

Industrial and trading company

United agriculture, industry and commerce company

Technology development company

trust company

investment firm

consultant firm

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Multinational corporations are the product of highly developed monopoly capitalism. Its appearance is closely related to capital output. 19 at the end of the 20th century, capitalism entered a monopoly stage and capital output developed greatly. Only then did some multinational companies appear. At that time, some large enterprises in developed capitalist countries set up branches and subsidiaries overseas through foreign direct investment and began to operate internationally. For example, American Shengjia Sewing Machine Company, Westinghouse Electric Company, Edison Electric Company and British Imperial Chemical Company. Are active abroad. These companies are pioneers of modern multinational companies. During the two world wars, transnational corporations developed in number and scale. After World War II, multinational corporations developed rapidly. The number, scale, foreign production and sales of American multinational companies rank first in the world. According to the ranking of global multinational companies in the World Investment Report 1993 published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the top ten companies are Royal Dutch Shell, Ford, General Motors, Exxon, IBM, British Petroleum, Sweden and Switzerland, Arcia Brown Boveri, Nestle, Philips and Mobil. The United States accounts for five of the top ten. This is based on the ranking of the company's overseas assets. If ranked by sales volume, the United States is still in the forefront. From 65438 to 0987, among the 23 companies standing at the top of the pyramid, the United States accounted for 10, with an average annual sales of $25 billion. Among the 52 companies directly below the spire, the United States accounts for 2 1, with an average annual sales of $654,380+0 billion. From 65438 to 0987, the total sales of the 600 largest multinational companies in the world reached 4 trillion US dollars, of which the United States accounted for 42%, Western Europe accounted for 32%, Japan accounted for 18%, and developing countries and regions only accounted for 2%.

From the perspective of profit income, the profits of American multinational companies were higher than the average during the period of 1980- 1987, while the profits of Japanese multinational companies were lower than the average. This may be related to the fact that Japan invested a lot in scientific research and innovation activities in order to strengthen competition during this period, and the proportion of R&D expenses of American multinational companies in sales decreased during this period. According to 1993 statistics of relevant UN agencies, there are currently 37,000 multinational companies in the world with17,000 overseas subsidiaries. Of the 37,000 parent companies, 90% belong to western countries, and about half of these 90% belong to the United States, Japan, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy. Only 2700 multinational companies belong to developing countries and regions. In the development of multinational companies, the United States occupies an absolutely important position and proportion, and Japan, as a rising star, is chasing after it, which cannot be underestimated. According to the authoritative magazine Happiness 1993, the most multinational companies in the world are ranked by sales. 1993 among the world's top 500 industrial enterprises, the United States ranks first, and 159 is on the list, among which General Motors, Ford Motor Company and ExxonMobil rank in the top three. Japan followed the United States, with 133 enterprises shortlisted. In addition, Britain has 4 1, Germany has 32, France has 26, South Korea has 12, Sweden has 12, Australia has 10 and Switzerland has 9. Among the 500 largest service companies in the world, the United States accounts for 136, Britain and Germany each account for 43, and 40 Mitsui companies in Japan rank first, 29 in France, 0/7 in Canada, 0/5 in Italy and 0/4 in Spain.

[Editor] Operating Characteristics of Multinational Corporations

First, the strategic objectives of multinational corporations are global, and their management is highly centralized and unified.

As a company with many branches at home and abroad and engaged in global production and operation activities, multinational corporations are different from domestic enterprises. These differences are as follows:

1. The strategic goal of multinational corporations is to face the international market and maximize global profits, while domestic enterprises face the domestic market.

2. Multinational companies control foreign enterprises by holding shares, while domestic enterprises mostly control their economic activities that are not foreign-related through contracts.

3. The external activities of domestic enterprises do not involve the establishment of economic entities abroad. The relationship between domestic and international economic activities is loose and has great contingency. Its foreign-related economic activities often terminate immediately after the completion of the transaction and no longer participate in the subsequent reproduction process; Multinational companies, on the other hand, conduct all-round trading activities in various fields such as capital, commodities, talents, technology, management and information on a global scale, and this "package" activity must conform to the company's overall strategic objectives and be under the control of the parent company, and its subsidiaries also participate in the local reproduction process like foreign enterprises. Therefore, multinational companies must implement highly centralized and unified management of their branches.

Two, multinational companies engaged in comprehensive diversification.

(A) the form of comprehensive diversification of multinational corporations

1. Horizontal diversification. This kind of company is mainly engaged in the production and operation of a single product, and the parent company and subsidiaries rarely have a specialized division of labor, but the amount of intangible assets such as production technology, sales skills, trademarks and patents transferred within the company is relatively large.

2. Vertical diversification. Such companies can be divided into two types according to their business contents. One is that the parent company and its subsidiaries produce and operate products in different industries, but they are interrelated. They are cross-industry companies, mainly engaged in the production and processing of raw materials and primary products, such as mining and planting → refining → processing and manufacturing → sales and other industries. The other is that the parent company and its subsidiaries produce and operate products with different processing levels or process stages in the same industry, mainly involving industries with higher professional levels such as automobiles and electronics. For example, American Mobil Oil Company is a former vertical multinational company. It is engaged in the exploration and exploitation of oil and natural gas on a global scale, transports oil and natural gas through pipelines, storage tanks and vehicles, operates large refineries, refines final products from crude oil, and wholesales and retails hundreds of petroleum derivatives. France Perot-Citroen Automobile Company is a vertical multinational company, and there is a specialized division of labor within the company. Its 84 subsidiaries and sales organizations abroad are engaged in various processes such as mold, casting, engine, gear, reducer, machining, assembly and sales, realizing the vertical integration of production and operation.

3. Mixed diversification. This kind of company deals in a variety of products. The parent company and its subsidiaries produce different products and operate different businesses. There is no connection between them, and there is no necessary connection. Such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan. Originally a shipbuilding company, it was later diversified, and its business scope included: automobiles, construction machinery, power generation system products, shipbuilding and steel components, chemicals, general machinery, aircraft manufacturing, etc.

(B) the reasons why multinational companies attach importance to diversification

1. Strengthening the economic aggregate potential of monopoly enterprises, preventing the formation of "excess" capital and ensuring the safe development of multinational companies are conducive to the realization of global strategic goals.

2. It is conducive to the rational flow and distribution of funds and improves the utilization rate of various production factors and by-products.

3. It is convenient to disperse risks and stabilize the economic benefits of enterprises.

4. It can make full use of surplus production capacity, prolong product life cycle and increase profits.

5. It can save the same expenses and enhance the mobility of enterprises.

Second, promote the development of multinational companies by developing new technologies.

Since the war, new technologies, new production processes and new products all over the world are basically in the hands of multinational companies, which is one of the fundamental reasons why multinational companies can continue to develop and grow for decades. Usually, multinational companies will invest a lot of manpower and material resources to develop new technologies and products. For example, in the middle and late 1980s, the R&D center of AT&T Company spent an average of $654.38+09 billion annually on research, and employed 65.438+05 million researchers, of whom 2,654.38+000 received doctoral degrees and 4 won four Nobel Prizes in physics. Another example is the famous 3M company, 1994, which listed nearly 400 semi-assembled hardware products in the summer, and new products emerged one after another. The reason is explained by the marketing manager of DIY products department of 3M Canada Branch: 7% of the company's annual turnover is used to develop new products, and its business purpose is that 30% of its sales revenue must come from new products that were not listed four years ago. This shows that its research is advanced. Multinational companies not only pay attention to developing new technologies, but also are very good at obtaining high profits through technology transfer and controlling branches and subsidiaries.

Third, competition is the main means for multinational companies to compete for and monopolize foreign markets.

In international trade, the traditional means of competition is price competition. That is to say, by reducing production costs, enterprises can crack down and crowd out competition in foreign markets and expand the sales of goods at prices lower than those of similar goods or other enterprises in the international market. Nowadays, due to the improvement of living standards in countries all over the world, especially in developed countries, the proportion of durable consumer goods expenditure in total expenditure has increased, and the price has continued to rise due to persistent inflation around the world, and the product life cycle has been generally shortened. It has been difficult for multinational companies to win the most customers by price competition, and it has been replaced by non-price competition. Facts have proved that non-price competition is the main means for contemporary multinational companies to monopolize and compete for the market. Non-price competition refers to improving the quality, reputation and popularity of products by improving product quality and performance, increasing varieties, improving product packaging and specifications, improving pre-sale and after-sales service, providing preferential payment terms, updating trademark numbers, strengthening advertising and ensuring timely delivery, so as to enhance the competitiveness of goods and expand sales. At present, multinational companies mainly improve the non-price competitiveness of commodities from the following aspects: ① improving product quality and surpassing technical barriers to trade; (2) Strengthen technical services, improve commodity performance and prolong service life; (3) Providing credit; (4) Accelerate product upgrading, constantly introduce new products and update varieties; ⑤ Constantly design novel and diverse packaging and decoration, and pay attention to the "personalization" of packaging and decoration; ⑥ Strengthen advertising and vigorously study and improve advertising sales skills.

Fourth, the diversification of multinational companies' operating methods.

Compared with general domestic enterprises or general foreign-related companies, multinational companies have obviously more global production and operation modes, including import and export, licensing, technology transfer, cooperative operation, contract management and the establishment of overseas subsidiaries. Among them, especially in the form of establishing subsidiaries overseas to develop and expand its global business.

[Editor] The Influence of the Development of Multinational Corporations on International Trade

1. The development of multinational corporations has promoted the growth of international trade and the world economy.

1993, there were 37,000 multinational companies in the world, and their overseas subsidiaries totaled17,000. Since 1982, multinational companies have developed very rapidly. By the end of 1992, the global overseas direct investment had reached 2 trillion US dollars, one third of which was in the hands of top 100 enterprises. 1992 The total overseas sales of global multinational companies reached 5.5 trillion US dollars, which was10.5 trillion US dollars higher than the export value of commodities. It can be seen that the overseas investment of multinational corporations plays a greater role in the world economy than China's trade. In fact, multinational corporations have become the most active and influential force in contemporary international economy, science and technology and international trade. And this power will be strengthened with the overall upward trend of transnational investment.

Second, the impact of multinational corporations on foreign trade in developed countries

The development of multinational corporations has greatly promoted the foreign trade of developed countries after the war. These functions are: the products of developed countries can be produced and sold in the host country through foreign direct investment, thus bypassing trade barriers and improving the competitiveness of domestic products; From the perspective of raw materials and energy, the dependence of developed countries on developing countries has been reduced; It also enables the products of developed countries to smoothly enter and use the foreign trade channels of the host country, and it is easy to obtain business intelligence information.

Third, the influence of transnational corporations on foreign trade of developing countries.

1. The foreign direct investment and private credit of multinational companies supplement the shortage of import funds of developing countries.

2. The capital inflow of transnational corporations has accelerated the change of commodity structure of foreign trade in developing countries. After the war, developing countries introduced foreign companies' capital, technology and management experience, and vigorously developed export processing industries, which enabled some industrial sectors to achieve technological leaps and promoted the changes in foreign trade commodity structure and the development of national economy.

3. The inflow of capital from multinational corporations has promoted the formation and development of industrialization model and corresponding trade model in developing countries. After the war, developing countries used foreign capital, especially the investment of multinational companies, to implement industrialization mode and corresponding trade mode, which can be roughly divided into three stages: export industrialization of primary products, import substitution industrialization and export substitution industrialization of finished products. Import substitution industrialization means that a country adopts strict import restriction policies such as tariff, import quantity restriction and foreign exchange control to restrict the import of some important industrial products and foster and protect the development of its relevant industrial sectors. The purpose of implementing this policy is to replace imported products with domestic industrial products, so as to reduce the country's dependence on foreign markets and promote the development of national industries. The substitution of export for industrialization means that a country takes various measures to promote the development of export-oriented industries, replaces the traditional export of primary products with the export of finished products and semi-finished products, promotes the diversification and development of export products, increases foreign exchange income, and drives the establishment of industrial system and sustained economic growth.

Fourth, multinational corporations control many important trade in manufactured goods and raw materials.

At present, multinational corporations control the trade of many important manufactured goods and raw materials. More than 40% of the total sales of multinational companies and 49% of foreign sales are concentrated in four departments: chemical industry, machine building, electronic industry and transportation equipment.

Five, multinational companies control the international technology trade.

Multinational companies, especially those from developed countries such as the United States, Japan, Germany and Britain, play an important role in the development of science and technology and trade in the world. At present, multinational companies hold about 80% of the global patent rights and basically monopolize international technology trade; In developed countries, about 90% of production technology and 75% of technology trade are controlled by the largest 500 multinational companies in these countries. Many experts and scholars believe that transnational corporations are the main source of contemporary new technologies and the main organizers and promoters of technology trade.

Western multinational companies manipulate technology transfer in the following three ways:

1. parent company's technology transfer to foreign subsidiaries. Under this transfer mode, the key technology is still in the hands of the parent company, and only part of the technology is transferred to foreign subsidiaries. This can not only maintain the monopoly of the parent company on technology, but also gain income and increase profits by selling technology and technology to subsidiaries.

2. The company transfers technology through technology licensing trade. The technology licensing trade in international trade mainly consists of three parts: first, the transfer of the right to use technology patents; The second is the transfer of technical know-how; Third, the sale of trademark use rights, multinational companies through technology licensing trade, to help enter markets and sectors that direct investment can not enter.

The company transfers technology to the joint venture. Multinational companies also provide technology transfer to their foreign joint ventures, so that they can not only get the income of technology use fees, but also get a slice of the profits of the joint ventures, and even get some preferential treatment from the host country. Sometimes, the joint venture between multinational companies and the host country itself is a technology discount.

[Editor] Employment Strategies of Multinational Corporations

First, the employment standard: regard talent as the first element.

Thomas peters, a famous American scholar, believes that the only real resource of an enterprise or a cause is people, and management is to fully develop human resources to do a good job. In the United States, the vice president of personnel of enterprise companies has become an important member of the decision-making team, which shows that enterprises attach importance to talent and human resource management. In order to select available talents suitable for their own development, well-known multinational companies are often ingenious and innovative in the process of talent recruitment and use. Although the form and content are different, their talent selection criteria and employment concepts have many similarities.

Honesty and quality

This is a basic point and starting point of employing people in famous enterprises, and it is also the first principle. Honesty is the most important thing for famous enterprises to recruit employees. If the candidate's conduct does not meet the company's requirements, even if the professional level is high and the working ability is strong, the company will not hire him. The famous IKEA company can't tolerate cheating in particular. If they find that employees have deliberately cheated the company, they will be mercilessly kicked out of the house and will not give them a second chance.

team spirit

Many famous enterprises hold high the management concepts of "employees are partners" and "enterprises are big families". They don't insist that employees have strong personal ability, but they must have team spirit and obey the interests of the team. They use corporate culture to tightly twist employees into a rope and hold them together, which has become a sharp weapon for market competition. When recruiting employees, McDonald's, the world's fast food giant, chose "China talents" with ordinary looks and general education. After all-round training and integration into McDonald's corporate culture, they soon became a firm member of McDonald's.

Enthusiasm for innovation

Enterprise development must have the spirit of innovation. A famous enterprise depends not only on whether he is competent for his present job, but also on whether he has innovative spirit. Microsoft would rather take the risk of failure and hire a person who has failed than hire a person who is careful everywhere but has made no achievements. It is with this adventurous spirit and innovative consciousness that Microsoft can become the "blue giant" in the computer field.

Development potential

Famous enterprises value diplomas, but not only diplomas, but also your future development potential. When Philips evaluates employees' business, it not only evaluates their business, but also evaluates their potential, and then carries out targeted training and selection, so that employees can feel more enthusiasm and motivation in Philips, greatly improve their work efficiency, further enhance their personal ability, and truly realize the synchronous development of employees and enterprises.

learning ability

Many well-known enterprises attach great importance to whether candidates have good learning ability and strong thirst for knowledge. Especially when enterprises recruit fresh graduates, they often take learning ability and thirst for knowledge as the focus of investigation. Many multinational companies say that they don't care much about the gap between fresh graduates and company requirements, because they are very confident in their training system. As long as they have a strong thirst for knowledge and learning ability, they will stand out through systematic training. So these two assessments are very important in the interview.

Integration degree

Enterprises often consider whether employees can identify with and adapt to corporate values and corporate culture in the recruitment process, which will determine whether employees can serve the enterprise well. Sony, for example, takes whether employees can adapt to Japanese culture, especially Sony's corporate culture, as the key assessment content in the recruitment process. In the recruitment of General Electric Co., Ltd., it is also necessary to see whether students like and agree with GE's values, that is, "adhere to integrity, pay attention to performance, and are eager to change"

Second, the talent pool: leaders are promoted from within.

Many large companies have advanced the work of tapping talents before college graduates choose jobs, or even earlier. Most of these companies have their own talent pool, which comprehensively analyzes the achievements, abilities and behaviors of new talents for future use. The talent pool attracts thousands of talents from all over the world. For example, Alcatel's talent pool contains more than 4,000 people, including leaders and potential successors.

These companies usually make succession plans for some key positions in advance to avoid taking actions at the last minute and causing unnecessary losses. For example, the French liquefied gas company will conduct a comprehensive inspection of its "strategic position" every one and a half years, and will arrange six successors.

The talents targeted by the talent pool, especially management talents, are generally good in business, strong in ability and rich in experience. Therefore, in order to become the regional business leaders and trade department leaders of these companies, it is not enough to only have professionals, but also to highlight their rich experience and personality charm. The leader of a well-known British company said: "10 years ago, it was very important to have a diploma from Paris Institute of Technology. Today, the first thing is to be talented. "

In the selection of leaders, 60% to 90% of the leadership positions in many large companies are held by people promoted from within, gradually getting rid of the dependence on headhunting companies. The person in charge of DRH said, "Most of our leading cadres are selected from their own talent pool." . A large number of long-term and stable talents can maintain the relationship with partners.

With the continuous development, merger and acquisition of enterprises, enterprises will adjust their organizational structure so that new leaders can adapt to new challenges. In addition, the talent pool is also ruthless in eliminating unqualified talents. Many people lose in the competition because the company says it needs fresh blood.

Third, the recruitment trend: talent localization strategy

After China's entry into WTO, with the development of economy and the improvement of national income, the labor cost of multinational corporations will inevitably rise sharply. In addition, many domestic enterprises now begin to pay attention to the high salary and treatment of employees, and conduct regular training for employees. Faced with this trend, multinational companies began to re-examine their business strategies, that is, from using low-cost labor in China to using a large number of technical and management talents in China, thus repositioning China as a research and development base and marketing center.

In order to adapt to this strategy, the focus of talent demand of multinational companies will change from simple manufacturing workers to R&D personnel and senior managers. The first reaction of multinational companies such as Microsoft and Nokia to China's entry into WTO is to strengthen its R&D strength in China and compete for technical and management talents. Now these big companies go to famous universities to grab outstanding graduates, provide free air tickets for companies to inspect and promise various training opportunities, which is the embodiment of this awareness.

The talent localization strategy of multinational corporations includes not only the cultivation of talent knowledge and ability, but also the cultivation of employees' sense of belonging and loyalty to the enterprise. Local employees not only require multinational companies to provide generous salaries, but also pay more attention to the development of their personal careers, that is, whether enterprises can provide them with a stage to display their talents. In view of this, many multinational companies in China have begun to send invitations to universities or training institutions to help them train senior talents and run MBA classes, which shows that the "superior" employment mentality of multinational companies in the past has become more and more peaceful.

Four, the recruitment trilogy of multinational enterprises

Western multinational companies recruit senior managers basically according to the following three procedures.

First, conduct a preliminary interview. The initial test is generally presided over by the head of the company's human resources department. Through two-way communication, the company can intuitively obtain the applicant's academic performance, relevant training, relevant work experience, interest preferences, expectations of relevant responsibilities and other information. At the same time, it also gives the applicant a general understanding of the current situation of the company and the company's expectations for the applicant in the future. After the interview, the human resources department should evaluate each candidate to determine the list of candidates for the next round.

The specific operation is:

1, score the applicant's appearance, obvious interest, experience, reasonable expectation, work ability, education, immediate competence, stability of past employment, etc. (1- 10 score).

2. Make specific comments on the advantages and disadvantages of the position, such as attitude towards the previous position, career or career expectation, etc. The written materials provided by the applicant are also used as evaluation reference.

Secondly, conduct standardized psychological tests. Hosted by a psychologist hired by the company. Through the test, we can further understand the basic ability and personality characteristics of candidates, including their basic intelligence, cognitive thinking mode, internal driving force and so on. And management awareness and skills.

At present, such standardized psychological tests mainly include 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Test, Adaptability Test, Otis Psychological Self-management Test, wonderlic personnel test and so on. The evaluation results of psychological tests are only for reference when the candidates are finally selected.

The third step is to conduct "simulation test". This is the key to decide whether the candidate is selected. The specific method is that the candidates take the group as a unit, and according to the problems often encountered in the work, let the group members take turns to play different roles to test their ability to deal with practical problems. The whole process is supervised by an expert group composed of experts and company executives, which usually lasts about two days. Finally, make a comprehensive evaluation of each candidate and put forward employment opinions. The biggest feature of "simulation test" is that it can concentrate the IQ and EQ of candidates and objectively reflect the comprehensive ability of candidates, so that enterprises can avoid "sentimentality" when choosing management talents.