1.2.4 Globalisation of business structures:
The multi-national enterprise
A multi-national enterprise (MNE) , also commonly referred to as a multi-national corporation (MNC), is by definition an organisation that has business operations or investments in two or more countries. These organisations may operate for profit or not for profit (as in organisations such as the Red Cross) and may or may not use a formal corporate structure.
Multi-nationals have existed for more than 300 years, the earliest versions being the Dutch and British East India Companies. Different terms abound for today's multi-nationals, including global, world, international, transnational, super-national and supra-national corporations.
We tend to think of multi-nationals as large companies, but there is an increasing number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) whose operations extend over many countries. Your textbook refers to these organisations as mini-multi-nationals. Australian examples of 'large' multi-nationals are CSR and Pacific-Dunlop. Examples of mini-multi-nationals are Sausage (computer software) and Jim's Mowing (a franchise operation similar in concept to McDonald's). We will discuss franchising in Chapter 9.
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