Management of Multinational Corporations

A firm may be regarded as a chain of activities that add value to the final product. The activities may be divided into primary and support activities.

Primary activities include manufacturing and marketing, sales and service, while support activities include management of materials, research and development, human resources, information systems and infrastructure.

Firms should find ways to improve the efficiency of each activity to enhance the value of the final product. Firms operating in international markets develop different strategies to cater to different markets.

These strategies can be classified as multinational, global and international strategies. These strategies try to strike a balance between the conflicting demands of customization and cost reduction.