A transnational corporation (TNC) is "any enterprise that undertakes foreign direct investment, owns or controls income-gathering assets in more than one country, produces goods or services outside its country of origin, or engages in international production" (Biersteker 1978, p. xii). Variously termed multinational corporations (MNCs) and multinational enterprises (MNEs), transnational corporations are formal business organizations that have spatially dispersed operations in at least two countries. One of the most "transnational" major TNCs is Nestlé, the Swiss food giant; 91 percent of its total assets, 98 percent of its sales, and 97 percent of its workforce are foreign-based (UNCTAD 1998, p. 36).

Tncs and the Global Economy

Although TNCs existed before the twentieth century (colonial trading companies such as the East India Company, the Hudson's Bay Company, and the Virginia Company of London were precursors of the modern TNC), only since the 1960s have they become a major force on the world scene...