Lesson Objectives

• To know what a TNC is and learn a

suitable case study

Trans National Corporations

(TNC’s) • Transnational Corporations (TNCs) are major

companies which have a presence (e.g. production,

headquarters, sales) in at least two countries.

• Many TNCs are so economically powerful and politically

influential that they rival national economies in terms of

wealth.

• They hold together different economies and societies

through supply chains and marketing strategies

TNC’s

• TNC’s have evolved into complex

organisms;

– Large TNC’s regularly buy other smaller ones

(e.g. Jaguar and Land Rover owned by Tata,

the Indian steel company)

– Much of manufacturing is subcontracted to

third parties so enforcing good working

conditions is hard.

TNC’s

• They also operate in Glocalisation (changing

their produce to meet local markets, e.g. Wet

Market in Tesco in Thailand or the Chicken

Maharajah Mac)

• Most TNC’s are simply assembly industries

(e.g. Mini who in Oxford assemble 2,500

different parts)

So where do TNC’s belong?

• It is difficult to map the geography of TNC’s due

to their complex network of production and

consumption

• The largest firms have branch plants (a factory

not in the country where the TNC’s headquarters

is.)

So where do TNC’s belong?

• Despite all this the parent company (i.e. the one

which owns everything else e.g. Tata in the case

of Jaguar and Land Rover in India) do need to

register a head office somewhere where they

pay tax.

• TNC’s also promote consumption patterns, e.g.

Burger King opening first store in China in 2005.

Now plans to open 1000 more stores.

TNC Case Study: Tesco

• History of Tesco video

• Watch this video here to

give you an idea of how

global Tesco is and what

they do to help other

parts of the world (floods

2011).

• Global growth of Tesco

video.

Tesco Case Study: Your Turn

• Produce a poster for display on Tesco

using p105-6. Include;

1. Brief History

2. Where stores are and are not located

abroad and why.

3. What are the positive effects on foreign

countries.

4. What are the negative effects that Tesco

has on the world.