Global, multinational international, and transnational companies. Bartlett and Goshal (Bartlett, C.A. and Ghosal, S. 1989: Managing Across the Borders: The Transnational Solution, Hutchinson, Business Books.) classify four types of company operating foreign interests: global, multinational international, and transnational companies.

The  GLOBAL company, exemplified by such Japanese firms as Kao and NEC, centralizes key functions – including marketing and finance. Headquarters produces the new technology and disseminates it to subsidiaries. Cost advantages are achieved through economies of scale and global-scale operations. The need for efficiency and economies of scale means that products are developed that exploit needs felt across the range of countries. Specific local needs tend to be ignored.

Headquarters of INTERNATIONAL company retains considerable control over the subsidiary’s management systems and marketing policy, but less so than in the global company. Products and technologies are developed for the home market, extended to other countries with similar market characteristics, then diffused elsewhere, and the developmental sequence is decided on the basis of managing the product lifecycle as efficiently and flexibility as possible  

The TRANSNATIONAL company evolved in the 1980s in response to environmental forces and simultaneous demands for global efficiency, national responsiveness, and worldwide learning. The transnational model combines features of multinational, global, and international models. A product is designed to be globally competitive, and is differentiated and adapted by local subsidiaries to meet local market demands.

Whereas the international company originates the product in the headquarters country and then transfers it to the subsidiary, the transnational might reverse this process. Resources, including technology and managerial talent, might be distributed among subsidiaries and integrated between them through strong interdependencies.