1. Define a multinational company?
A business organization that operates in two or more countries.

2. Define a holding company?
A business that owns a controlling interest in other diverse companies.

3. What are the similarities and differences between the two?
A holding company does not produce goods - it merely buys shares in another company. However, a multinational company does produce goods. They are similar, however, in the sense that they both operate in countries other then their home countries.

4. Research a Multinational Company on the internet
GOOGLE.

• a) What is their history?
  
• It was created January of 1996 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin as a research project, student at Stanford University. The domain of "goggle.com" that we use today was officially established on the 15th of September 1997. The company itself was incorporated and became "Google Inc." on the 4th of September 1998. They are currently stationed in Mountain View, California since 2003, and the complex is currently called "Googleplex".
  
• b) What is their core business?
• Advertisement
  
• c) Have they diversified their business? How have they done this?
• Google has definitely diversified since it started, and now offers a much wider range of products and/or services. 99% of its revenue is from their advertisement programs (they put prices on search tags). They also diversified their search engine, so that you can now not only search for websites but also images, news, price comparisons, groups, maps, and more. They also launched Google Video, similar to YouTube, in 2006. They have created desktop applications like Google Desktop, Picasa (a photo editing software), Sketchup (used for sketching buildings, etc.) and Google Earth (satellite imaging). Gmail was also created - an e-mail database similar to Hotmail. They also helped develop an operating system called Anderoid, and released "Google Chrome" (an internet browser) on the 1st of September 2008.
  
• d) What advantages does this give them over the other businesses?
• Google has many competitors, particularly when it comes to their search engine. One of the most recognized competitors is probably Yahoo. Yahoo also a search engine, e-mail capabilities, news and image searches, video, and so on. However, there are some things that Google has that Yahoo does not (for example Google Earth or Picasa), and all of Google's programs are interlinked. For example, if you are using Google Earth their logo is everywhere, and so on. Therefore, someone who wants to use a program like Google Earth, which is not offered by any other business, is going to become more loyal to Google as a whole.
  
• e) What stock exchange are they listed on?
• NASDAQ Stock Exchange (American Stock Exchange)
  
• f) How many do they have on their board of directors?
• There are currently 9 people on their board of directors.
  

5. Research a Holding Company on the internet
AMERICAN EXPRESS

• a) What influences do they have over their subsidiaries? Is it a management thing or are they assest strippers? (Define this term)
• The control that American Express has over their subsidiaries is basically a "management thing". They help the other countries to grow - they issue charge cards, loans, certificates of deposit. It is not an asset stripper (a company that takes over another company when it is suffering from financial difficulties and then sells each of its assets separately at a profit, thinking that the remaining assets will then be worth more).
  
• b) How have MNC's and Holding companies achieved the growth they have, what are they renowned for in their respective markets?
• This company started with a business surrounding travel and tourism, however is now well known for it's growth when it began credit cards and/or loan cards in major banks.
  

6. Has the MNC you researched encountered any problems in operating in overseas markets?
One example of a problem faced by Google when it began operating in overseas markets is the one that came along with Google Earth. This program caused issues when nations quickly realized that some of the satellite images allowed viewers to see details like cars and people. Censorship has also been an issue in some countries, where particular sites are blocked - USA, UK, Germany, France and China in particular.

7. What are the ramifications for the MNC of any problems you identified in Q6?
Google attempted to solve the privacy issue by ensuring users that the satellite images are not necessarily updated on a regular basis. They also have given in to most censorship requests by whichever country making the request, which is sometimes thought to be beneficial and sometimes sparks controversy.

8. Define the term "conglomerate"?
The combination of two or more companies engaged in entirely different businesses together into one overarching company.

9. Which of the multinationals listed in Q4 could be also described as conglomerates?
All of them!

10. Give two advantages and two disadvantages of conglomerates.
Advantages:
1 - Reduction of invest.
2 - Can show earnings growth, by acquiring companies whose shares are more discounted than its own.

Disadvantages:
1 - Extra layer of management therefore increased costs.
2 - Lack of focus, and inability to manage unrelated businesses equally well are the reasons to criticize conglomerates.

Skoda Auto

a. Two internal stakeholder groups suggested in the case study are the employees and the management.

b. A conflict between stakeholders is evident in this case study between the employees and the management of the company. The management wanted to become part of Volkswagen, most likely in order to increase their own benefits and profits. However, as the business' profits increase the workers would be looking for higher pay and better benefits - things that they didn't receive.

c. This conflict can be minimized