International Business

Entry

Many countries make it attractive to incorporate in their area, even when activities are to be conducted elsewhere. In fact, there are so many tax efficient jurisdictions that an initial problem for most organizations wanting to form an international business company, is how to select from the available options. Belize is such a country that entered the offshore industry after carefully analyzing and adopting the best features of some of the best offshore jurisdictions in existence. Its long history of democracy and stability, enhanced by its legal system which is based on English common law, have made it the premier source for easy market transition (“Belize Offshore Consultants”). Multinational Corporations A multinational corporation is a company or enterprise operating in several countries, usually defined as one that has 25% or more of its output capacity located outside its country of origin. The world’s four largest multinationals in 1994 were General Motors, Ford, Exxon, and Shell. Their total sales exceeded the gross national product of all of Africa, and the top 100 multinational corporations controlled $3.4 trillion in financial assets. In 1993, multinational corporations accounted for one-third of the world’s industrial output, with sales of $4,800 billion. They are seen in some quarters as posing a threat to individual national sovereignty and as exerting undue influence to secure favorable operating conditions. Unsuccessful efforts were made 1992, under UN auspices, to negotiate a voluntary code of conduct for multinationals, but governments and corporations alike were hostile to this idea. In 1993, 11 of the 100 largest multinational corporations were British (“Hutchinson Family Encyclopedia”).