MNCs play a major role in the globalisation process. They have been a major force in connecting distant regions of the world over the past thirty years. MNCs spread their production by setting up partnerships with local companies, using them for supplies, competing with them, or buying them up. This exerts a strong influence on production at distant locations, causing production in widely dispersed locations to get interlinked.

MNCs look for locations around the world that are cheap for production. Foreign investment by MNCs has been rising, and they control a large part of foreign trade between countries. Their activities involve substantial trade in both goods and services. This has led to production being organised in complex ways across countries.