Impacts of Multinational Corporations
What citizen-consumers want from foreign companies doing business in their country.
In today's fragmented world, a multinational corporation’s 'country of origin' acts like a passport, and it's being scrutinized at every border. This passport can grant privileged access or, as Ipsos data reveals, create significant barriers.
In our latest Ipsos Global Reputation Monitor, we explore the impact of companies’ 'homes' on how they are perceived by citizen-consumers around the world.
What we found is that there are distinctive negative connotations linked to companies of American origin - with a specific focus on ethics, the environment, and economic impact.
The other headquarter countries with country-of-origin negativity are China and India, but this pushback primarily originates from North America and Europe.
Key takeaways:
- Political actions by governments can have outsized impacts on the companies that call those countries home.
- One host country in particular is damaging the reputation of its companies – the United States.
- Countering the turbulence generated by social, political, and economic stresses entails understanding the needs of target markets and shifting priorities to become more 'local' (or at a minimum 'global') rather than being solely defined by the company’s home market.
- Globally, jobs and investment are at the top of people’s list for what they want from multinational corporations. But there is considerable regional variation.
