Business is buying and selling of the goods or services. Global business is the buying and selling of goods and services by people from different countries.

Global business presents its own set of challenges for managers. How can you be sure that the way you run your business in one country is the right way to run that business in another? Multinational corporations (MNCs) are corporations that own businesses in two or more countries.

Another way to appreciate the impact of global business is by considering direct foreign investment. Direct foreign investment occurs when a company builds a new business or buys an existing business in a foreign country. Of course, companies from many other countries also own businesses in the United States. But direct foreign investment in the United States is only half the picture. U.S. companies also have made large direct foreign investments in countries throughout the world.

U.S. companies have made their largest direct foreign investments in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg, Canada, and Ireland. Overall, U.S. companies invest more than $4.9 trillion a year to do business in other countries.