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As you have learnt, one of the most common factors linking us around the world to people in different places is the movement of goods and services. In the last few decades, many large businesses based in wealthy developed countries have chosen to manufacture their goods in poorer developing countries. Because these businesses operate in more than one country, they are called multinational companies (MNCs). Some of the largest, most profitable and most recognisable brands in the world are produced by MNCs. These include Coca-Cola, Apple, IBM, McDonalds, Louis Vuitton, Adidas and Nike. MNCs choose to base their manufacturing in developing countries for a variety of reasons, but the main one is cost. Labour costs are much lower in many of these countries (see Source 3.44) and this allows MNCs to spend less on manufacturing and thereby increase their profit. Multinational companies Source 3.44 Hourly rates of pay (including all benefits) for manufacturing workers in different countries Source 3.46 Estimate of iPhone market share by country as at June 2009 Source 3.45 Thousands of Chinese job-seekers queue outside the Apple manufacturing plant in Shenzhen city, keen to become part of the global giant. Case study: Apple – a global giant Apple is one of the world’s largest and most profitable multinational companies in the world today with annual revenues of over US$150 billion. The company began in 1976 and at the time proudly boasted that all of its computers were made in the United States. Now virtually all of the 159 million products it sells every year are made outside the United States, mostly in China. While the cost of labour was a major factor in moving to China, other considerations were also important.