Hi all,

I need your advice on what are the differences on working in Multi-National Company & Local Company.

Well, obviously, the salary & benefits will be different. However, I would like to know what are the other differences between two types of company, like:

1) Exposure to people, new technology etc
2) Learning opportunity.
3) Workload
4) Flexibility
5) Career Outcome
6) Etc.

Feel free to discuss on everything related to the topics. I am open for all kinds of information .

Thank you in advance.

Ans1: There will be significant differences in technological department.
Ans2,3,4,5,6: Basically it's literally the same.

Regards, Joey

Hey Joey,

Big difference as in. I am not in tech. sector. Hence I was thinking something more generic.

i'm dilemma in choosing btw local company and big co.

local co. is very potential for us to have good career path bcoz they still in developing and expanding. If you are superhero in local co., you may get promote easily.

big co. is very much depend on people inside the company. Due to big co. , promote and reward system is not flexible as local co.

so, this is my opinion and not based on fact. i dunno i'm rite o wrong

Firstly, if you are a superhero, you will be successful anywhere, doesn't matter if it's a big MNC or smal local company.

Secondly, if you're not a superhero... but average or slightly above/below average... I think a MNC will be better in terms of pay and benefits.

If join big company becoem small fry but get more salary than ceo in big company

or u rather join small company become ceo but salary so so only?

cuz big company slary higher right..

I guess u mean between international or local company. International: Better benefits, facilities, organization, contact if u want to explore oversea option, more connection with bigwit clients, OT paid etc. But that may just applied to 'some' international companies, so u need research on that. Local normally don't have that benefit or just little but advantage is sometimes more flexible in terms of company strictness, for example come late, or can surf facebook. IMO.

i dun agree with this... in MNC, if u are a super hero... ur manager/supervisor might actually scare that u will overcome them and limit ur involvement in certain projects. but in local/small fry company, you are reporting directly to the boss or in some way the boss will get in touch with you. So the boss will know whether you are a super hero or a snake. and in MNC, there are more company politics companre to locals. but in MNC, you will get high pay, benefits and also career development (if you get a good manager/senior). bcoz i am a more $$ minded person, i normally choose MNC over local company.

it really depends on co. culture lo.

i'm in a MNC; big company but like family.

some MNC/big companies play big politics

so really depends on culture and managers



) Exposure to people, new technology etc --> MNC of course can spend more on new technology and has more ppl. but also depending on industry.
2) Learning opportunity. ---> subjective. big companies have trainee programs. small companies = 1 leg kick all
3) Workload ---> depends
4) Flexibility ----> depends
5) Career Outcome ----> DEPENDS.

This post has been edited by Salience: Oct 8 2009, 02:36 PM

I think seantang is right in the sense if you are a successful person, no matter where you end up with, you will achieve big things. A worthy person appreciate what he was given and work hard to make himself to become a great man. It's more to matter of opportunities whether you are given or not. It is indeed true that people will usually respecting employees from MNC but they might not be knowledgeable than those who work in so so company.

I have 2 relatives:

1) One who work in MNC as a manager earning a very good pay plus good benefits. However, he also got to work under a lot of work pressures. In the other hand, he is also entitled for oversea trip(incentive trip) and also all the beneficial training plus seminar for his self-development. Organizational politics somehow very stiff and bosses keep on changing. He got to adapt to different bosses styles of doing things in a fast pace.

2) One who work as a CEO in a local so so company that more in furniture business. I'm not quite sure about her salary but from what I heard was her bosses tell her don't get pregnant too fast after she had get married. Her boss worried that the company business will be affected. I was kinda shocked listening to bosses interrupting the employee's personal life. And, later she got pregnant. She didn't go to office but she still got to work at home and I supposed this is not going to happen in MNC right?

Both of my relatives don't have high qualification, however scenario 1 would be earn more respect than the 2nd one. Human being is very materialistic. Everyone will think the first one earning a better pay as he is driving City and the second one just a normal employee in the company because she is driving a Myvi (with a Kelisa at home).

Sometimes it's subjective to determine which is better. I have talked to the second relative and asked her why she would stay in the company and why not expose to the outer world. Her answer was she need to take care of her family and the outer world is not suitable for her. She is happy with what she is having now.

There are a lot of issues to look at despite income, benefits and others.

MNC
-specialization in job
-better benefit
-stress
-more politic (eg, who is to be blame when problem arise)
-give u laptop (need to return if u resign, bring work home to do also)
-attractive salary
- annual leave and public holiday either same as government or better.

Local
-1 person do multiple company and do multiple works.
-1 person do A-Z. no specialization. its about bigger scope of job.
-salary depends on boss. can get either super big, average, below average
-some job are stress. depend on boss also. if boss is demanding then stress
-some offer attractive salary also but majority is average or below average.
-some give u very less annual leave and lesser public holiday. tends to cut your leave if they want to have a long break in CNy or raya or watever occasion.
-other benefit is lesser (ex insurance premium is lesser than MNC's premium)
-some give their staff company car, company house, company hp, company touch n go, company petrol card.

my 2 cents.

I wonder.. when people relate MNCs and office politic. Is it first hand experience or hearsay? On what basis? Personally, I have worked in GLC and MNC, and to me, I've seen worse politics in GLC, MNC tend to have less bureaucracy and red-tapes. That's how decisions are made faster comparatively. And touches on responsibility and accountability, if you are really good.. normally you can side-step all the shits coming your way.

Different companies, different management, different politics. Personally I have experience both and the bureaucracy lease tends to change depending on who's in charge, MNC or local. And normally you don't try to act like indiana jones and side-step all the procedures placed just to make fast decisions, which usually will makes things worst in the end for everybody else even though u may not feel it now (Trust me, it stings).

This post has been edited by LeechFever: Oct 8 2009, 07:00 PM

Nope.. not talking about cutting corners here.. merely the "official" organizational level policies.. ie, level of authority for approval, etc

Ya. Im talking about that 'level of authority for approval' as well. In my company, if a client see those without the right sequence of approval, we'll be in deep shit cause the top guy need to keep track of what we do or else the whole schedule is out whack. If it concerns you, suggest you ask ur boss and the relevant authority to have meeting and discuss the problem. That's how we try to do things here.

This post has been edited by LeechFever: Oct 8 2009, 07:35 PM

Same wavelength, differs by few Hz in frequency only. What I meant originally was while it would take 2-3 levels of authorization to say, procure a service worth 100k, in my current company, it would take 4-5 levels to achieve the same output in my previous co. In a sense, maybe I should say it in terms of empowerment and reporting layers.

Depends really on why such procedure. Probably they have bad experiences in the past so decide to play it safe by taking it up a notch. Also, it could due to profit relativity. 100k for local company probably is considered a lot.

This post has been edited by LeechFever: Oct 8 2009, 10:07 PM

Firstly, superheros know how to play the EQ game, as well as the IQ/performance game. If he doesn't, he just a normal hero... not a superhero.

Secondly, bosses are bosses. Doesn't matter whether they are in MNCs or small companies. It's patently untrue that bosses in small companies are somehow more benevolent and nurturing. If anything, bosses in small companies are more 'political' because the number of leadership jobs are smaller (demand > supply) and if they don't kill you, you'll kill them. Unless of course you're not ambitious, in which case, you're not a superhero.

Lastly, it's a fairytale that MNCs have more company politics than small ones. IMHO, small companies are extremely political. Simply because they are usually family owned or controlled by a certain clique or small group of people. Their relatives, relatives of their relatives and their friends are all co-opted into the company. In some listed local companies, you simply will not get very far if you don't have the correct surname or connections with the first family. I like MNCs because they are so big. If I piss off one boss, it's perfectly possible for me to get a job in another dept or location under another boss. My career is minimally affected. In a local company, you piss off the boss' wife/daughter/mother/MIL/mistress/boyfriend/cousin/classmate (sometimes without even knowing you stepped into a hole)... you're screwed.

In addition, you will be more exposed to racially-motivated discrimination in local co, doesnt matter which race it is, whereby the racial demographic is more or less equal, including the expatriates, in MNC. Career advancement in MNC is figuratively endless with international assignment, cross-posting, etc.

Lol. I definitely agreed on this one. "Sorry mate, u'r fired. It's not you. In fact, it's not me as well. It's my wife".

This post has been edited by LeechFever: Oct 8 2009, 11:05 PM

Hey Alex~

My personal opinion is that MNC provides (generally) :

1) Better exposure to global business partners as MNC usually have branches around the world. You get to interact with people from different countries. Could be fun or frustrating

2) MNC usually emphasizes on development. Many trainings are provided for personal development.

3) good working culture / environment, such as promoting team work, flexible working hours, team buildings, safe working environment, open communications with all levels of employees.

These are my personal experience with MNC, of course some local companies also provide these.

dont work for local company ifi u can.

I would say, try both to find out which one suits you better

well.. agree on bold part. some local companies are good. I have experience both mnc and local companies.

before this i attend a lot of interviews from local companies.. some even i didnt ever heard of. But i guess it a global world nowadays. They want to send me to works for oversea project, so need to interact with people in another countries.
Some also prepare to train me in proper ways by getting me a certificate. And some of them also have flexible working hour as well

Well, now im in local companies. The pay is higher compared to mnc but of coz, there are no benefit such as insurance, etc.. The reason of i joined this local company is becoz i luv their ambition (beside higher pay of coz). They make me feel like an important employee. The company really depend on us to do R&D in order to move forward. CEO also knew me! Any problem or suggestion regarding the company can report to him directly

I might be generalising but for me the but difference is culture, culture, culture. In a local company, mgmt will generally be narrowly focused on things like bottom line, profit and performance. In an MNC, these are focused on too, but people growth, happiness of working, and lifestyle are also given attention.

Apart form this, I think if the mgmt of a company is from Europe, and the mgmt style trickles down to the lower levels, you have this culture. However many MNCs these days here in M'sia have been taking more local mgrs with a 'local mindset' hence they end up losing some of the culture and openness.