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.

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

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.

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.