{ "model": { "rank": 4707, "code": "thing-q161726", "model_id": "vr.tr.multinational-corporation", "name": "multinational corporation", "purpose": "Let an agent explain multinational corporations, relay structures, strategies, regulation and debates from economics, business and international law sources with positions attributed, describe the named aliases and flag the instance, and distinguish multinationals from exporters without foreign operations, state-owned enterprises, conglomerates and international organisations.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Society, people and institutions", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "SOC", "domain": "SOC.ORG", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q161726/", "tier": 2, "score": 73, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "major label", "Middle East Institution for Scientific Publishing" ], "aliasCount": 2, "merged": 2, "knownIn": 73, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q161726", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q161726", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-13T22:45:28Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 4, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q161726", "registryId": "vr.tr.multinational-corporation", "name": "multinational corporation", "version": "0.2.0-wave.4", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "SOC.ORG" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q161726/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.multinational-corporation", "name": "multinational corporation", "purpose": "Let an agent explain multinational corporations, relay structures, strategies, regulation and debates from economics, business and international law sources with positions attributed, describe the named aliases and flag the instance, and distinguish multinationals from exporters without foreign operations, state-owned enterprises, conglomerates and international organisations.", "definition": "A corporation that owns or controls production of goods or services in more than one country, typically through foreign direct investment in subsidiaries, with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development tracking the largest by foreign assets, and debates about economic benefits, tax avoidance, labour and environmental standards and political influence, with positions attributed; the registry aliases include major label, the large record companies that dominate the music industry, a sector-specific term, and Middle East Institution for Scientific Publishing, which appears to name a specific organisation and is an instance. Guidelines such as the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises set voluntary standards.", "what_it_is_for": "Doing business across countries.", "affordances": [ "explain structures and strategies", "relay regulation and guidelines", "present debates with attribution", "flag instance aliases" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Foreign subsidiaries", "Foreign direct investment", "Global supply chains", "Cross-border regulation" ], "appearance": "Not a single appearance; global brands, subsidiaries and offices in many countries.", "visual_identification": [ "Corporation operating in multiple countries", "Major label, Middle East Institution for Scientific Publishing, transnational corporation, multinational enterprise", "Exporters sell abroad without foreign operations; state-owned enterprises are government owned; conglomerates span industries; international organisations are intergovernmental" ], "physical_properties": [ { "quantity": "OECD Guidelines", "typical_range": "first adopted 1976", "unit": "note", "note": "updated 2023" }, { "quantity": "OECD global minimum tax", "typical_range": "15 percent", "unit": "note", "note": "Pillar Two, implementation varies" }, { "quantity": "Dutch East India Company", "typical_range": "1602", "unit": "year", "note": "often cited early example" } ], "families_and_kinds": [ "horizontal multinationals", "vertical multinationals", "conglomerate multinationals", "sector groups such as major record labels" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "business", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "engages in", "target": "foreign direct investment", "why": "" }, { "relation": "is guided by", "target": "OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises", "why": "" }, { "relation": "is contrasted with", "target": "state-owned enterprise", "why": "" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises", "UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights", "OECD/G20 BEPS and Pillar Two tax rules" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Partisan framing of corporate power debates", "Treating instances as kinds", "Giving investment advice" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "understand", "name": "Understand", "description": "What a multinational corporation is.", "rationale": "Attribution.", "layers": [ { "id": "definition", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-finding", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is a multinational corporation, and how does it differ from exporters, state-owned enterprises, conglomerates and international organisations?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Is the question about economics, a specific company, regulation or a complaint against a company?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "aliases", "name": "Aliases", "description": "Named aliases.", "findings": [ { "id": "aliases-finding", "name": "Aliases", "description": "Aliases.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are major labels, and why is the Middle East Institution for Scientific Publishing an instance?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the specific alias?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "business", "name": "Business", "description": "Strategy.", "rationale": "Sources.", "layers": [ { "id": "fdi", "name": "FDI", "description": "Foreign direct investment.", "findings": [ { "id": "fdi-finding", "name": "FDI", "description": "FDI.", "questions": [ { "text": "Why do firms become multinational, as theories such as Dunning s eclectic paradigm explain?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "supply", "name": "Supply chains", "description": "Global supply chains.", "findings": [ { "id": "supply-finding", "name": "Supply chains", "description": "Supply chains.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do multinationals organise global value chains?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which sources are cited?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "regulation", "name": "Regulation", "description": "Regulation.", "rationale": "Regulation.", "layers": [ { "id": "tax", "name": "Tax", "description": "Tax rules.", "findings": [ { "id": "tax-finding", "name": "Tax", "description": "Tax.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do BEPS and the global minimum tax address profit shifting, checked against current sources?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits base erosion and profit shifting?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "rights", "name": "Human rights", "description": "Business and human rights.", "findings": [ { "id": "rights-finding", "name": "Human rights", "description": "Human rights.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do the UN Guiding Principles and OECD National Contact Points handle complaints?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "context", "name": "Context", "description": "Debates.", "rationale": "Attribution.", "layers": [ { "id": "debates", "name": "Debates", "description": "Power and development.", "findings": [ { "id": "debates-finding", "name": "Debates", "description": "Debates.", "questions": [ { "text": "What do economists, NGOs and businesses argue about multinationals effects on development and labour, with positions attributed?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Is the presentation neutral and attributed?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "history", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "findings": [ { "id": "history-finding", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "questions": [ { "text": "How did chartered companies precede modern multinationals?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits Dutch East India Company?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "The registry alias Middle East Institution for Scientific Publishing should be reviewed as a specific organisation", "Should major label be moved to music industry entries?", "How should UNCTAD data be linked?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "organisation or institution", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a multinational corporation, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain multinational corporations, relay structures, strategies, regulation and debates from economics, business and international law sources with positions attributed, describe the named aliases and flag the instance, and distinguish multinationals from exporters without foreign operations, state-owned enterprises, conglomerates and international organisations.", "characteristics": { "substance": "social", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "collective" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: major label, Middle East Institution for Scientific Publishing.", "2 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 73 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a multinational corporation, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "a social arrangement between people", "physicalCharacter": [ "Acts through people, and only through them.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Nothing to see. Recognised by name, register entry and the people acting in its name, and those change while it stays the same body." ], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "major label", "Middle East Institution for Scientific Publishing" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 73 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 2 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one multinational corporation from another, and a multinational corporation from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a multinational corporation, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a multinational corporation, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a multinational corporation is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a multinational corporation, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a multinational corporation, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a multinational corporation is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a multinational corporation sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a multinational corporation, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a multinational corporation, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a multinational corporation is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a multinational corporation from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a multinational corporation, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a multinational corporation, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a multinational corporation is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a multinational corporation passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a multinational corporation between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a multinational corporation, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a multinational corporation, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a multinational corporation is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a multinational corporation, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a multinational corporation is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a multinational corporation, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a multinational corporation, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a multinational corporation is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "people-and-responsibility", "name": "People, roles and responsibility", "description": "Who stands in what relation to a multinational corporation.", "rationale": "Social things are defined by the relations people hold to them, and those relations change without the thing changing.", "layers": [ { "id": "roles-and-parties", "name": "Roles and parties", "description": "The roles that exist around a multinational corporation and who fills them.", "findings": [ { "id": "role-assignments", "name": "Role assignments and their validity", "description": "Who holds which role over a multinational corporation, from when, and on whose authority.", "questions": [ { "id": "role-assignments-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a role over a multinational corporation, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "role-assignments-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a role over a multinational corporation, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "role-assignments-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a role over a multinational corporation is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "ownership-and-accountability", "name": "Ownership and accountability", "description": "Who answers for a multinational corporation and who may decide about it.", "findings": [ { "id": "accountability", "name": "Accountability and decision rights", "description": "Where responsibility for a multinational corporation sits when something goes wrong.", "questions": [ { "id": "accountability-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes responsibility for a multinational corporation, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "accountability-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about responsibility for a multinational corporation, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "accountability-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once responsibility for a multinational corporation is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "legal-identity", "name": "Legal identity and mandate", "description": "What multinational corporation is in law and what it exists to do.", "rationale": "Legal identity survives changes of name, address, staff and premises, which is exactly why it must be recorded separately from all of them.", "layers": [ { "id": "registration", "name": "Legal form and registration", "description": "Form, register, identifiers and jurisdiction.", "findings": [ { "id": "registration-record", "name": "Registration and identifiers", "description": "What names this body unambiguously in law.", "questions": [ { "id": "registration-record-q01", "text": "What legal form does multinational corporation take, in which register, under which identifier?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "registration-record-q02", "text": "What survives a rename, a merger or a move of premises, and what does not?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "mandate", "name": "Mandate and governing instrument", "description": "The purpose it is bound to and the document that binds it.", "findings": [ { "id": "mandate-record", "name": "Mandate and its source", "description": "What it may do, and the instrument that says so.", "questions": [ { "id": "mandate-record-q01", "text": "What is the mandate of multinational corporation, and which founding or governing instrument grants it?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "id": "mandate-record-q02", "text": "What lies outside the mandate, and what should an agent do when asked for it?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "governance-and-membership", "name": "Governance, membership and decision rights", "description": "Who decides in multinational corporation and who belongs to it.", "rationale": "Authority inside an organisation is held by roles, not people, and an agent needs to know which role can commit it.", "layers": [ { "id": "decision-rights", "name": "Decision rights", "description": "Bodies, offices and what each may bind.", "findings": [ { "id": "authority-map", "name": "Who may bind the organisation", "description": "The offices that can commit it and their limits.", "questions": [ { "id": "authority-map-q01", "text": "Which bodies or offices of multinational corporation may take which decisions, and up to what limit?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "authority-map-q02", "text": "What evidence shows that a given person currently holds that office?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "membership", "name": "Membership and affiliation", "description": "Who counts as part of it and on what terms.", "findings": [ { "id": "membership-rules", "name": "Membership and its evidence", "description": "Classes of member, how membership starts and ends.", "questions": [ { "id": "membership-rules-q01", "text": "What kinds of membership or affiliation does multinational corporation have, and how does each begin and end?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "membership-rules-q02", "text": "What may a member do in its name, and what may they not?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a multinational corporation came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a multinational corporation and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a multinational corporation, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a multinational corporation, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a multinational corporation is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a multinational corporation is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a multinational corporation, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a multinational corporation, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a multinational corporation is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 12, "findings": 14, "questions": 38 } } } }