Seeing the whole elephant: A proposed experiment on measuring the activities of multinational enterprises

A multinational enterprise (MNE) is a firm that has productive capacity in a number of countries. The profit and income flows it generates are part of foreign capital flows moving among nations. The role of multinational enterprises, or transnational corporations, becomes more important as countries adopt more open outward oriented approaches to economic growth and development. From the point of view of national statistical offices (NSOs), it has become a more pressing and significant challenge to provide illuminating insights into the functioning and role of multinational enterprises. MNEs, however, operate across geo-political boundaries and do not necessarily regard these boundaries as dominant factors in determining their forms of organization and information systems. The paper from Statistics Canada proposes to launch an experiment on measuring the activities of multinational enterprises (MNEs). Its major objective is to identify areas where more standardized and/or co-ordinated approaches in measuring the activities of MNEs could contribute to improved national and international economic statistics.