A stock-market-driven approach to managing the finances of a multinational corporation

Large multinational companies (MNCs) were designed originally to be priced in only one stock market, namely that of the headquarters country. With financial signals coming from many national capital markets in which they operate, financial managers of MNCs have difficulty in making financial decisions which maximize value. Particularly in the case where MNCs generate more value through financial means than from goods and services, managers should adopt a strategy alternative, namely to make financial value an explicit objective by moving closer to individual markets in countries in which they operate. Specifically, John Edmunds and David Ellis recommend that MNCs should list their subsidiaries on the local stock exchanges in the countries where they operate. This financial `repackaging' should create value by making the value of the sum of the parts greater than the whole. A numerical example illustrates.