Remember those days when a multinational company was one with thousands of employees and millions of dollars in sales. In fact, there used to be folks called 'expatriates' (yours truly was one too in Japan working for a US multinational). Then came telecommuting. I could literally work on the beach as long as I could get things done. Some companies couldn't believe that we could actually get anything done without being together in one room, but now it is a part of life.
Now come the micro-multinationals. I have come across dozens of entrepreneurs who work with employess/partners/contractors that they have never met before and might never do. They would not have been able to build these enterprises without being able to access knowledge in the most cost-effective manner. In fact, these employees are literally scattered all over the world. They find them on places Elance.com, there is competitive bidding and you have some serious global competition for even a $500 project, the task gets done, and when you need another project done, the process can be repeated.
In other words, your team can be multi-national. As long as they are plugged into the Net, it doesn't matter where they are. In fact it makes perfect sense to split the team so that half is in the east and the other half in the west. When time is money, you can't afford to have employees who need to sleep. So you can run a micro-multinational enterprise with no full-time employees, no need to worry about benefits/HR/admin/paperwork, pay-as-you-go, and disband your enterprise if it does not work, with minimum pain to all participating entities. Pretty neat business model!
Now come the micro-multinationals. I have come across dozens of entrepreneurs who work with employess/partners/contractors that they have never met before and might never do. They would not have been able to build these enterprises without being able to access knowledge in the most cost-effective manner. In fact, these employees are literally scattered all over the world. They find them on places Elance.com, there is competitive bidding and you have some serious global competition for even a $500 project, the task gets done, and when you need another project done, the process can be repeated.
In other words, your team can be multi-national. As long as they are plugged into the Net, it doesn't matter where they are. In fact it makes perfect sense to split the team so that half is in the east and the other half in the west. When time is money, you can't afford to have employees who need to sleep. So you can run a micro-multinational enterprise with no full-time employees, no need to worry about benefits/HR/admin/paperwork, pay-as-you-go, and disband your enterprise if it does not work, with minimum pain to all participating entities. Pretty neat business model!