Corporate Branch
Prerequisites
Requires:
- Corporation
- Can be built by all governments except Socialism
Summary
- Advertises
- Establishes Franchises
- Stealth Unit
Gameplay
The Corporate Branch is a Stealth Unit whose main attack involves Establishing a Franchise in a foreign city. The Franchise extracts Production from the target city. It can also advertise in a foreign city, persuading citizens to buy imported products and bring in Gold for your nation. Each of these "attacks" costs your empire Gold.
The Lawyer is the only unit that can properly combat the Corporate Branch, by Filing an Injunction.
Historical
Multinational corporations often kept their main executive offices within their home country, opting to send their manufacturing and production operations to countries with cheaper labor pools. They could hire workers for a fraction of the cost of domestic workers, getting better return on their investment in factories and manufacturing plants. Corporate branches also established themselves as commercial entities in foreign markets, selling their products abroad. Though the globalization of the economy in the 20th century encouraged corporations to expand their borders, some countries suffered at the hands of first-world multinationals.