VOC is established in 17th century. In popular talk it has been described as the world's first multinational corporation (e.g. PBS). Considering capitalism change from time to time - is the statement accurate or anachronistic? How close VOC was to MNCs we know today?
In order to give you an answer, I needed to find a definition of a multinational corporation. This proved surprisingly difficult. Many define a multinational simply as an organization that is active in multiple countries. The definition given by Oxford Reference is a bit more detailed: "A form of capitalist enterprise in which the financial structure, managerial control, and integration of productive activity span national boundaries and are oriented to international (or global) markets."
I'll try to answer your question by commenting on the different aspects of this question. I will not try to answer the question wether or not the VOC was the FIRST to do these things; someone else is probably more suited to answering that.
It is probably obvious to you that the VOC, like other European Trading Companies, was focused on procuring goods for sale in Europe. In this sense, it was not exactly unique. However, the VOC excelled in something called Intra-Asian Trade. This meant that in the first few decades of it's existence, the VOC set up an extensive network of trade WITHIN Asia. Outposts were established in most Asian countries of the time. In fact, most of the trade done by the VOC was done within Asia itself and not between continents. The VOC quickly became the main shipping company in Asia. The purpose of this intra-Asian trade was to fill all ships bound for the Netherlands with pure profit.
Because of this intra-Asian network, I feel confident in saying that the VOC was truly oriented to an international market.
I won't say too much about this, as others have explained this better both on this subreddit and in the literature. However, it is commonly accepted that the VOC was the world's first corporation with freely tradeable stock. This means the company essentially resembled what we think of as a modern company, in a financial sense.
The first two parts of this requirement are clearly present in the VOC.
The financial structure was 'international' enough for the VOC to exchange currency for other parties using their network of trading posts. Primary sources on Surat, in India, show us many examples of that. Trading posts could also request money from higher ups and were required to justify any expenses, especially when they came under scrutiny from their superiors. In other words; trading posts were heavily integrated into the financial structure of the company as a whole.
Managerial control was also clearly international. There was a pyramid of managers going from the Gentlemen XVI (the board of directors in the Netherlands), through the executives in Batavia (the companies Asian headquarters in Indonesia) to regional trading posts which oversaw local trading posts. Besides this, there were also employees who worked directly for the upper management on a local level. An example would be the 'fiscaal', who travelled Asia to double-check the accountants in outposts suspected of corruption. In other words, the managerial system was quite international as well.
The third part of this requirement is the one I'm least confident about. My limited grasp of English has me wondering if the definition requires a Company to PRODUCE anything. The VOC did oversee a few plantations (mainly in modern-day Sri Lanka and Indonesia, two area's which were largely under the VOC's control and in some instances resembled 19th century colonies). The lion's share of the VOC's activities, however, were not to produce anything but to ship things. This might be a personal consideration; if you feel that a modern-day shipping company like FedEx is a multinational, you'd probably have to regard the VOC as one too.
I hope my answer provided you with some insight. Feel free to ask any questions you have!
Sources:
- Oxford Reference.
- Coolhaas, W. Ph. (ed.), Generale Missiven van gouverneurs-generaal en raden aan heren XVII der Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie (14 vols, The Hague, 1960-2007).
- Gaastra, F. S., ‘The Organization of the VOC’ in R. Raben and H. Spijkerman ed., De archieven van de Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie: The Archives of the Dutch East India Company (1602-1795) (The Hague, 1992) pp. 11-29.
- Gaastra, F. S., De geschiedenis van de VOC (5th edition; Leiden, 2002).