Abstract: | SUMMARY Based on international economics, evolutionary economics, and organizational theories, this paper discusses the evolution of the multinational corporation's intra-organizational cross-border trade and production network. The paper suggests that firms are social and economic entities, whose intra-organizational, cross-border trade and production networks coevolve with their multilocal competitive environments. Since organizational evolution, technological innovation, and organizational learning are path-dependent, a firm-specific inertia makes it to differentiate itself from its competitors in both its intra-organizational network and market outcome. The growing trends in intra-firm transactions and intra-firm division of labor on global basis present a challenge to national governments. This paper discusses intra-firm cross-border trade versus arm's-length international trade and the implications for national-based policies. |