One of the biggest challenges for multinational corporations (MNCs) is to determine and consolidate their borders. In order to do so, MNCs increasingly strive to create value innovation, particularly within their internal capital market. Accordingly, their corporate treasury functions have witnessed three stages of major evolution in the 21st century.

China represents a significant share of global foreign direct investment but its currency comprises a mere 1.5% of all global foreign exchange transactions. This case describes the measures introduced by the Chinese government to promote the use of the renminbi (RMB) in cross-border trade, financing and other internationalization initiatives, as well as the associated challenges.

Until 2002, Roche's treasury activities were decentralized. Then a number of external factors resulted in the multinational company recording a loss of CHF5,192 million. Determined to build a more robust centralized treasury system, Roche conceptualized and implemented an in-house bank (IHB) coupled with cash pooling from its affiliates worldwide.

This case explains how Lenovo succeeded in achieving its goals of financial globalization. This was largely accomplished through the combination of its corporate treasury centre and a re-invoicing structure. Lenovo's experience would be of special interest to both emerging market companies pursuing globalization strategies and multinational corporations interested in developing market businesses.

In 2002, Tyco International experienced a corporate crisis which put the conglomerate in danger of bankruptcy. The case follows how the company succesfully tackled a short-term liquidity crisis as well as the steps taken to establish a global treasury management structure to position Tyco going forward.