Megacorporation

Very large companies spanning multiple sectors doing business.  A megacorporation is a huge corporation typically completely covering the area of the interstellar state where it resides, having a profound economic power in and beside it's area of competence.

Of the millions of organizations which do business inside and outside the Imperium, most are limited to one or two worlds.  A few thousand corporations trade over one or more subsectors, a few hundred cover one or more sectors.

Only a few firms (a total of 13) are truly Imperial in scope; they are megacorporations.  Staggering in size, these organizations are so large that no one person can know everything they are concerned with at any given moment.  Total shares of stock, annual profits, number of employees, are all astronomical.  Many organizations are so large that different divisions of the same megacorporation may actually be working at cross-purposes.  In most regions, megacorporations merely own the land their installations are on, but in some areas they control entire planets, either directly or indirectly.

Most megacorporations are organized very much like smaller companies (with a board of directors, a president, and vice-presidents), but the board and the higher level executive officers of the company are largely out of contact with the day-to-day (or even year-to-year) functioning of the company.  These upper level executives plan only general policy and a few long-distance actions.  The most important executives, in terms of personal power, are the various regional managers (by whatever name they may be called).  A regional manager may control only a small portion of a megacorporation's total assets, but many hold more power in some regions than the local representatives of the Imperial government.

A small number of Imperial regulatory agencies have power over megacorporations, and the businesses are subject to any applicable local taxes, but, provided they do not blatantly violate Imperial sovereignty, regional managers can usually conduct their company's business as they see fit.  If only because a direct confrontation with the Imperium would be bad for business, intentional violation of Imperial laws would not occur, although it is rumored that some megacorporations have done just that but on a covert basis.

All corporations engaging in interstellar commerce are required to possess an Imperial charter, usually indicated by the letters LIC following the company name (LIC stands for Limited liability Imperial Charter).  A few Vilani megacorporations are still in business under their Vilani titles.

It is difficult for a company to grow to the size of a megacorporation unless it has the protection of a suitably-sized government.  Because the Imperium controls space and an economy that could support megacorporations, they almost naturally sprang up.

Some of the interstellar empires that border the Imperium have grown to the size that they can also support megacorporations.  In comparison, the largest of the non-Imperial megacorporations is perhaps median-sized when compared with an Imperial megacorporation; the smallest is smaller than any of the Imperial companies.

There are 13 imperial megacorporations: Delgado Trading, LIC; General Products, LIC; GSbAG; Hortalez et Cie, LIC; Instellarms, LIC; Ling Standard Products; Makhidkarun; Naasirka; SuSAG, LIC; Sharurshid; Sternmetal Horizons, LIC; Tukera Lines, LIC; Zirunkariish.

There are also 13 non-imperial megacorporations.  Among those are: Menderes Corporation in the Julian Protectorate; Otaiokeh in the Aslan Hierate; Priantqlovr Drafr in the Zhodani Consulate; Reastirlao in the Aslan Hierate; Star Patterns Trading in the Hive Federation; Tlasayerlahel in the Aslan Hierate; Transstar in the Solomani Confederation; Wyaroaer in the Aslan Hierate.

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