Basically an "international company" is any company that operates in more than one country, but we have a variety of terms to designate different types of operations. Highly committed international companies usually draw on multiple operating types. Companies work together--in joint venture, licensing agreements, management contracts, minority ownership, and long-term contractual arrangements--all of which are known as collaborative arrangements. The term strategic alliance is sometimes used to mean the same, but it usually refers either to an agreement that is of critical importance to one or more partners or to an agreement that does not involve joint ownership