WITH MANAGEMENT NEEDS DICTATING LARGE-SCALE MULTINATIONAL COMPUTER SYSTEMS AND THE COMPUTER AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRIES EMPHASIZING GLOBAL EXPANSION, MULTINATIONAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS ARE EXPECTED TO BE WIDELY USED IN A VERY FEW YEARS. SUCH SYSTEMS WILL BE IN DEMAND WHEREVER THERE IS A GLOBALLY DISTRIBUTED NEED FOR THE MOST ADVANCED COMPUTER TO DEAL WITH ULTRA-COMPLEX PROBLEMS, THERE ARE ECONOMIES IN SHARING ON-LINE SOFTWARE, MULTINATIONAL ACCESS TO LARGE DATA BANKS IS NECESSARY, AND ECONOMIES CAN BE REALIZED FROM GREATER COORDINATION AND SHARING OF MULTINATIONAL INFORMATION. THE TRANSNATIONAL USE OF COMPUTERS SHOULD PRODUCE CHANGES IN MANAGEMENT DECISIONMAKING, ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN, AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP. DECISIONMAKING WILL BE DIRECTLY TIED TO COMPUTER ANALYSIS OF COMPLEX DATA. ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN WILL BE DIRECTLY RELATED TO INFORMATION PROCESSING, AND NEW OPTIONS AND STRATEGIES FOR BUSINESS EXPANSION WILL BE IDENTIFIED THROUGH TRANSNATIONAL DATA PROCESSING. MULTINATIONAL COMPUTER SYSTEMS MAY, HOWEVER, AGGRAVATE CURRENT TENSIONS BETWEEN HOST NATIONS AND MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS. SUCH SYSTEMS WILL CONTRIBUTE TO THE HOMOGENIZATION OF PROBLEMSOLVING BEHAVIORS, CULTURAL VALUES, AND PUBLIC ATTITUDES ON A WORLDWIDE BASIS, THUS THREATENING NATIONS' TRADITIONAL CULTURES. FURTHER, MULTINATIONAL COMPUTER SYSTEMS ARE LIKELY TO ENHANCE THE POWER AND INFLUENCE OF MULTINATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS WHOSE INTERESTS TRANSCEND NATIONAL ONES. A GROWING NUMBER OF NATIONS ARE ALSO BECOMING CONCERNED ABOUT A POTENTIAL 'DATA INVASION' RESULTING FROM THE TRANSFER OF DATA ACROSS NATIONAL BOUNDARIES. THE PRIVACY ISSUE IN THE HANDLING OF DATA WILL AFFECT RELATIONS WITH HOST GOVERNMENTS. ALSO, THE LARGER AND MORE DISTRIBUTED A COMPUTER NETWORK BECOMES, THE MORE VULNERABLE THE SYSTEM BECOMES TO CRIMINAL ACTIVITY. IF MANY OF THE AFOREMENTIONED POTENTIAL PROBLEMS ARE TO BE MINIMIZED, GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVES MUST BE INCLUDED IN DISCUSSIONS ABOUT THE DESIGN OF MULTINATIONAL COMPUTER SYSTEMS AS THEY EXPAND INTO NEW COUNTRIES. NOTES ARE PROVIDED. (RCB)