Thales Group is a French-based company that participates in the aerospace, space, defense and security industries. It is a global company with operations in 50 countries, and it employs more than 68,000 individuals. In the aerospace market, Thales supplies electronic components to major airframers, including Airbus and Boeing, and also provides goods directly to airlines. Its in-flight entertainment system division is based in California, and provides the hardware and software necessary to display movies and other content in overhead or seatback displays. In the space sector, Thales has partnered with Italy's Finmeccanica to engage in telecommunication, earth observation, science and navigation. Thales products are found throughout the defense market, including on aircraft carriers and flying drones. Command and control systems as well as surveillance and other security products form the core of this segment. The company uses a multidomestic strategy that has resulted in much of its defense operations considered "local" in Europe, the Middle East, the United States and Asia. In the security and transportation sector, Thales has successfully won contracts for ground transportation command and control systems, encryption software, management of critical information systems, and transaction security. Currently, Thales provides transaction security for more than half of the world's banks and stock exchanges ("For a Safer," 2009).
Thales is based in France with operations and employees around the world. As of 2008, the company employed 53,337 people in Europe, 3597 in North America, 5010 in the Asia Pacific region, 826 in the Near and Middle East, and 478 in the rest of the world. The company tracks revenues by destination (where the goods and services are sold), and origin (where the goods and services are made). In 2008, more than 80 percent of the company's revenue originated in Europe, with nearly half of t...