Managing public affairs is a very complex task for internationalizing firms. Multinational companies (MNCs) are not only single organizations operating in a global environment, but at the same time they are collections of interlinked subsidiaries that operate in a diversity of national environments. This paper investigates conceptually how subsidiaries of MNCs build relations with internal MNC counterparts and external market and non-market actors as they mature and build resources and capabilities. It shows that, in order to understand the dynamics of public affairs management in MNCs, we need to study the relations of MNCs and their subsidiaries with a variety of stakeholders in the internal and external environment of the organization.