Financial Sponsorship

I read the Tier 4 guidelines which state that one can get financial sponsorship from your home government, British Government, International company and International organisation. What defines an international company? Does it need to have a presence in one foreign country or does it have to be trading in more than one? Has anyone ever sought financial sponsorship from an international company?

an international company by definition is a company which has its operations which cross the national borders.
when a company has its operations across national borders than most probably that company also trade in those countries.

in terms of seeking financial sponsorship from a company. in my knowledge you have to be an employee of the company and the company would then only sponsor you for further studies, but these days companies only send their employees for short courses and training's rather than long courses.
having said that i know few students who have been sponsored by their government but there are strict terms and conditions attached to it. for example upon course completion the person/student would have to return back to the country and would work for the government for atleast 5 years on wages below the market wage or etc.

Is it necessary for the person seeking financial sponsorship to be an employee of that company? It doesn't say so in the rules that one has to be an employee.