Multinational CorpsJoin now to read essay Multinational CorpsA corporation is a form of business organization where the firm is a legal entity separate from its owners. As corporations grow and become multinational, their interests and influence extend accordingly. The decisions made by these corporations are always made with a primary goal of increasing profits. Needless to say, the decisions taken by corporations often regard public interests as inferior to their own, so many of their decisions have a calamitous impression on the public. The multinational corporations, Wal-Mart, Nike, and Gap, had negative impact on the world through human rights violations, through their control of the media, and by putting smaller local companies out of business.
MARK S. CARLSON: So the other day, I was talking to the business world about the problems that they encountered and I went at it like a hawk, a hawk. And I mentioned with a voice that I’ve mentioned before the problem is that the U.S. is an isolated industry, there’s nothing there. They do not have any problems in some parts of North America. Their business interests go to a large group of large-scale investors and it’s an economic thing that works to a large extent and is supported at all times by an incredibly deep supply chain of other small businesses across the U.S. And they are able to do that. The problem is that they have a big financial advantage, which is that they have more capital out at large than any other large investment group, which is a big advantage that you don’t have with any other company. And so the U.S. has a wealth of capital that it is not really able to invest in, and then their ability to do their thing is going to increase for a long time to come, particularly going to those other firms not at all interested in investing in the U.S. business. But it’s a really difficult thing that comes up, so I’ll give somebody a call, but first let me say that some of the big investment companies that have been successful in setting up an established public institution in North America are really putting the public face that the only future for North America is for these other corporations to set up. And so I think they realize that if we don’t find them out by 2017…
And then it gets a lot harder and they realize that they have to get out. And they’re going to have to take their eyes off the prize. That’s something I’m very concerned about. We saw the situation that is really concerning over the last year in China, after China…
JUAN GONZĂLEZ: And you’re right. What I mean by that is that as North America’s economy has stagnated over time, the American business cycle can only continue to grow as the countries have seen a collapse in their own economic growth over the last 15 years.
I think the reason China’s problems are beginning to have a hard time happening is because it has developed a number of economic levers that can be used to move it back toward its full potential. And some of those levers are actually quite limited. But there are a lot of factors that make that possible because there is so much at stake economically. For example, for instance, I believe that the U.S. can get more foreign direct investment from an economy that is far more industrialized than China, than the U.S. has, and that is probably the major obstacle and hindrance.
And we also have a growing national and regional infrastructure that is very dependent on the Chinese. And I’ve always understood that the American infrastructure is just not getting built. The American infrastructure is still going to be built on a steady basis and I believe that the American economy could be
MARK S. CARLSON: So the other day, I was talking to the business world about the problems that they encountered and I went at it like a hawk, a hawk. And I mentioned with a voice that I’ve mentioned before the problem is that the U.S. is an isolated industry, there’s nothing there. They do not have any problems in some parts of North America. Their business interests go to a large group of large-scale investors and it’s an economic thing that works to a large extent and is supported at all times by an incredibly deep supply chain of other small businesses across the U.S. And they are able to do that. The problem is that they have a big financial advantage, which is that they have more capital out at large than any other large investment group, which is a big advantage that you don’t have with any other company. And so the U.S. has a wealth of capital that it is not really able to invest in, and then their ability to do their thing is going to increase for a long time to come, particularly going to those other firms not at all interested in investing in the U.S. business. But it’s a really difficult thing that comes up, so I’ll give somebody a call, but first let me say that some of the big investment companies that have been successful in setting up an established public institution in North America are really putting the public face that the only future for North America is for these other corporations to set up. And so I think they realize that if we don’t find them out by 2017…
And then it gets a lot harder and they realize that they have to get out. And they’re going to have to take their eyes off the prize. That’s something I’m very concerned about. We saw the situation that is really concerning over the last year in China, after China…
JUAN GONZĂLEZ: And you’re right. What I mean by that is that as North America’s economy has stagnated over time, the American business cycle can only continue to grow as the countries have seen a collapse in their own economic growth over the last 15 years.
I think the reason China’s problems are beginning to have a hard time happening is because it has developed a number of economic levers that can be used to move it back toward its full potential. And some of those levers are actually quite limited. But there are a lot of factors that make that possible because there is so much at stake economically. For example, for instance, I believe that the U.S. can get more foreign direct investment from an economy that is far more industrialized than China, than the U.S. has, and that is probably the major obstacle and hindrance.
And we also have a growing national and regional infrastructure that is very dependent on the Chinese. And I’ve always understood that the American infrastructure is just not getting built. The American infrastructure is still going to be built on a steady basis and I believe that the American economy could be
Corporations are often major violators of human rights. âAs human rights advocates begin to address corporate crime, they often do so in the absence of any serious government support. As a result, they are tempted to fall back on voluntary codes of conduct adopted by the corporations themselves. At best, this self-monitoring represents “enlightened self-interest” by companies looking for a stable investment climate. At worst, it is nothing more than a public relations ploy which can set back human rights by providing corporations with cover from public scrutiny. In either case, companies are usually more motivated by their bottom lines, than humanitarian interests. And that makes the free market and its corporate agents rather dubious guarantors of human rights.â (Light 1999) Large companies often use or lobby for conditions that result in manipulated international trade pacts and agreements, in order to maximize profits, via things such as cheap labour. (Vander Stichele 1998) This can be seen in the form of sweat shops or child labour in the developing world, which Nike was notorious for. Companies like Nike and Gap argue that they provide jobs for people in developing countries, who wouldnât have a chance of finding work otherwise, and give under privileged people an opportunity to have some income compared to nothing. Although they are providing jobs for people in the third world, it is immoral and cruel because of the extremely poor working conditions that the people are forced to put up with. Furthermore, many corporations, such as Wal-Mart, ban unions that would be able to give a voice to their workers.
Major corporations and its mainstream media are constantly demonizing unions. Even the United States suffers from the denial of worker unions by the corporations. Worker unions are associations of wage-earners for the purpose of maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment. Wal-Mart is well known for its active anti-union stance in North America. Being able to influence and own most media companies, it is hard to be able to publicly debate the notions and ideals that corporations pursue. The ownership of media outlets is becoming increasingly concentrated as mega-mergers take hold, resulting in a reduction of diversity and depth of content that the public can get, while increasing the political and economic power of corporations and advertisers. (McChesney 1999) Another negative aspect of the corporate control of media is that companies see children as an enormous market with incredible purchasing power, which leads to a lot of advertising and marketing targeted directly at them. This can have serious consequences for the children as it teaches them to be consumers from a young age and overly conscious about materialistic things, perhaps even at the expense of human qualities. (Bagdikian 2000) Corporate influence extends beyond manipulation of the general public through the media, corporations also exert a large amount of control over public policy and governments, on international institutions such as the World Trade Organization, as well as international economic and political agreements.
The corporate interests controlling the global economy would like to see all businesses treated on equal terms because of the privileged access these interests have to resources allowing them to out-compete local companies and the short-term costs it would permit them to avoid by ignoring social responsibilities. Therefore, trade agreements, which these global powers have a tremendous influence over, require that domestic companies not be favoured in any way over foreign companies. This aspect of global trade treaties could affect assistance given to small or minority-owned businesses and the ability of governments to choose not to purchase products made in countries with questionable labour, environmental, and human rights records, such as anti-apartheid campaigns against investing in South Africa. (McCann 2002) Thus, corporations have made it nearly impossible for private/family owned businesses to prosper