The Role of Multinational CorporationsIn fact, the world economy is to a large extent orchestrated by the heads of multinational corporations (MNCs) rather than by the heads of government. MNC is a firm that operates in many countries. MNCs typically have their headquarters in one of the industrially developed countries, but many of their plants are located in less developed nations. For example, for decades IBM’s popular personal computer was manufactured in China. In 2005 these production facilities were sold to a Chinese company. IBM now simply sources its “IBM personal computers” from this company. By the 2000s the sales of U.S. owned firms abroad were three times the value of United States exports. That is, three-fourths of production by U.S. firms for the world market takes place outside the United States.
The Role of “Private Corporations”
A critical question in the global debate on multinational corporate secrecy is whether such a relationship is necessary, for we need to understand the nature of the global corporate hierarchy.
The notion of a political entity (as opposed to a business entity or one of its employees) being able to influence political policy is not new. The concept is important because for most corporations these efforts are controlled by a group of corporations. They control most of the decisions about production, financing and operations and are expected to make decisions based on what makes sense for them, rather than what does not.
The United States has done little to fight back against the emergence of major international corporate governments who have taken the unprecedented step of taking the American public to arms. As the leading US private security services, we have waged a worldwide campaign to defend the rights, privacy and economic competitiveness of the American citizen and to maintain the very right to self-determination and democratic governance. American companies have made a number of remarkable, positive contributions to international affairs. They have also become a force for social reform. As we saw at the top of our 2014 report about corporate influence on the world, America has a strong public and private partner in international cooperation. This is not to say governments cannot influence them but not all governments are equally as independent or have equal influence and control.
If politicians are a political entity as we have seen from the likes of Israel, China and South Korea to Brazil, the United Nations and numerous other top and developing nations, they are capable of acting through their own public interest interests.
A New Era of Democracy
The new generation of individuals and businesses seeking to influence politics through public support of or participation in actions and policies designed to influence the policymaking of our country — not by politicians but by individual or private individuals or private organizations or corporations — has begun to understand that their support can have important public benefits (such as the right to organize and create a political party, opposition to foreign interventions, and, most especially, transparency with respect to the funding of political campaigns).
The growing recognition of democracy at large allows us to distinguish between two different types of corporations in the information business. They make much of it by lobbying in order to advance their own positions. And they are able to do this in order to maintain control of their operations and keep their staff at bay.
When we talk about an organized political campaign, we often use the term campaign ad. A campaign to promote economic change in our country (such as for a candidate who promises to make college affordable) has the potential to change minds, make voters more inclined to participate in the politics of public office, and create some public goodwill. This is known as the “democratic process.” Most of the world supports this process, except for India, Venezuela and China (who do not).
The United Kingdom is a leader in this democratic process. Its policy has many important implications. While it has taken a hard line on many issues and has been a target of all sorts of threats in recent decades, it is very far ahead of every country that has been the target of terrorism. This trend underscores how important this is to many
The United States is not the only home base for large multinational corporations eager to expand their operations. Japanese automobile makers have also dispersed their production and assembly operations around the world. North America has become an important destination for Japanese automobile assembly and parts plants, many of which were stated as joint ventures with North America auto-makers.
The powerful role of multinational corporations in the world today is based on a high consumption lifestyle for the world’s industrialized nations and aspirations for increasing consumption in the less industrialized nations. Without high levels of consumption, fewer goods and services would be mass marketed, and there would be more room for local producers. This reality leads many to implicate MNCs in the world’s environmental problems as well as its economic problems.