Multinational companies are major companies that have expanded throughout the years to various countries. They are usually produce and sell goods and services and therewith highly contribute to the process of globalization. Many people have a negative connotation in their heads when they hear the words “Multinational companies “.
Multinational companies have a social responsibility especially in developing countries and thus have to be aware of the social, political, economical and environmental responsibility towards the countries they expanded to. According to Lord Holme and Richard Watts social responsibility of the Multinational Companies towards the countries they are registered in, is “…the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as the local community and society at large.” Moreover, the social responsibility of Multinational Companies is to keep equilibrium between the environment and the welfare of the society.
However Multinational companies have a negative connotation due to the environmental and human rights violations they commit. In the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights it is stated, “…3.Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. 4. No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms. 5.No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” but multinational companies don’t seem to respect these articles
Reham El Morally
and thus violate human rights by exploiting the workforce, extending work hours, child labor, for marketing harmful products and abusing the poverty of the developing countries in which they pay their workers the minimum wages under horrific circumstances. However multinational companies sometimes pressure the government to do whatever they want by offering them a sum of money that might help individuals get richer and abuse the power given to them by the people specially in territorial regimes. The multinational companies however have some secret power, which is blackmailing the government and threaten them with exposing their violations to their people and have them revolt. Multinational companies are mostly interest groups who pressure government decision makers to achieve the maximum profit. However multinational companies use technology and new scientific discoveries to increase the quantity produced but at the same time affect the three macroeconomic variables, output, prices and unemployment. Increasing production through a technological development will force multinational companies to lay off workers to increase profit. Laying off workers causes human suffering.
Nike is a multinational company that was established back in 1964. Ever since Nike has been enlarging its braches around the world. However the abuses against the environment and human rights have immensely increased throughout the past two decades. Since the 1990’s Nike has become one of the leading multinational companies in exploiting cheap labor in sweatshops to maximize their profit. Due to the circumstances of the developing countries Nike did not pay attention to the surrounding environment and failed to reconstruct
Technological Development Makes People Suffer Suffer