The rise of MNC's

MNCs as we saw in class video called “The Corporation", directed by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott, this documentary starts showing us how the corporations help the communities by giving individuals jobs and establishing ways of living, they show us that the corporations behave like a person, have the same rights that a persons have, and follow the same rules that a person, but the movie is very clear by remarking that the primary goal of a corporation is make profits and produce more and more money. At this point it is remarked that MNCs have strong power and ask the question: ¿ who control the consequences of the MNCs?, they start asking questions of real situations that corporations have abused, for example: Controlling the unions by firing workers, Pollution problems, Harm to animals, Destruction of the environment, habitat destruction, Production of dangerous products, Etc.

The documentary let us an unanswered question about ¿who control the actions and reactions of MNCs?

MNCs are enormous enterprises that have the power to reach any part of the world and manage by their own way, ones example show in the documentary is how a MNCs are controlling with few competitors essential goods for living, they show cases that need to be concerned by all consumers, and it tried to make us open our ayes and see that if we don’t to something MNCs will be ruling and doing whatever they wants with us and the planet.

In the document: “MNCs and Surrogate Sovereignty By Jhon M. Kline”, the author said “..Despite impressive growth in financial, technological, and other resource capabilities, MNCs do not function effectively as independent, unitary actors that can challenge nation-state sovereignty..”

This document gives us a different perspective of the documentary of Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott, explaining us that MNCs assume basic governance functions in places were the national government is absent or place were the national government encourage MNCs to provide social services. It said that MNCs tried to avoid interfering with the national governments.

Questions:

1. Do Corporations pursue today other interest or the "bottom-line" remains as their single priority? What are the factors influencing the corporation’s objectives and goals?

Now days there are all kind of multinational corporations, everyone with different specs, proposes and environments. Like individuals, corporations decide how they should act and they decide if they do it the right way or the wrong way.

It is also known that governments now days with the globalization are paying more attention to alliances between companies and try to regulate the absolute control of the market, they also establish ways of acting to protect citizens and the environment with rules and stimulating good behaviors with fiscal benefits.

After washing the video “The Corporation" and reading the article “MNCs and Surrogate Sovereignty”, we see that now days there are “Green” companies and there are traditional big organizations that seek having more and more control like the ones mentioned in the documentary, that try to be more consciences about with Union busting, layoffs, factory fires, sweetshops, harm to human health, dangerous products, emission of pollution, toxic waste, harm to animals, etc. But in the end all the organizations what they really seek is increasing their profits like Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott say in their video.

 2. The film focuses on the negative consequences that the Corporation’s behavior cause to the environment, to human health and animal life. Discuss from a critical perspective, the possible benefits and arising from the actions of MNCs for these 3 groups.

MNCs, as it is shown in the video have committed mistakes about abuse of exhaustible recourses, animal testing, and production of toxic substances, those arguments are true but not everything shown in the video is the reality, corporations have also contributed to the humanity welfare.

About human welfare, we can start talking about the amount of jobs that any MNCs creates and sustains, this generates stability for a large amount of people. There are also in the majority of the MNCs departments of research and development (R&D) that have make evolved the quality of life of humans.

Privatization of public services have made that this service acquire higher levels of service, introduction of new techniques, and better services that benefit the community.

Human despites have made that organizations can sustain in the time and avoid bankruptcy in times of crisis, so all the employees wont lose their job, the economy can be sustainable and when crisis is over there can be jobs for more individuals.

The research for new ideas and private investigation motivated by the generation of profit has discovered beneficial products for the human, the animals and the environment.

3. Do you think a corporation should be considered a "person"? discuss the implications and limitations of granting such legal existence to corporations.

I do not think corporations should be consider as a person, like is said in the documentary “The Corporation". Corporation should be consider like a enterprise with legal rights for enterprises not seen like a person with human rights, but i think every corporation must have the same duties that humans have but not the same rights.

This corporation’s rights can be the same as humans because corporations don’t faces the same consequences as a person if it commits a crime; corporations have more benefits than a regular person, corporations have much more power than a regular person.

Corporations should have rights but never the same rights of humans so it must not be considered like a person.

References:

MNCs and Surrogate Sovereignty

JOHNM.KLINE Director of the Master of Science in Foreign Service Pr; ram Georgetown University

Class Movie: “The Corporation” by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott.

Available at: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=FA50FBC214A6CE87

Images taken from: 

- https://eee.uci.edu/programs/humcore/Student/archives/Year2006-2007/Spring2007/MoviePage/images/TheCorporation.jpg

- http://www.coachingcollection.co.uk/coachingcollection/images/world-in-hand.jpg
- http://phones.webhostingoverview.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/big_green.jpg
- http://www.awc.co.uk/images/new-ideas.png
- http://www.google.com.co/imgres?imgurl=http://www.celdf.org/Portals/0/Images/abandon%2520rights%2520at%2520corporate%2520gate%2520cartoon.bmp&imgrefurl