Multinational Companies Essay Research Paper Multinational Companies

Multinational Companies Essay, Research Paper

Multinational Companies: Out for Profit Without Regard for Life

What a company usually wants for its business is for it to be an successful establishment and to make an abundance of profit. Some businesses do not pose any concern on what they have to do to make this profit as long as it done. Multinational companies are firms with their home base in one country and operations in many other nations. (Molyeux, 133). Most of these very immense firms establish in third word countries were they can manufacture the same identical product for very low costs compared to establishing the same firm in the western Countries producing that product. Most of these multinational companies are heartless and treat workers as slaves giving them diminutive wages for their work. The lifeboat ethics concept is the best way to describe these heartless firms. The concept of Lifeboat Ethics is fairly lucid. It is based upon choosing who lives, and who departs. Environmentalists argue that no single being or institution has the right to extinguish, waste, or use more than a fair share of its resources (Psychology Today, 54). Obviously, this is not happening. The philosophy of Lifeboat Ethics sees each wealthy nation as a lifeboat full of rich people. In the ocean outside the lifeboat are the less fortunate citizens of the world swimming around the lifeboat wanting to get in, or at least wanting to share some of the wealth with the well off. What should the rich do. In the heart of all of this are the multinational companies that practically control every developing country in the world. These companies have a very significant impact on who lives and who dies, and at the same time, they have a grim grip on the needy nations of the world all in the name of profit. These multinationals exploit the people of these countries as well as their land by the practice of slave labour in both China and the Dominican Republic, as well as many other Third World countries. Other multinational companies prey on innocent mothers promoting infant formula which ends up in advertently killing millions of infants each year.

In the third world, around ninety percent of the people lack sufficient resources, education, and ultimately money. In the West, on the other hand, we have an abundance of resources at our disposal, good educational systems, and a significantly higher average income than the Third World. The higher income allows us to have these resources at our disposal, as well as the good education systems. Along with this capital comes power held in the hands of the multinational companies which has an adverse effect on many Third World communities.

The Dominican Republic is one of the poorest nations of the word, with an average annual income of just over one thousand dollars per year (Hilsum, 1). Most of these people can barely afford the necessities of life such as food, clean water, and shelter. These somewhat degrading conditions are a perfect dwelling for a multinational company such as Gulf and western to “set up shop”. Almost fifty percent of the Dominicans export is sugar; on third of that sugar is from Gulf and Western. The locals have a name for this company, El Pulpo, meaning octopus (Hilsum, 1). When a company’s own employees to be calling it an ‘octopus’, meaning that the companies control everything such as resources and most of the land of the country, something has to be blatantly wrong. The main reason for this is that since G&W has come into the Dominican Republic, they have bought out much of the land for sugar cultivation and cattle ranching. Now, almost seventy-five percent of peasants are without land (Hilsum, 1). This presents an overwhelming problem for the peasants; how will they eat. Before G&W came into the Dominican Republic, most of the people relied on subsidence farming for their food. Since G&W settled in the country, they have been consuming valuable land that could be used for food cultivation. Because of this, many Dominicans perished. This argument has been brought to G&W, but they allege that they are helping the people by giving them jobs in the sugar cane fields.

This notion of giving the peasants jobs in the fields is merely an excuse that many multinational companies use for their actions. How can a company claim to be helping people when they only pay them about two dollars a day. (Newsday, 1) The labourers in the sugar cane fields are treated like slaves, many times unable to keep possessions, and often they are cheated out of remuneration. This is all coming from the “respected” companies that most of us in the west support diligently. These same companies are exploiting the land and the people of the country, all in the name of profit. Since all of these companies are out to maximize profit, they will do anything it takes to come out on top; weather it is employing slave labour, or not providing its employees with the basic necessities of life. If this is what it takes to maximize profit, then the company will not hesitate. Because of the firm grip these companies have on people, most of the peoples’ lives do not improve. One must ask oneself, does the Third world need multinationals. The answer is clearly no. When it comes to multinationals, everything is done with “dollar signs” in mind. The most money is made in the agricultural business, mainly involving cash crops. These c