Multinational Corporations

Abstract

The growth of direct investment abroad, in particular the rise of the multinational corporation (MNC) has been one of the most significant economic developments of the last two decades. Up to the mid-1960s, the expansion of MNC activity was generally regarded as a favourable trend in the world economy. They were seen as potent agents for economic development through their promotion of a more equitable global distribution of productive capacity, technology, industrial output and income distribution. In the last few years, however, they have come in for a good deal of criticism from many quarters — from organised labour in countries where MNCs are based, by Marxist and neo-Marxist critics, by governments of LDCs. The Marxist critique is the well-known one about ‘Big Business’ and focuses attention on capitalist State patronage and solicitude for its industrial big battalions — the MNCs. The impact of the MNCs on Third World countries is grist for the mill as a specific area of imperialist muscle-power and ideological conflict.