Transnational Corporations Essay

Abstractly, Global corporations have a key role to play in issues ranging from human rights to environmental policies. Specifically, corporations can be most effective in helping the poor by investing in local and global communities on a long-term basis rather than by acting as charities or aid agencies. However, to do so, corporations must restore the public 's trust. They must demonstrate that their presence, particularly in poorer countries and the emerging market economies, is a source of human progress. They must demonstrate that globalisation is not a zero-sum game in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. In this regard, those who argue against globalisation are denying 1.5 billion people, who live in absolute poverty, the means of escape. To do nothing is morally unacceptable. The world is watching the corporate sector. This is a moment of great challenge, but also of great opportunity because if corporations can demonstrate that they are agents of progress, they can remove the doubts and renew the trust that is essential for both prosperity and security.

The 21st century has seen several companies cross international borders to look for new markets to conduct their business and increase shareholders’ return. The process was fuelled by opening of borders and advancement in transport mode and technology in the 21st century. The situation has complicated the attempts to fully understand the process of global production. However, the research and different literatures in the recent past have given customers and scholar a good read on forms of labour which go into producing the product or service, and how this work is globally distributed (Coe, Dicken and Hess 2008, p.274). The development has made customers to strongly know what they want and what they consume. Therefore, this essay will analyze the Global Production Network (GPN) of coffee and discuss who benefits most from the structure of this GPN. In the analysis, the essay will focus on three different aspects. First, the paper will analyze various forms of labour that go into creating the product and how is this work globally distributed. The essay will also analyze how the value is captured at each stage of production distributed along the network. Lastly, the essay will focus on the institutional arrangements that explain the structure of this GPN.

Costa Rica now provided raw material for Starbucks which accounted for about 15 percent of the total coffee beans Starbucks needed every year. Costa Rica as one of the raw material suppliers plays an important role in global value chain. Coffee has played a pivotal role in the development of Costa Rica. It has shaped social, cultural and political institutions and is still one of country’s major agricultural exports. (Anywhere, 2016) The global value chain in this coffee industry can be described that Starbucks, the centre in this coffee global value chain, purchasing raw materials (coffee beans) from coffee farms in Costa Rica, reprocessing and reproducing in retail shops, selling the finished products (various kinds of coffee) to customers in the world.

It is not uncommon to become accustomed to the way business is conducted in the United States. It’s a fair assumption that many young, inexperienced business executives are unaware of international cultures in business. Each country has particular customs and practices. It certainly goes without saying that Corporate America has an understanding when it comes to the terms of a standard workweek.

According to Lyon, Bezaury, & Mutersbaugh (2010), Fair-trade is a “process which helps improve the well-being and economic stability of disempowered farmers, by using certified commodity-chains to foster development”. For the KHC company, Fair-trade is essential because they want to provide and endorse exceptional coffee beans that they are proud to use; that means, “using coffee that is good and fair for both our coffee drinkers and for farmers are essential” (Kicking Horse Coffee, n.d.). In fact, over the past 20 years, Kicking Horse won numerous awards in many categories, including Canada’s Fastest- Growing Companies, Canada’s Top Women Entrepreneurs, Canada's Favourite Fair-trade Product and number 15 Best Workplace in Canada (Kicking Horse Coffee, n.d.).

The strategies that are proposed in this clip for changing this situation are for coffee growers to adapt to the fair-trade market. Under the fair-trade market coffee growers will have the chance to a decent market price that will help increase their production.

For many and many years coffee farmers have been underpaid for their work and have been mistreated. They have slaved over these farms for many and many hours and only get paid less than minimum wage. The way these famers get treated is not acceptable and get treated more like slaves than farm workers. They devote their time and effort into these farms and owners only to not get the same respect back. These farm owners have no respect for these workers or put into thought the time they devote to them. Without hesitation these owners put their workers out on the street after a few months so they don’t owe them anything such as a raise. Money it seems to these owners means everything and they will anything to benefit only themselves.

There will be no clear solution that can solve the problem completely, as it will not happen. Such measures take a considerable amount of time to implement and its effects may take a long time to trickle to the poor marginalized farmers in Nicaragua and other Latin American countries. The fair trade market attempt to solve the problem of price, such as many other systems attempt to solve the larger problem, but instead it has led to more implications. With a mantra to support and represent coffee farmers, guaranteeing fair prices. The need to certify coffee by the FLO has raised burdens on these coffee growers which in turn has decreased the market and demand for certified coffee. Farmers are now selling less of their coffee beans to the Fair Trade price (Linton). Many cooperates and the FLO have argued and proposed increasing the selling price for certified coffee beans, but these efforts fall short, since increasing the prices would discourage consumers from buying fair trade coffee, as well as prevent any future business from expanding and contributing to the fair trade. This has not created any discouragement, instead, Fair Trade certified coffee continuous to be imported, with each year surpassing the previous (Haight, 2011). Even then the demand for Fair Trade coffee has decreased and instead, pushed it out of a

Analysts agree that TNCs have altered the international relations principles that were once dominated by nation-state relations (Kline, 2005).Transnational Corporations have in many ways exploited the weaknesses in the territorially guarded national laws. In many developing countries, organizations affiliated to external control have challenged and in some instances threatened government sovereignty. Economically stable countries such as the United States of America, have attempted to extend their influence to other countries of the world through TNC. This situation is what led to governments endorsing the non-interference policy in national political affairs (United Nations, 2003). Interesting to note is the role that non-governmental organizations played in this debate. Nongovernmental organizations have been known to not only exert political pressure on governments with little democratic space, but also collaborate with TNCs in this quest. (Heinrich, 2001). For example, many NGOs sort the active involvement of TNC in removal of the apartheid regime in South Africa. This in return, has created tension between these governments and the NGOs with the NGOs calling for the increased political involvement of the TNCs.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR)1 has become a hot topic in boardrooms across the world. Changes in corporate value systems are being driven by pressures from different actors, including governments, consumers, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and institutional investors (diagram 1). Multinational corporations (MNCs) have operations spread across the globe, relying on both foreign affiliates and arm’s-length suppliers arrayed along global supply chains, many of which encompass developing countries. What then does the growing CSR movement mean for developing country producers? The chapter addresses this

In bargaining power of suppliers, the interest for coffee is high in worldwide level and espresso beans can be produced just in certain geographical zones. Also, the issues connected with African espresso producers being dealt with unjustifiably by multinational organizations are generally determined with the endeavors of different non-government associations, and this is helping the expanding bargaining force of suppliers.

Fair Trade Coffee Fair Trade promotes socially and environmentally sustainable techniques and long-term relationships between producers, traders and consumers The world coffee industry is in crisis. A flood of cheap, lower-quality coffee beans have pushed world market prices down to a 30-year low. Many now earn less for their crop than it cost them to grow. Many coffee farmers around the world receive market payments that are lower than the costs of production, forcing them into a cycle of poverty and debtWithout urgent action, 25 million coffee growers' face ruin.

Large corporations such as Wal-Mart or Home Depot often come under criticism for putting mom-and-pop shops out of business. While this may be a valid criticism, the consumers neglect to realize that they play the biggest part in shutting these businesses down. Consumers across the country are always looking for the best deals or the lowest prices, and in most cases the larger corporations are where products can be found at the lowest price. Many small business owners and the populations of small towns dislike large corporations moving into the area because they believe it negatively effects the local

Following Meskela’s journey, the film demonstrates the power held by multinational corporations (MNCs) in setting the price of coffee. He wants a solution, but what happens with commodity traders, the international coffee exchanges, and the World Trade Organization (WTO), he is faced with challenges in finding that. Meskela worked diligently to eliminate the players who tend to come in between the buyers and the sellers. Instead, he went directly to the buyers to ask for a fair price. The fair-trade movement embraced his cause as they work to bring supposedly fairly-traded commodities to grocery stores in America.

This essay’s thesis is that there is currently a lack legal apparatuses that can be used to hold transnational corporations liable for human rights violations; specifically violation of labour rights. This paper seeks to discuss various legal instruments that are applicable to transnational corporations and human rights violations. It will also provide theoretical framework for understanding the nature of human rights and legal framework of labour laws. This essay will address the following questions: What is the legal status of transnational corporations? How can current legal apparatuses be used to hold transnational corporations accountable for human rights violations? This essay will also consider the case of human right violations by Nike Corporation in order to show that external pressures can produce development and accountability.