Essay Sample: Multinational Companies Advantages And Disadvantages

Multinational corporations are far reaching companies with an immense amount of power and influence, that sell their products internationally and/or have franchises all around the world. Many MNCs (for example Walmart and Apple) have impacted our earth in several negative ways. They have done this by worsening climate change, causing economic issues, creating social issues, and impacting our cultures and countries. For example, there was a factory incident in 2013 where 1,129 workers were killed, this is an example of a negative social impact. However their positive impacts are plentiful as well, for example, they help create new products to further grow countries and cultures. Germany and France both contributed to creating and perfecting the cars that we have today, which has hugely improved the economy and the way we can travel.

Although MNCs have much more imminent negative effects than positive ones, it does not mean the positives aren't worth mentioning. Multinational companies/corporations give a boost to counties industrially and technologically, by spreading their products, usually, for the good of the country or culture. For example, the internet began in India in 1986, through MNCs. However at that time it was only available to education and research communities. But on August 15th 1995 it was accessible to the general public. As of 2020 there have been 718.74 million users in India, which is 54.29% of the population. This has positively affected India because it has connected them to the world, and improved their day to day lives immensely. Economic improvement is imminent as well. They expand and grow the economy of countries and nations, this is through creating jobs and improving the employment rate as well. By doing this it improves the gross domestic product, meaning workers will then have money from their employers to shop in other stores and improve the economy. Multinational corporations have improved our world in many different ways, by using countries that are more vulnerable, and in need.

What are the negatives of Multinational Corporations?

One of the biggest negative impacts that MNCs have on our earth is their impact on the environment. They affect our produce and the food that we can consume. Which causes health problems for us and worsens the quality of the food we ingest. MNCs also generate a huge amount of plastic and waste products that end up in our ecosystems. This affects our future, as the earth is slowly dying from this. For example, Coca Cola generates 3 million metric tons of plastic a year. Another example is Nestle, Nestle generates 1.7 million tons. This may only make up a small fraction of the 400 million that is poured out into the world every year, however it is still a significant amount. Another way that the environment is impacted by MNCs is the greenhouse gases that they emit. This worsens our air quality and causes lung problems and diseases. Apple released a huge amount of Carbon Dioxide in 2020, coming at a total of 22.6 million metric tons of it, including manufacturing and usage. A single factory emits 3 million tons per year, which when taken into consideration on how many factories multinational corporations own and operate is immense.

Multinational corporations also contribute to the massive amount of deforestation and social issues on our planet. Everyday MNCs have a part in cutting down 42 million trees. This is a legitimately negative effect as 42% of earth's trees have been cut down in the past 12,000 years. These examples show how negative MNCs can be on our environment and future lifestyle if the pollution continues. They also have a negative social effect. MNCs are huge brands and companies that filter their way into every country and civilization out there. Due to the amount of MNCs present in our countries, small businesses find it difficult to make a large amount of profit. For example, 20% of small businesses collapse in their first year, and 96% fail in 10 years of being opened. This is a large negative effect because it causes prices to rise as MNCs are not necessarily local and therefore it costs much more. These negatives are a huge problem, and are much more significant than the positives as they affect our future much more dramatically.

MNCs have a larger negative impact than positive. This is because the effect that they have on the world provides a long term damage to our earth. They frequently negatively impact our entire planet rather than a single country. This is evident, and an example of this is the ecological impact. 8 million tons of plastic are dumped every year, and 100,000 marine creatures die every year from it. Socially MNCs also have a negative impact. As previously stated MNCs contribute to the loss of 20% of small businesses every year, and a total of 96% of small businesses every 10 years. This further lessens the cultural diversity and locality of markets and the countries they are in. The economical impact is one of the most surprising and intriguing impacts MNCs have. For example, 29 multinational corporations are included in the list of the world’s top 100 largest economies, this is surprising because General Motors outranks New Zealand and they place 47th. MNCs are much more negative than positive in a number of ways. They have used vulnerable countries and nations to their advantage, which in the end causes a bigger negative impact than positive.