The two authors, Srnieck and Bonacich and Wilson, tell us about the emergence of global companies, whether through platforms, like Uber, or large companies logistics companies with global supply chains like Wal-Mart. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Global businesses can be described as companies that operate in multiple countries across continental borders. These global corporations are also known as multinational corporations (MNCs). Although both authors study two different types of companies, they ultimately agree that there are now increasingly smaller, but increasingly larger, global companies. In what follows, we will examine the impact that the rise of global corporations has had on business and society in developing and developed countries. We will examine whether the emergence of such powerful companies is beneficial in that it creates wealth and employment opportunities. around the world as well as possessing economies of scale that allow consumers to benefit from lower average costs and prices or whether these global companies are displacing independent local companies and using their power to stagnate and exploit developing countries. Jamaica and its economy have fallen victim to the emergence of global corporations and the political influence they possess. The case of Jamaica and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) highlights the detrimental impact that multinational corporations can have on developing countries. With Jamaica having a relatively oil-intensive economy due to the bauxite industry, the harsh reality of the oil crisis of the 1970s and declining revenues from the bauxite industry led Jamaica to fall into debt then that the price of imported goods increased and exported goods fell. The Prime Minister seeks help and obtains a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which in turn imposes a structural adjustment program which leads to austerity and the opening of its markets. “This aid did little to address the salient weaknesses of the island's economy, which now faced additional pressures from a more globalized economy and an international free trade model » (Wesley Hughes, June 24, 2007. “Strategic Structural Transformation.” Jamaica Gleaner.) Voting power in the IMF is determined by each country's financial contribution, which subsequently places developed countries such as the United States United in a more powerful position in decision-making and, therefore, the needs of investors and businesses can come before those of developing countries. Jamaica's agricultural sector has suffered greatly from its interactions with the IMF. One of the conditions of the loan was that they had to reduce customs duties on imported products. As a result, the local dairy industry collapsed due to the importation of cheaper milk powder from the United States, which served to undercut domestic Jamaican farmers. This, coupled with the impact of globalization, has left key industries unprofitable, as the Revolution Newspaper points out: "During the 1970s and 1980s, the Jamaican government took out billions of dollars in loans from these institutions . One of the many onerous conditions of this debt was that Jamaica significantly reduced tariffs on imports, including imported agricultural products. This hasled to an influx of imported food products into Jamaica, ranging from potatoes, vegetables and fruits to meat and milk. Produced by food companies in the United States and other countries, often with government subsidies, imports were cheaper than locally produced foods. Jamaican farmers were unable to compete and many were forced to abandon farming altogether.” RevolutionNewspaper. 2013. “United States of Amnesia: “Forgetting” How the IMF Ruined Agriculture in Jamaica.” August 18, 2013. Reducing import duties allows other countries to export food and other products cheaper to Jamaica. Jamaican officials may have thought that trade liberalization would allow them to import low-cost food for low-income consumers, pressure inefficient farmers to leave the sector, and make other farmers more competitive. However, no plans appear to be in place to provide productive work for displaced farmers and, as a small island economy, any attempt to diversify agricultural products takes time and resources away from a government that must spend almost 60 percent of its income to pay reduce the debt contracted thanks to loans from the World Bank and the IMF. Former World Bank Vice President Joseph Stiglitz argues in his book "Globalization and Its Discontents" that free market ideals "confuse clear thinking" about how to solve the problems of the global economy. However, he points out that the opening of Jamaica's dairy industry has had a beneficial aspect. “The opening of the Jamaican dairy market to U.S. imports in 1992 may have harmed local dairy farmers, but it also allowed poor children to obtain milk more cheaply,” he writes. Additionally, to elaborate on this point, a large portion of Jamaica's population does not have access to the refrigeration necessary to keep fresh milk provided by local farmers. Trade liberalization therefore meant that the poor had access to many more goods, which as a result of Western innovation, could improve their standard of living. That said, it still left the country's agricultural market in shambles. Jamaica's difficulties continued when the banana industry was forced into decline after the United States, which does not export bananas itself, complained to the World Trade Organization about labor practices. unfair” and won, despite the fact that Dole Food Company (an American multinational) had a monopoly on a considerable share of the banana trade. “American multinationals that control Latin American banana cultivation hold three-quarters of the EU market,” compared to 7% for the Caribbean. The U.S. government is also under pressure from powerful U.S.-based multinationals that dominate Latin America's banana industry. The Clinton administration took the banana war to the WTO within 24 hours after Chiquita Brands, a powerful multinational banana company previously backed by Republicans, donated $500,000 to the Democratic Party. Patrick Barkham, March 5, 1999. “The Banana Wars Explained.” The Guardian newspaper. Such cases highlight the unfortunate consequences in developing countries of the political influence and power of global corporations that they simply cannot compete with. The effects of the emergence of global corporations on Jamaica were not limited to agriculture; they also affected the country interms of population and culture, according to Jack Harper. “...the imposition of multinational corporations and nations further complicates and destabilizes Jamaican life,” Harper wrote. “Emigration was a safety valve for the island. Today, more Jamaicans live outside the country than inside, sending $1.3 billion in remittances home to their families each year. abroad to support them in order to be able to meet their basic needs. We can also infer that due to the lack of industries and jobs, this forced massive economic migration, where people went abroad in order to improve their standard of living, look for work and , as mentioned above, to earn money to send back to their families. On a more local scale, we can explore the impact of the emergence of global corporations in the Western world, with more and more independent businesses closing down as large global corporations take control of commerce. Srnicek spoke about the rise of platforms as large monopolistic businesses; Platform companies, like Amazon, AirBnb and Uber, have become these large monopolistic companies due to insurmountable network effects, where "the utility a user receives from a particular service increases directly with an increasing number of people" .of other users” (Rohlfs 1974; Katz and Shapiro 1985), which arose from the ease and convenience they provide when connecting different users, for example a supplier and a consumer, via technology. The rise of platform monopolies and the dominance they hold has a multitude of consequences for businesses. On the one hand, they are very beneficial to the consumer because they significantly reduce transaction costs, the cost associated with the exchange of goods or services, when connecting them to the good or service they need. For example, Uber (“A location-based app that makes it easy to hire a private driver on demand”) is review-based and can automatically detect your location, send you a driver, and withdraw payment from your account online, while using a traditional taxi service involves many transaction costs, such as the informational cost of searching for a taxi service and discovering a price, as well as the search cost of finding out whether or not it provides good quality service. All of these costs highlight the ease and convenience for the consumer of using such platforms and how beneficial they are, in fact, to society. However, when we consider the consequences for businesses, it is not as positive. In this ever-changing world, it is fair to recognize that we are in the “age of platforms”, the benefits they offer to the consumer are difficult for local businesses to compete with and, inevitably, these businesses suffer and are constrained to leave the market. . “Since ride-sharing services began operating in Southern California three years ago, the number of prearranged taxi rides in Los Angeles has decreased by 42 percent, according to city records, and the total number of trips fell by almost 30%.” LAURA J. NELSON. April 14, 2016. Uber and Lyft have devastated Los Angeles' taxi industry, city records show. Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles city records show that Uber and similar conceptual platform "Lyft" have devastated the taxi industry, whose prices are regulated by local government, as they struggle to compete with "cheaper" platforms. and more agile. A similar move.