Discuss the Role and Impacts of Tncs in the Global Economy

1579 Words7 Pages
Discuss the role and impacts of TNCs in the global economy An economy is the activities related to the production of goods and services within a given geographic location and this network can exist on a local or national scale. However through country’s economies interacting during the trading of goods and services, an international and global economy is present. A transnational corporation (TNC) is a company that operates and has the power to coordinate and control economic operations in more than one country. They are often found to have their headquarters in their country of origin, most commonly the UK, USA, Germany and Japan, and their manufacturing, research and development plants situated in other parts of the world, such as India and China. For example GlaxoSmithKline, which was founded in 2000, with its headquarters in Brentford in the UK and other sites located in Shanghai and Quebec. TNCs are a fundamental element within the global economy and are responsible for contributing towards its development and globalisation. Globalisation is defined as the process by which businesses or other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale. TNCs have high levels of power and status in the global economy with the power to control and manage economic activity across nations. TNCs choose to base their manufacturing plants in newly industrialised countries (NICs) due to the lower costs of labour, suitable infrastructure and government support schemes such as lower taxes and grants. However there seems to be some adverse social impacts such as poor working conditions and low pay for the employees. The World Bank has criticised TNCs and the government of NICs such as the Philippines, saying that these governments have been “less responsive than other developing economy’s governments to organise labour’s demand to
Open Document