Does free trade encourage pollution as corporations build
factories and plants in countries with moe lenient air and water pollution
controls? Or does it encourage higher standards, as better controls and higher
standards are brought in with the growing corporations?
The CEO and COO in the USA hope to use your writing and
experience to convince other employees of the value of what Acme is doing
abroad. They have asked that you write an article for the company newsletter
about the success of an outside company in multinational partnership. This will
denote to readers that Acme has done its research and seeks to do the same with
care for the host environment. They will write and include a paragraph about
you and your work for Acme at the end of the article.
Goal: Multinational corporations are sometimes at the
leading edge of lean production techniques and new ways of working with the
community. Transfer of these approaches through foreign direct investment by
the multinationals can be a critical pathway for developing countries to
acquire these essential building blocks for sustainable industrialization.
Today’s dominant industrial paradigm – lean production – tends to minimize raw
material needs by reducing waste and unwanted stock, and it is associated with
participation and individual responsibility of workers and host communities
throughout the chain of production.
Select a multinational corporation that has been successful
in forming partneships with workers and the host communities. Conduct reserach
on the company through websites you have learned of through the Cybrary, the
Internet, and you reading to create a 2-3 page company newsletter article in
which you do the following:
1. Discuss the corportion’s business activities in a foreign
host country.
2. Discuss the comparative advantages for the firm to
operate in the host country.
3. What were the environmental issues facing the firm, host
community, and/or workers?
4. How was the issue resolved?
5. How did the resolution affect the short and long run
costs of the firm?
6. What are the lessons to be learned that can be applied to
your position at Acme Motors in Nuevo Laredo?
