Global big business is the most powerful force for improving labor standards in developing countries. Discuss.
In their insatiable hunt for increased profits, large corporations have developed an increasingly global presence. This presence exists to facilitate both the import and export of goods and reflects the fact that for many companies, potential customers are no longer restricted to the domestic market. Advancements in communications and logistics have rendered geographical distance between markets a relatively straightforward problem to overcome. This is demonstrated all over the world by the automobile industry. It is these advancements that have enabled big businesses, particularly those who manufacture tangible goods such as apparel and electronics, to shift certain operations to countries where labour costs less.
Although there is evidence to suggest that average productivity of workers in the global manufacturing industry increases with the cost of labour, (Rodrik, 1997) it is a reality that low-skilled workers in a developing country can produce identical products to low skilled workers in high-income countries at a fraction of the cost, even after transportation costs have been accounted for. However, intense international debate surrounds the use of ‘cheap’ labour forces in developing countries, as currently no extensive fixed international labour laws exist to ensure workers benefit from similar protection of rights that workers in developed countries do. Critics claim that this leaves workers in developing countries vulnerable to exploitation by the ‘manic logic of capitalism’ (Hu-Dehart, 2002), a logic that suggests that profits exceed human rights in importance. Potentially this situation exists because, as George Ross considers, ‘capit ...