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list of the world's most wealthy corporations (Gray,
1998). It is in the context of such power - even
compared to the nation states that are tasked to
regulate them - that MNCs have been subject
to sustained critique. Some argue that the size
and power of MNCs now means that they are able
to create virtual price monopolies for the goods
and services they provide, and thus ultimately
reduce competition and choice for consumers.
In his analysis of Walmart, for example, Joseph
Stiglitz, recognizes how large food retailers can
drive out local food supplies by undercutting their
prices (2002: 68). In the long run, however, once
competition is removed in the local area it is all
too easy for supermarket giants to increases their
prices (Stiglitz, 2002). Others claim that corpora-
tions have become so powerful that they can
influence the decisions that are made by elected
governments and international organizations, such
as the International Monetary Fund and World
Bank, in order to further their own economic
interests (Monbiot, 2000). In specifically environ-
mental terms, critics have also argued that the
geographical freedoms of MNCs have made it
easy for them to exploit locations where environ-
mental standards are lower (particularly in less
economically developed countries) and expensive
anti-pollution measures and waste treatment can
be avoided (Harvey, 1996: 366-369).
5.3.3 Globalizing the chainsaw
It is now time to return to our discussions of
forestry and the ways in which the processes of
globalization and the practices of MNCs shape
human-forest relations. At one level globalization
has now made it much easier for large timber and
paper MNCs to exploit the rich timber resources
within the tropics. While some 80 per cent of
global forests are publically owned, many less
economically developed countries are keen to
grant logging permits to MNCs as a basis for
securing (often short-term) investment and em-
ployment opportunities within their countries
(Dauvergne and Lister, 2011: 9). Dauvergne and
Lister (2011) argue that MNCs often have very little
incentive to sustainably harvest forest in less
economically developed countries, and will often
exploit woodland resources as quickly as they
can before moving on to other areas (Dauvergne
and Lister, 2011:11). Such practices can have a
devastating impact on the ecological integrity of
forests and the communities that depend upon
them. But the model of the foot-loose multi-
national logging corporation as the vertically
integrated framework within which deforesta-
tion is coordinated is being challenged by other
modes of economic organization. Dauvergne and
Lister (2011) chart the rise of more loosely con-
nected timber commodity chains, which comprise
of local small-scale logging organizations and
large-scale wood processing outlets. Large cor-
porate retailers (such as IKEA and B&Q) often
head-up these economic alliances and are able to
use competition between small-scale timber pro-
ducers in order to drive market prices down and
increase their own competitive advantage.
The impact of globalization on forest resources
stretches beyond the actions of the international
timber industry. In many parts of the world, the
clearance of tropical woodlands has been driven by
agricultural interests who are keen to exploit
the agricultural lands that are found beneath the
canopies of rainforests (see Chapman, 2007). As
with multinational timber operations, these
The Corporation
This documentary by Mark Achbar,
Jennifer Abbot and Joel Bakan provides
an excellent introduction to the history,
legal form and economic rationale of the
corporation. It famously concludes with a
psychological profile of the corporate
form and suggests that it displays many
of the features of a psychopath.
