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Running Head: DESCRIPTIVE ESSAY 1

DESCRIPTIVE ESSAY 8

Role of critical thinking in investigative and law & order agencies

The article by David L. Levy and Aseem Prakash “Bargains Old and New: Multinational Corporations in Global Governance” describes the approach for understanding the role of multinational corporations (MNCs) in global governance. The author develops a typology of regime types with two dimensions; goal of regime is the market enabling or regulatory and the location of authority which can be national, regional or international with public and private elements. The creation of market enabling regimes at international level is given support by the multinational corporations and prefers to keep social or environmental regulation under national or private authority. These are just but generalizations and MNCs develop preferences based on their relative influence in various arenas, the cost of political participation and competitive considerations. Institutions of global governance represent the outcome of a series of negotiations among the corporations, states and non- state actors. Power and preferences of MNCs vary across issues and sectors, and from one negotiating forum to another, accounts for uneven and fragmented nature of the resulting systems. The approach differs from the traditional FDI bargaining framework in that it recognizes the multi-party nature of negotiations and multiple sources of power. However, the complexity and dynamic nature of the process results in a somewhat indeterminate process.

Rhetorical context:

Subject:

Multinational corporations

Audience :

Countries those are unaware of multinational corporations in global governance.

Purpose:

To persuade them that multinational corporations support the creation of market enabling regimes at international level.

Occasion:

After finding out how Multinational Corporation supported the creation of market globally, there was need to spread the news globally.

International regimes play major role in global governance. Regime theory has been widely criticized for its state centered approach and increasing attention has been paid to domestic political factor and non state actors, especially non governmental organizations. However, having examined regimes from the perspective of multinational corporations, their critical influence in the international political economy cannot be ignored. Drawing on international business and international political economy means seeking the understanding formation and content of regimes of international governance in terms of the interest and strategies of multination’s corporations.

In response to these, the increasing internationalization of production and markets over the last several decades, however uneven and incomplete, has been accompanied by the emergence of various forms of supranational/global governance, both at regional and international levels. From regional trade agreements to international environmental treaties, we are experiencing an emergence of multilateral institutions and sources of authority that has increased the influence of operations of multinational corporations. Frequently arguments have been made concerning the power and preferences of MNCs in relation to institutions of global governance. The power of MNCs to shape outcomes has increased in relation to government and other societal actors.

The regime theory which attempted to explain the emergence and diversity of supranational institutions of governance, could usefully inform our understanding of the role of MNCs in the structuring of international governance. However theme in this literature relate to the conditions under which regime arises, their functions and how they affect collective costumes. They were developed to explain the institutionalized mechanisms of international co-operation with an anarchic world.

Another article by Allen Blackman and Arne Kildegaard “Clean technological change in developing-country industrial clusters: Mexican leather tanning” relate with the first article. This article describes how clusters of small to medium -sized enterprises contribute to severe pollution problems. This is because, conventional regulatory approaches are typically ineffective in such situations, and policy responses have increasingly focused on promoting voluntary clean technological change. Yet the data and analysis needed to guide such efforts are scarce. This article uses original firm-level survey data on a cluster of small and medium-scale leather tanneries in León, Guanajuato—Mexico’s leather goods capital—to identify the factors that drive the adoption of two clean tanning technologies. Using a multivariate probit model to estimate a system of seemingly unrelated regressions, we find—in contrast to conventional wisdom—that neither firm size nor regulatory pressure is positively correlated with adoption. Rather, the key driver of adoption is the firm’s human capital, the same factor that often explains conventional productivity enhancing technological change. We also find that a private-sector trade association is an important source of technical information about clean technologies

This source is talking about pollution problems but with an alternative view globally. Pollution problems usually have the political power to deflect efforts by local authorities to enforce environmental regulations. The enforcements are often weakened by the perception that as a leading employer of the poor, SMEs fulfill an important distributional function. Given these constraints on conventional regulation, a promising strategy for Controlling SME pollution is to promote the adoption of clean technologies that prevent pollution and either reduce production costs or at least do not raise them significantly. The hope is that firms will adopt such technologies voluntarily. This approach has received considerable attention as a means of surmounting all manner of barriers to conventional environmental regulation in developing countries.

In summary form, developing countries, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) typically dominate certain pollution-intensive economic sectors. As a result, they are often leading contributors to environmental degradation. For example, in Ecuador, where 80% of the industrial labor force is employed in firms with ten or fewer workers, SMEs are responsible for over 90% of total water pollution associated with vehicle repair and the manufacture of furniture, iron goods, processed foods, pulp and paper, and textiles (Lanjouw 20). SMEs create particularly severe environmental problems when they are geographically clustered. For example, emissions of particulate matter from a collection of 350 small-scale brick kilns in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico cause over a dozen cases of premature mortality and hundreds of cases of respiratory illness annually (Blackman et al. 2006).Unfortunately, conventional regulatory instruments are generally ineffective in dealing with such problems

Response to this article, it sheds light on a broader concern in the literature about whether and how private-sector institutions can be used to help improve environmental performance in countries where public-sector regulatory institutions are weak (Blackman In Press). Proponents of this approach argue that community associations and nongovernmental organizations can bring political pressure to bear. In addition, trade associations and business contacts can provide technical assistance in pollution control (World Bank 2000). We find evidence for the second mechanism, but not the first. In terms of methodology, this article belongs to the relatively thin empirical literature on the adoption of multiple complementary technologies. Reading of sources has strengthened my understanding, thinking and broadly I can read and analyze different sources. Based on the sources I have read there are many other issues that need to be given full attention globally for instance there is issue of pollution which is a global problem.

Another article by Pablo Munoz, Stefan Giljum, and Jordi Roca aims at estimating the raw material equivalents (RMEs)—the upstream used material flows required along The production chain—of imports and exkports for some Latin American countries: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Mexico. Furthermore, the United States is included in the analysis as a reference for a high-income economy. The RME concept and the empirical evidence are articulated by use of an input−output methodology. Results are set out forthe year 2003 for each of the countries and in time series for the years 1977, 1986, 1996, and 2003 in the case of Chile. The findings show not only the physical dimensions behind direct material traded but also how the previous exporter (importer) position of a country (based on standard material flow analysis indicators) deteriorates, alleviates, or changes. Implications for material consumption indicators, such as direct material consumption (DMC) and raw material consumption (RMC), are also drawn. The results suggest basing the discussion of material flows on a broader set of indicators to obtain a more comprehensive picture of the implications of international trade and its impacts on the environment. The source is talking about trade of raw materials which is takes place around the globe and it is similar to the other sources because they also tackle on issues taking place globally.

In summary form, it is important to highlight, however, that in some cases the production of commodities requires large quantities of materials that normally are not accounted for in statistics, because they relate only to direct material flows entering an economic system, either from nature or from another country through imports. This is mainly the case for some mining commodities, such as platinum or copper, for which considerable amounts of crude metal ores usually must be extracted to produce a small quantity of pure mineral. As Ayres and colleagues (2004, 60) commented, a hundred tonnes of platinum used each year in the United States for industrial and automotive catalysts requires that a hundred million.

In response to this source, the objective of this article is to estimate the direct and indirect (in terms of used extraction) material flows—that is, the RME of the export and import commodities of some Latin American countries (Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Mexico) as an empirical measure of the physical exchange for these economies. Subsequently, taking into account the RME of imports and exports as well as the final domestic demand, we can estimate the material “consumption” for those countries in terms of RME, also called raw material consumption (RMC) in the Eurostat (2001) terminology. The RMC indicator thus differs from the standard indicator of DMC, as it includes trade flows as RMEs instead of only direct trade flows.

Conclusion

The creation of market enabling regimes at international level is given support by the multinational corporations and prefers to keep social or environmental regulation under national or private authority. Institutions of global governance represent the outcome of a series of negotiations among the corporations, states and non- state actors. Regime theory has been widely criticized for its state centered approach and increasing attention has been paid to domestic political factor and non state actors, especially non governmental organizations. The key driver of adoption is the firm’s human capital, the same factor that often explains conventional productivity enhancing technological change. Pollution problems usually have the political power to deflect efforts by local authorities to enforce environmental regulations. Trade associations and business contacts can provide technical assistance in pollution control.

Works Cited

Blackman, Allen and Kildegaard, Arne. 2010. Clean technological change in developing-country industrial clusters: Mexican leather tanning. Environmental Economics and Policy Studies. 12:115-132. Print.

Levy, David and Prakash, Aseem. 2003. Bargains Old and New: Multinational Corporations in Global Governance. Business and Politics. 5. 2: 131- 150. Print.

Munoz, Pablo, Giljum, Stefan and Roca, Jordi. 2009. The Raw Material Equivalents of International Trade. Journal of Industrial Ecology. 13.6: 881- 897.

Viegas, Francisco-Jamie. Science and Technology in Mexico. International Scientific Co-operation Policies. N.d. Print.