Misplaced Pages

#990009

125-998: Gold Peak Technology Group Limited , formerly Gold Peak Industries (Holdings) Limited , is a Hong Kong–based multinational corporation which is established in 1964 and has been listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange since 1984. The Group has built a few brand names for its major product categories, such as GP batteries , GP Recyko batteries, KEF acoustic products and Celestion speakers. The company changed its name to Gold Peak Technology Group Limited in March 2022 to reflect its business strategy and direction in advanced technologies and manufacturing of batteries and electronics, and its investment strategies in R&;D, innovation, design and brands. Gold Peak Technology Group Limited currently holds approximately 86% interest in GP Industries , which

250-557: A New International Economic Order (NIEO). The NIEO was opposed to the 1944 Bretton Woods system , which had benefited the leading states which had created it, and remained in force until 1971 after the United States' suspension of convertibility from dollars to gold. The main principles of the NIEO are: The UNCTAD however was not very effective in implementing the NIEO, and social and economic inequalities between industrialized countries and

375-628: A Democrat in office from 1913 to 1921, ignored the Philippines, and focused his attention on Mexico and Caribbean nations. By the 1920s, the peaceful efforts by the Filipino leadership to pursue independence proved convincing. When the Democrats returned to power in 1933, they worked with the Filipinos to plan a smooth transition to independence. It was scheduled for 1946 by Tydings–McDuffie Act of 1934. In 1935,

500-554: A French-protected monarchy. Spain took the step to occupy the Dominican Republic and restore colonial rule . The Union victory in the Civil War in 1865 forced both France and Spain to accede to American demands to evacuate those two countries. America's only African colony, Liberia , was formed privately and achieved independence early; Washington unofficially protected it. By 1900, the U.S. advocated an Open Door Policy and opposed

625-766: A basis in a national ethos , being ultimate without a specific nationhood, and that this lack of an ethos appears in their ways of operating as they enter into contracts with countries that have low human rights or environmental standards . In the world economy facilitated by multinational corporations, capital will increasingly be able to play workers, communities, and nations off against one another as they demand tax, regulation and wage concessions while threatening to move. In other words, increased mobility of multinational corporations benefits capital while workers and communities lose. Some negative outcomes generated by multinational corporations include increased inequality , unemployment , and wage stagnation . Raymond Vernon presents

750-570: A beacon of hope to pro-independence activists. However, with the anti-colonial wars of the 1900s (decade) barely over, new modernizing forms of Africa nationalism began to gain strength in the early 20th century with the emergence of Pan-Africanism, as advocated by the Jamaican journalist Marcus Garvey (1887–1940) whose widely distributed newspapers demanded swift abolition of European imperialism, as well as republicanism in Egypt. Kwame Nkrumah (1909–1972) who

875-643: A clear roadmap for sustainable operation. A number of its manufacturing plants received UL Zero Waste of Landfill Validation and six plants in Malaysia, Vietnam and China have achieved Gold Level validation. In fact, the facility in Tebrau, Malaysia is the first plant in the country to earn Gold Level validation. GP Energy Tech is a member of Gold Peak Technology Group and focuses on rechargeable battery design and manufacturing. Workers at GP factories have been routinely exposed to Cadmium dust, an extremely toxic metal used in

1000-498: A corporation invests in a country in which it is not domiciled, it is called foreign direct investment (FDI). Countries may place restrictions on direct investment; for example, China has historically required partnerships with local firms or special approval for certain types of investments by foreigners, although some of these restrictions were eased in 2019. Similarly, the United States Committee on Foreign Investment in

1125-724: A diffusion process wherein earlier revolutionary movements inspired later ones. Other explanations emphasize how the lower profitability of colonization and the costs associated with empire prompted decolonization. Some explanations emphasize how colonial powers struggled militarily against insurgents in the colonies due to a shift from 19th century conditions of "strong political will, a permissive international environment, access to local collaborators, and flexibility to pick their battles" to 20th century conditions of "apathetic publics, hostile superpowers, vanishing collaborators, and constrained options". In other words, colonial powers had more support from their own region in pursuing colonies in

1250-429: A free market system where there is little government interference. As a result, international wealth is maximized with free exchange of goods and services. To many economic liberals, multinational corporations are the vanguard of the liberal order. They are the embodiment par excellence of the liberal ideal of an interdependent world economy. They have taken the integration of national economies beyond trade and money to

1375-549: A left-wing revolution inside Portugal overthrew the existing regime and encouraged pro-Soviet elements to attempt to seize control in the colonies. The result was a very long and extremely difficult multi-party Civil War in Angola , and lesser insurrections in Mozambique. Belgium's empire began with the annexation of the Congo in 1908 in response to international pressure to bring an end to

SECTION 10

#1733094270991

1500-487: A million troops to help, and by February 1991, Iraqi forces were expelled from Kuwait. Due to the oil boycott from Kuwait and Iran, oil prices rose and quickly recovered. Saudi Arabia once again led OPEC, and thanks to assistance in defending Kuwait, new relations emerged between the USA and OPEC. Operation "Desert Storm" brought mutual dependence among the main oil producers. OPEC continued to influence global oil prices but recognized

1625-734: A nation in the Western Hemisphere became vulnerable to European control. In practice, this meant that the United States was led to act as a collections agent for European creditors by administering customs duties in the Dominican Republic (1905–1941), Haiti (1915–1934), and elsewhere. The intrusiveness and bad relations this engendered were somewhat checked by the Clark Memorandum and renounced by President Franklin D. Roosevelt 's " Good Neighbor Policy ". The Fourteen Points were preconditions addressed by President Woodrow Wilson to

1750-447: A new army, under general Douglas MacArthur , who took leave from his U.S. Army position to take command of the new army reporting to Quezon. The Japanese occupation 1942 to 1945 disrupted but did not delay the transition. It took place on schedule in 1946 as Manuel Roxas took office as president. As a result of its pioneering discoveries , Portugal had a large and particularly long-lasting colonial empire which had begun in 1415 with

1875-569: A result, the UN General Assembly removed Puerto Rico from the U.N. list of non-self-governing territories . Four referendums showed little support for independence, but much interest in statehood such as Hawaii and Alaska received in 1959. The Monroe Doctrine was expanded by the Roosevelt Corollary in 1904, providing that the United States had a right and obligation to intervene "in flagrant cases of such wrongdoing or impotence" that

2000-442: A violation of human rights. In states that have won independence, Indigenous people living under settler colonialism continue to make demands for decolonization and self-determination. Although discussions of hegemony and power, central to the concept of decolonization, can be found as early as the writings of Thucydides , there have been several particularly active periods of decolonization in modern times. These include

2125-410: Is often handled through international arbitration . The actions of multinational corporations are strongly supported by economic liberalism and free market system in a globalized international society. According to the economic realist view, individuals act in rational ways to maximize their self-interest and therefore, when individuals act rationally, markets are created and they function best in

2250-787: Is publicly listed in Singapore. Gold Peak employs a work force of about 6,650 worldwide. The Group occupies a total floor area of approximately 633,000 square metres, covering its five manufacturing and sales offices in the UK, Thailand, Malaysia, China, and Vietnam, as well as marketing and sales offices in over 10 countries in Asia, Europe, and Americas. GP Industries is mainly engaged in the development, manufacture and marketing of electronics and acoustics products, including KEF premium acoustic products and Celestion professional speakers. The wholly-owned subsidiary, GP Batteries International Limited , specializes in

2375-865: Is usually a large corporation incorporated in one country that produces or sells goods or services in various countries. Two common characteristics shared by MNCs are their large size and centrally controlled worldwide activities. MNCs may gain from their global presence in a variety of ways. First of all, MNCs can benefit from the economy of scale by spreading R&D expenditures and advertising costs over their global sales, pooling global purchasing power over suppliers, and utilizing their technological and managerial experience globally with minimal additional costs. Furthermore, MNCs can use their global presence to take advantage of underpriced labor services available in certain developing countries and gain access to special R&D capabilities residing in advanced foreign countries. The problem of moral and legal constraints upon

2500-825: The 1965 occupation of the Dominican Republic ), Africa, and the Middle East to oppose Communist movements and insurgencies. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the United States has been far less active in the Americas, but invaded Afghanistan and Iraq following the September 11 attacks in 2001, establishing army and air bases in Central Asia . Before World War I, Japan had gained several substantial colonial possessions in East Asia such as Taiwan (1895) and Korea (1910). Japan joined

2625-564: The American Revolutionary War in 1783, 165 colonies have gained independence from Western imperial powers. Several analyses point to different reasons for the spread of anti-colonial political movements. Institutional arguments suggest that increasing levels of education in the colonies led to calls for popular sovereignty; Marxist analyses view decolonization as a result of economic shifts toward wage labor and an enlarged bourgeois class ; yet another argument sees decolonization as

SECTION 20

#1733094270991

2750-815: The Bandung Conference along with Sukarno , the leader of Indonesia, and Zhou Enlai , Premier of the People's Republic of China. In 1960, the UN General Assembly voted on the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples . The next year, the first Non-Aligned Movement conference was held in Belgrade (1961), and was followed in 1964 by the creation of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) which tried to promote

2875-557: The British Raj , culminating in the Government of India Act 1935 . These reforms included creating elected legislative councils in some of the provinces of British India . Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , India's independence movement leader, led a peaceful resistance to British rule. By becoming a symbol of both peace and opposition to British imperialism, many Indians began to view the British as

3000-615: The Dutch East Indies , corresponding to what is now Indonesia. Its massive oil reserves provided about 14 percent of the Dutch national product and supported a large population of ethnic Dutch government officials and businessmen in Batavia (now Jakarta) and other major cities. The Netherlands was overrun and almost starved to death by the Nazis during the war, and Japan sank the Dutch fleet in seizing

3125-730: The Great Mosque of Paris was constructed as recognition of these efforts, the French state had no intention to allow self-rule , let alone grant independence to the colonized people. Thus, nationalism in the colonies became stronger in between the two wars, leading to Abd el-Krim 's Rif War (1921–1925) in Morocco and to the creation of Messali Hadj 's Star of North Africa in Algeria in 1925. However, these movements would gain full potential only after World War II. After World War I, France administered

3250-692: The Irish Free State , New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa; Ireland had been brought into a union with Great Britain in 1801 creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until the formation of the Irish Free State in 1922. However, some of the Dominions were already independent de facto, and even de jure and recognized as such by the international community. Thus, Canada was a founding member of

3375-665: The Kingdom of Sikkim merged with India by popular vote in 1975. Significant violence was involved in several prominent cases of decolonization of the British Empire; partition was a frequent solution. In 1783, the North American colonies were divided between the independent United States, and British North America , which later became Canada. The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India against British East India Company . It

3500-680: The Northern Mariana Islands elected to become a commonwealth of the United States. Newly independent states organised themselves in order to oppose continued economic colonialism by former imperial powers. The Non-Aligned Movement constituted itself around the main figures of Jawaharlal Nehru , the first Prime Minister of India, Sukarno , the Indonesian president, Josip Broz Tito the Communist leader of Yugoslavia , and Gamal Abdel Nasser , head of Egypt. In 1955 these leaders gathered at

3625-662: The Spanish Empire and Mexico. The Native Americans were sent to reservations , often unwillingly. With support from Britain, its Monroe Doctrine reserved the Americas as its sphere of interest, prohibiting other states (particularly Spain) from recolonizing the newly independent polities of Latin America . However, France, taking advantage of the American government's distraction during the Civil War, intervened militarily in Mexico and set up

3750-620: The Swedish Africa Company founded in 1649 and the Hudson's Bay Company founded in 1670. These early corporations engaged in international trade and exploration and set up trading posts. The Dutch government took over the VOC in 1799, and during the 19th century, other governments increasingly took over private companies, most notably in British India. During the process of decolonization ,

3875-735: The Territory of the Philippine Islands was eventually granted independence. In 1917, the U.S. purchased the Danish West Indies (later renamed the US Virgin Islands ) from Denmark and Puerto Ricans became full U.S. citizens that same year. The US government declared Puerto Rico the territory was no longer a colony and stopped transmitting information about it to the United Nations Decolonization Committee. As

Gold Peak - Misplaced Pages Continue

4000-506: The UN Partition Plan and the ensuing war . The British eventually pulled out, and the former Mandate territory was divided between Israel , Jordan and Egypt . After World War I, the colonized people were frustrated at France's failure to recognize the effort provided by the French colonies (resources, but more importantly colonial troops – the famous tirailleurs ). Although in Paris

4125-637: The Union of South Africa , and Western Samoa by New Zealand . Egypt became independent in 1922, although the UK retained security prerogatives, control of the Suez Canal , and effective control of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan . The Balfour Declaration of 1926 declared the British Empire dominions as equals, and the 1931 Statute of Westminster established full legislative independence for them. The equal dominions were six– Canada , Newfoundland , Australia,

4250-681: The colonies and the collapse of global colonial empires . As a movement to establish independence for colonized territories from their respective metropoles , decolonization began in 1775 in North America . Major waves of decolonization occurred in the aftermath of the First World War and most prominently after the Second World War. Critical scholars extend the meaning beyond independence or equal rights for colonized peoples to include broader economic, cultural and psychological aspects of

4375-439: The conquest of Ceuta and ended only in 1999 with the handover of Portuguese Macau to China. In 1822, Portugal lost control of Brazil , its largest colony. From 1933 to 1974, Portugal was an authoritarian state (ruled by António de Oliveira Salazar ). The regime was fiercely determined to maintain the country's colonial possessions at all costs and to aggressively suppress any insurgencies. In 1961, India annexed Goa and by

4500-666: The decolonization of Africa , the breakup of the Spanish Empire in the 19th century; of the German , Austro-Hungarian , Ottoman , and Russian Empires following World War I ; of the British , French , Dutch , Portuguese , Belgian , Italian , and Japanese Empires following World War II ; and of the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War . Early studies of decolonisation appeared in

4625-697: The history of colonialism . The first multi-national corporations were founded to set up colonial "factories" or port cities. The two main examples were the British East India Company founded in 1600 and the Dutch East India Company (VOC) founded in 1602. In addition to carrying on trade between Great Britain and its colonies, the British East India Company became a quasi-government in its own right, with local government officials and its own army in India. Other examples include

4750-468: The terrible atrocities that had taken place under King Leopold 's privately run Congo Free State . It added Rwanda and Burundi as League of Nations mandates from the former German Empire in 1919. The colonies remained independent during the war, while Belgium was occupied by the Germans. There was no serious planning for independence, and exceedingly little training or education provided. The Belgian Congo

4875-407: The 1954 Geneva Accords ended France's occupation of Indochina, leaving South Vietnam independent and North Vietnam independence recognized. In 1956, Morocco and Tunisia gained their independence from France. In 1960, eight independent countries emerged from French West Africa , and five from French Equatorial Africa . The Algerian War of Independence raged from 1954 to 1962. To this day,

5000-501: The 1960s and 1970s. An important book from this period was The Wretched of the Earth (1961) by Martiniquan author Frantz Fanon , which established many aspects of decolonisation that would be considered in later works. Subsequent studies of decolonisation addressed economic disparities as a legacy of colonialism as well as the annihilation of people's cultures. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o explored the cultural and linguistic legacies of colonialism in

5125-462: The 1960s, due to economic needs for post-war reconstruction and rapid economic growth, French employers actively sought to recruit manpower from the colonies, explaining today's multiethnic population . A union of former colonies itself, the United States approached imperialism differently from the other Powers. Much of its energy and rapidly expanding population was directed westward across the North American continent against English and French claims,

Gold Peak - Misplaced Pages Continue

5250-525: The 19th century than they did in the 20th century, where holding on to such colonies was often understood to be a burden. A great deal of scholarship attributes the ideological origins of national independence movements to the Age of Enlightenment . Enlightenment social and political theories such as individualism and liberalism were central to the debates about national constitutions for newly independent countries. Contemporary decolonial scholarship has critiqued

5375-562: The Algerian war – officially called a "public order operation" until the 1990s – remains a trauma for both France and Algeria. Philosopher Paul Ricœur has spoken of the necessity of a "decolonisation of memory", starting with the recognition of the 1961 Paris massacre during the Algerian war, and the decisive role of African and especially North African immigrant manpower in the Trente Glorieuses post–World War II economic growth period. In

5500-457: The British made deals with the local politicians. Across the empire, the general protocol was to convene a constitutional conference in London to discuss the transition to greater self-government and then independence, submit a report of the constitutional conference to parliament, if approved submit a bill to Parliament at Westminster to terminate the responsibility of the United Kingdom (with a copy of

5625-423: The Chinese province of Rehe , and incorporated it into its Manchurian possessions. The Second Sino-Japanese War started in 1937, and Japan occupied much of eastern China, including the Republic's capital at Nanjing . An estimated 20 million Chinese died during the 1931–1945 war with Japan. In December 1941, the empire of Japan joined World War II by invading the European and U.S. colonies in Southeast Asia and

5750-428: The Dutch cause. In the aftermath, the Netherlands prospered greatly in the 1950s and 1960s but nevertheless public opinion was bitterly hostile to the United States for betrayal. The Dutch government eventually gave up on claims to Indonesian sovereignty in 1949, after American pressure. The Netherlands also had one other major colony, Dutch Guiana in South America , which became independent as Suriname in 1975. When

5875-410: The East Indies. In 1945 the Netherlands could not regain these islands on its own; it did so by depending on British military help and American financial grants . By the time Dutch soldiers returned, an independent government under Sukarno was in power, originally set up by the Empire of Japan . The Dutch both abroad and at home generally agreed that Dutch power depended on an expensive war to regain

6000-496: The English language. Senior officials, although mostly still Swedish, all learned English and all major internal documents were in English, the lingua franca of multinational corporations. After the war, the number of businesses having at least one foreign country operation rose drastically from a few thousand to 78,411 in 2007. Meanwhile, 74% of parent companies are located in economically advanced countries. Developing and former communist countries such as China, India, and Brazil are

6125-428: The European colonial charter companies were disbanded, with the final colonial corporation, the Mozambique Company , dissolving in 1972. Mining of gold, silver, copper, and oil was a major activity early on and remains so today. International mining companies became prominent in Britain in the 19th century, such as the Rio Tinto company founded in 1873, which started with the purchase of sulfur and copper mines from

6250-455: The European powers at the Paris Peace Conference following World War I . In allowing allies France and Britain the former colonial possessions of the German and Ottoman Empires, the US demanded of them submission to the League of Nations mandate , in calling for V. A free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, based upon a strict observance of the principle that in determining all such questions of sovereignty

6375-431: The International Energy Agency (IEA), enabling states to coordinate policy, gather data, and monitor global oil reserves. In the 1970s, OPEC gradually nationalized the Seven Sisters. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as the only largest world oil producer, could leverage this. However, Saudi Arabia opted for the correct approach and maintained consistent oil prices throughout the 1970s. In 1979, the "second oil shock" came from

SECTION 50

#1733094270991

6500-418: The League of Nations in 1919 and served on the council from 1927 to 1930. That country also negotiated on its own and signed bilateral and multilateral treaties and conventions from the early 1900s onward. Newfoundland ceded self-rule back to London in 1934. Iraq , a League of Nations mandate, became independent in 1932. In response to a growing Indian independence movement , the UK made successive reforms to

6625-451: The Netherlands has become a popular choice, as its company laws have fewer requirements for meetings, compensation, and audit committees, and Great Britain had advantages due to laws on withholding dividends and a double-taxation treaty with the United States. Corporations can legally engage in tax avoidance through their choice of jurisdiction but must be careful to avoid illegal tax evasion . Corporations that are broadly active across

6750-434: The OLI framework. The other theoretical dimension of the role of multinational corporations concerns the relationship between the globalization of economic engagement and the culture of national and local responses. This has a history of self-conscious cultural management going back at least to the 60s. For example: Ernest Dichter, architect, of Exxon's international campaign, writing in the Harvard Business Review in 1963,

6875-460: The Ottoman Empire, was culturally divided between the majority Greek element (which demanded " enosis " or union with Greece) and the minority Turks. London for decades assumed it needed the island to defend the Suez Canal; but after the Suez crisis of 1956, that became a minor factor, and Greek violence became a more serious issue. Cyprus became an independent country in 1960, but ethnic violence escalated until 1974 when Turkey invaded and partitioned

7000-400: The Pacific, including French Indochina , Hong Kong , the Philippines, Burma, Malaya , Indonesia , Portuguese Timor , and others. Following its surrender to the Allies in 1945, Japan was deprived of all its colonies with a number of them being returned to the original colonizing Western powers. The Soviet Union declared war on Japan in August 1945 , and shortly after occupied and annexed

7125-411: The Philippines transitioned out of territorial status, controlled by an appointed governor, to the semi-independent status of the Commonwealth of the Philippines . Its constitutional convention wrote a new constitution, which was approved by Washington and went into effect, with an elected governor Manuel L. Quezon and legislature. Foreign Affairs remained under American control. The Philippines built up

7250-418: The Spanish government. Rio Tinto, now based in London and Melbourne , Australia, has made many acquisitions and expanded globally to mine aluminum , iron ore , copper , uranium , and diamonds . European mines in South Africa began opening in the late 19th century, producing gold and other minerals for the world market, jobs for locals, and business and profits for companies. Cecil Rhodes (1853–1902)

7375-404: The Third World colonies. That changed dramatically after 1945 as investors turned to industrialized countries and invested in manufacturing (especially high-tech electronics, chemicals, drugs, and vehicles) as well as trade. Sweden's leading manufacturing concern was SKF , a leading maker of bearings for machinery. In order to expand its international business, it decided in 1966 it needed to use

7500-543: The Third World grew throughout the 1960s until the 21st century. The 1973 oil crisis which followed the Yom Kippur War (October 1973) was triggered by the OPEC which decided an embargo against the US and Western countries, causing a fourfold increase in the price of oil, which lasted five months, starting on 17 October 1973, and ending on 18 March 1974. OPEC nations then agreed, on 7 January 1975, to raise crude oil prices by 10%. At that time, OPEC nations – including many who had recently nationalized their oil industries – joined

7625-636: The U.S. applies its corporate taxation "extraterritorially", which has motivated tax inversions to change the home state. By 2019, most OECD nations, with the notable exception of the U.S., had moved to territorial tax in which only revenue inside the border was taxed; however, these nations typically scrutinize foreign income with controlled foreign corporation (CFC) rules to avoid base erosion and profit shifting . In practice, even under an extraterritorial system, taxes may be deferred until remittance, with possible repatriation tax holidays , and subject to foreign tax credits . Countries generally cannot tax

SECTION 60

#1733094270991

7750-466: The UK. In 1947, British India was partitioned into the independent dominions of India and Pakistan . Hundreds of princely states , states ruled by monarchs in a treaty of subsidiary alliance with Britain, were integrated into India and Pakistan. India and Pakistan fought several wars over the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir . French India was integrated into India between 1950 and 1954, and India annexed Portuguese India in 1961, and

7875-475: The United Nations was formed in 1945, it established trust territories. These territories included the League of Nations mandate territories which had not achieved independence by 1945, along with the former Italian Somaliland . The Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands was transferred from Japanese to US administration. By 1990 all but one of the trust territories had achieved independence, either as independent states or by merger with another independent state;

8000-450: The United States sanctions against Iran ; European companies faced with the possibility of losing access to the U.S. market by trading with Iran. International investment agreements also facilitate direct investment between two countries, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and most favored nation status. Raymond Vernon reported in 1977 that of the largest multinationals focused on manufacturing, 250 were headquartered in

8125-506: The United States scrutinizes foreign investments. In addition, corporations may be prohibited from various business transactions by international sanctions or domestic laws. For example, Chinese domestic corporations or citizens have limitations on their ability to make foreign investments outside China, in part to reduce capital outflow . Countries can impose extraterritorial sanctions on foreign corporations even for doing business with other foreign corporations, which occurred in 2019 with

8250-558: The United States as the largest consumer and guarantor of the existing oil security order. Since the Iraq War, OPEC has had only a minor influence on oil prices, but it has expanded to 11 members, accounting for about 40 percent of total global oil production, although this is a decline from nearly 50 percent in 1974. Oil has practically become a common commodity, leading to much more volatile prices. Most OPEC members are wealthy, and most remain dependent on oil revenues, which has serious consequences, such as when OPEC members were pressured by

8375-461: The United States from 2010. The USA became the leading oil producer, creating tension with OPEC. In 2014, Saudi Arabia increased production to push new American producers out of the market, leading to lower prices. OPEC then reduced production in 2016 to raise prices, further worsening relations with the United States. By 2012, only 7% of the world's known oil reserves were in countries that allowed private international companies free rein; 65% were in

8500-418: The United States on the global oil market. In 1959, companies lowered the price of oil due to a surplus in the market. This reduction dealt a significant blow to the finances of producers. Saudi oil minister Abdullah Tariki and Venezuela’s Juan Perez Alfonso entered into a secret agreement (the Mahdi Pact), promising that if the price of oil was lowered a second time, they would take collective action against

8625-410: The United States turned to foreign oil sources, which had a significant impact on the recovery of the West after World War II. Most of the world's oil was found in Latin America and the Middle East, particularly in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf. This increase in non-American production was enabled by multinational corporations known as the 'Seven Sisters'. The "Seven Sisters" was a common term for

8750-407: The United States, 115 in Western Europe, 70 in Japan, and 20 in the rest of the world. The multinationals in banking numbered 20 headquartered in the United States, 13 in Europe, nine in Japan and three in Canada. Today multinationals can select from a variety of jurisdictions for various subsidiaries, but the ultimate parent company can select a single legal domicile ; The Economist suggests that

8875-401: The West to the post-colonial South and invest either in foreign expenditures or ostentatious economic development projects. After 1974, most of the money from OPEC members ceased as payments for goods and services or investments in Western industry. In February 1974, the first Washington Energy Conference was convened. The most significant contribution of this conference was the establishment of

9000-712: The allies in World War I, and after the war acquired the South Seas Mandate , the former German colony in Micronesia, as a League of Nations Mandate . Pursuing a colonial policy comparable to those of European powers, Japan settled significant populations of ethnic Japanese in its colonies while simultaneously suppressing Indigenous ethnic populations by enforcing the learning and use of the Japanese language in schools. Other methods such as public interaction, and attempts to eradicate

9125-462: The behavior of multinational corporations, given that they are effectively "stateless" actors, is one of several urgent global socioeconomic problems that has emerged during the late twentieth century. Potentially, the best concept for analyzing society's governance limitations over modern corporations is the concept of "stateless corporations". Coined at least as early as 1991 in Business Week ,

9250-530: The call for a New International Economic Order to be initiated by coalitions of primary producers. Concluding the First OPEC Summit in Algiers they called for stable and just commodity prices, an international food and agriculture program, technology transfer from North to South, and the democratization of the economic system. But industrialized countries quickly began to look for substitutes to OPEC petroleum, with

9375-486: The cause of India's problems leading to a newfound sense of nationalism among its population. With this new wave of Indian nationalism, Gandhi was eventually able to garner the support needed to push back the British and create an independent India in 1947. Africa was only fully drawn into the colonial system at the end of the 19th century. In the north-east the continued independence of the Ethiopian Empire remained

9500-728: The collapse of the Shah's regime in Iran. Iran became a regional power due to oil money and American weapons. The Shah eventually abdicated and fled the country. This prompted a strike by thousands of Iranian oil workers, significantly reducing oil production in Iran. Saudi Arabia tried to cope with the crisis by increasing production, but oil prices still soared, leading to the "second oil shock." Saudi Arabia significantly reduced oil production, losing most of its revenues. In 1986, Riyadh changed course, and oil production in Saudi Arabia sharply increased, flooding

9625-435: The colonial experience. Extending the meaning of decolonization beyond political independence has been disputed and received criticism. The United Nations (UN) states that the fundamental right to self-determination is the core requirement for decolonization, and that this right can be exercised with or without political independence. A UN General Assembly Resolution in 1960 characterised colonial foreign rule as

9750-706: The companies. This occurred in 1960. Prior to the 1973 oil crisis , the Seven Sisters controlled around 85 percent of the world's petroleum reserves . In the 1970s, most countries with large reserves nationalized their reserves that had been owned by major oil companies. Since then, industry dominance has shifted to the OPEC cartel and state-owned oil and gas companies, such as Saudi Aramco , Gazprom (Russia), China National Petroleum Corporation , National Iranian Oil Company , PDVSA (Venezuela), Petrobras (Brazil), and Petronas (Malaysia). A unilateral increase in oil prices

9875-510: The conception was theoretically clarified in 1993: that an empirical strategy for defining a stateless corporation is with analytical tools at the intersection between demographic analysis and transportation research. This intersection is known as logistics management , and it describes the importance of rapidly increasing global mobility of resources. In a long history of analysis of multinational corporations, we are some quarter-century into an era of stateless corporations—corporations that meet

10000-643: The creation of a "world customer". The idea of a global corporate village entailed the management and reconstitution of parochial attachments to one's nation. It involved not a denial of the naturalness of national attachments, but an internationalization of the way a nation defines itself. "Multinational enterprise" (MNE) is the term used by international economist and similarly defined with the multinational corporation (MNC) as an enterprise that controls and manages production establishments, known as plants located in at least two countries. The multinational enterprise (MNE) will engage in foreign direct investment (FDI) as

10125-521: The debate from a neo-liberal perspective in Storm over the Multinationals (1977). Decolonization Decolonization is the undoing of colonialism , the latter being the process whereby imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. The meanings and applications of the term are disputed. Some scholars of decolonization focus especially on independence movements in

10250-533: The design and production of batteries and related products. GP Batteries manufactures and markets batteries and battery-related products including primary batteries, rechargeable batteries and accessories. GP Batteries is one of Asia's largest battery manufacturers, supplying battery products to original equipment manufacturers , battery companies as well as consumer retail markets under the GP brand name. The company stated its commitment in environmental conservation and has

10375-650: The direct division of China. After 1898 direct intervention expanded in Latin America. The United States purchased Alaska from the Russian Empire in 1867 and annexed Hawaii in 1898. Following the Spanish–American War in 1898, the US added most of Spain's remaining colonies: Puerto Rico , Philippines , and Guam . Deciding not to annex Cuba outright, the U.S. established it as a client state with obligations including

10500-540: The emancipatory potential of Enlightenment thought, highlighting its erasure of Indigenous epistemologies and failure to provide subaltern and Indigenous people with liberty, equality, and dignity. Great Britain's Thirteen North American colonies were the first to declare independence , forming the United States of America in 1776, and defeating Britain in the Revolutionary War . The Haitian Revolution

10625-481: The firm makes direct investments in host country plants for equity ownership and managerial control to avoid some transaction costs . Sanjaya Lall in 1974 proposed a spectrum of scholarly analysis of multinational corporations, from the political right to the left. He put the business school how-to-do-it writers at the extreme right, followed by the liberal laissez-faire economists, and the neoliberals (they remain right of center but do allow for occasional mistakes of

10750-467: The former Ottoman territories of Syria and Lebanon , and the former German colonies of Togoland and Cameroon , as League of Nations mandates. Lebanon declared its independence in 1943, and Syria in 1945. In some instances, decolonization efforts ran counter to other concerns, such as the rapid increase of antisemitism in Algeria in the course of the nation's resistance to French rule. Although France

10875-416: The hands of state-owned companies that operated in one country and sold oil to multinationals such as BP, Shell, ExxonMobil and Chevron. Down through the 1930s, about 80% of the international investments by multinational corporations were concentrated in the primary sector, especially mining (especially oil) and agriculture (rubber, tobacco, sugar, palm oil , coffee, cocoa, and tropical fruits). Most went to

11000-668: The independence wars of Latin America began with a revolt in La Paz, Bolivia . In 1807 and 1808, the Viceroyalty of the River Plate was invaded by the British. After their 2nd defeat, a Frenchman called Santiague de Liniers was proclaimed a new Viceroy by the local population and later accepted by Spain. In May 1810 in Buenos Aires , a Junta was created, but in Montevideo it was not recognized by

11125-517: The influential book Decolonising the Mind (1986). "Decolonization" has also been used to refer to the intellectual decolonization from the colonizers' ideas that made the colonized feel inferior. Issues of decolonization persist and are raised contemporarily. In the Americas and South Africa , such issues are increasingly discussed under the term decoloniality . In the two hundred years following

11250-599: The interests of the populations concerned must have equal weight with the equitable government whose title is to be determined. See also point XII. After World War II , the U.S. poured tens of billions of dollars into the Marshall Plan , and other grants and loans to Europe and Asia to rebuild the world economy. At the same time American military bases were established around the world and direct and indirect interventions continued in Korea , Indochina , Latin America ( inter alia ,

11375-415: The internationalization of production. For the first time in history, production, marketing, and investment are being organized on a global scale rather than in terms of isolated national economies. International business is also a specialist field of academic research. Economic theories of the multinational corporation include internalization theory and the eclectic paradigm . The latter is also known as

11500-566: The invasion of Spain by Napoleon in 1806, the American colonies declared autonomy and loyalty to King Ferdinand VII. The contract was broken and each of the regions of the Spanish Empire had to decide whether to show allegiance to the Junta of Cadiz (the only territory in Spain free from Napoleon) or have a junta (assembly) of its own. The economic monopoly of the metropolis was the main reason why many countries decided to become independent from Spain. In 1809,

11625-512: The island. Each side rewrote its own history, blaming the other. Palestine became a British mandate from the League of Nations after World War I, initially including Transjordan . During that war, the British gained support from Arabs and Jews by making promises to both (see McMahon–Hussein Correspondence and Balfour Declaration ). Decades of ethno—religious violence reached a climax with

11750-680: The islands. Compromises were negotiated, but were trusted by neither side. When the Indonesian Republic successfully suppressed a large-scale communist revolt, the United States realized that it needed the nationalist government as an ally in the Cold War. Dutch possession was an obstacle to American Cold War goals, so Washington forced the Dutch to grant full independence. A few years later, Sukarno nationalized all Dutch East Indies properties and expelled all ethnic Dutch —over 300,000—as well as several hundred thousand ethnic Indonesians who supported

11875-460: The largest recipients. However, 70% of foreign direct investment went into developed countries in the form of stocks and cash flows. The rise in the number of multinational companies could be due to a stable political environment that encourages cooperation, advances in technology that enable management of faraway regions, and favorable organizational development that encourages business expansion into other countries. A multinational corporation (MNC)

12000-474: The laws and regulations of both their domicile and the additional jurisdictions where they are engaged in business. In some cases, the jurisdiction can help to avoid burdensome laws, but regulatory statutes often target the "enterprise" with statutory language around "control". As of 1992 , the United States and most OECD countries have the donot legal authority to tax a domiciled parent corporation on its worldwide revenue, including subsidiaries. As of 2019 ,

12125-570: The local government who followed the authority of the Junta of Cadiz. The rivalry between the two cities was the main reason for the distrust between them. During the next 15 years, the Spanish and Royalist on one side, and the rebels on the other fought in South America and Mexico. Numerous countries declared their independence. In 1824, the Spanish forces were defeated in the Battle of Ayacucho . The mainland

12250-469: The manufacture of Nickel-cadmium batteries that can cause kidney failure, lung cancer and bone disease. In 2006 more than 100 female factory workers in southern China attempted to sue their former employers (GP) over suspected cadmium poisoning. On 24 August 2010, over a hundred workers protested outside GP's factory in Huizhou . GP had promised compensation to workers affected by poisoning but severely reduced

12375-434: The market with cheap oil. This caused a worldwide drop in oil prices, hence the "third oil shock" or "counter-shock." However, this shock represented something much bigger—the end of OPEC's dominance and its control over oil prices. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein decided to attack Kuwait. The invasion sparked a crisis in the Middle East, prompting Saudi Arabia to request assistance from the United States. The United States sent

12500-475: The marketplace such as externalities). Moving to the left side of the line are nationalists, who prioritize national interests over corporate profits, then the "dependencia" school in Latin America that focuses on the evils of imperialism, and on the far left the Marxists. The range is so broad that scholarly consensus is hard to discern. Anti-corporate advocates criticize multinational corporations for being without

12625-545: The negotiated amount offering a "take it or leave it" situation. Karin Mak's documentary Red Dust follows female workers fighting for medical care from their former employer, China's GP Batteries factory, after suffering years of cadmium poisoning. Multinational corporation Most of the current largest and most influential companies are publicly traded multinational corporations, including Forbes Global 2000 companies. The history of multinational corporations began with

12750-506: The new constitution annexed), and finally, if approved, issuance of an Order of Council fixing the exact date of independence. After World War I , several former German and Ottoman territories in the Middle East, Africa, and the Pacific were governed by the UK as League of Nations mandates . Some were administered directly by the UK, and others by British dominions – Nauru and the Territory of New Guinea by Australia , South West Africa by

12875-440: The oil companies investing the majority of their research capital in the US and European countries or others, politically sure countries. The OPEC lost more and more influence on the world prices of oil. The second oil crisis occurred in the wake of the 1979 Iranian Revolution . Then, the 1982 Latin American debt crisis exploded in Mexico first, then Argentina and Brazil, which proved unable to pay back their debts, jeopardizing

13000-535: The perpetual lease of Guantánamo Bay to the U.S. Navy. The attempt of the first governor to void the island's constitution and remain in power past the end of his term provoked a rebellion that provoked a reoccupation between 1906 and 1909, but this was again followed by devolution. Similarly, the McKinley administration , despite prosecuting the Philippine–American War against a native republic , set out that

13125-571: The police assaults on the Salt March of 1930. Large-scale communal violence broke out between Hindus and Muslims and between Muslims and Sikhs after the British left in 1947 in the newly independent dominions of India and Pakistan. Much later, in 1970, further communal violence broke out within Pakistan in the detached eastern part of East Bengal, which became independent as Bangladesh in 1971. Cyprus , which came under full British control in 1914 from

13250-560: The price collapse in 1998–1999. The United States still maintains close relations with Saudi Arabia. In 2003, U.S. forces invaded Iraq with the aim of removing the dictatorship and gaining access to Iraqi oil reserves, giving the United States greater strategic importance from 2000 to 2008. During this period, there was a constant shortage of oil, but its consumption continued to rise, maintaining high prices and leading to concerns about "peak oil". From 2005 to 2012, there were advances in oil and gas extraction, leading to increased production in

13375-595: The realities of the needs of source materials on a worldwide basis and to produce and customize products for individual countries. One of the first multinational business organizations, the East India Company , was established in 1601. After the East India Company came the Dutch East India Company , founded on March 20, 1603, which would become the largest company in the world for nearly 200 years. The main characteristics of multinational companies are: When

13500-527: The same year nationalist forces had begun organizing in Portugal. Revolts (preceding the Portuguese Colonial War ) spread to Angola , Guinea Bissau and Mozambique . Lisbon escalated its effort in the war: for instance, it increased the number of natives in the colonial army and built strategic hamlets. Portugal sent another 300,000 European settlers into Angola and Mozambique before 1974. That year,

13625-457: The seven multinational companies that dominated the global petroleum industry from the mid-1940s to the mid-1970s. The nationalization of the Iranian oil industry in 1951 by Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh and the subsequent boycott of Iranian oil by all companies had dramatic consequences for Iran and the international oil market. Iran was unable to sell any of its oil. In August 1953,

13750-524: The southern Kuril Islands , which Japan still claims . In the United States, the two major parties were divided on the acquisition of the Philippines, which became a major campaign issue in 1900. The Republicans, who favored permanent acquisition, won the election, but after a decade or so, Republicans turned their attention to the Caribbean, focusing on building the Panama Canal . President Woodrow Wilson ,

13875-454: The then-prime minister was overthrown by a pro-American dictatorship led by the Shah, and in October 1954, the Iranian industry was denationalized. Worldwide oil consumption increased rapidly between 1949 and 1970, a period known as the 'golden age of oil'. This increase in consumption was caused not only by the growth of production by multinational oil companies but also by the strong influence of

14000-618: The use of Korean , Hokkien , and Hakka among the Indigenous peoples, were seen to be used. Japan also set up the Imperial Universities in Korea ( Keijō Imperial University ) and Taiwan ( Taihoku Imperial University ) to compel education. In 1931, Japan seized Manchuria from the Republic of China, setting up a puppet state under Puyi , the last Manchu emperor of China. In 1933 Japan seized

14125-573: The world without a concentration in one area have been called stateless or "transnational" (although "transnational corporation" is also used synonymously with "multinational corporation" ), but as of 1992, a corporation must be legally domiciled in a particular country and engage in other countries through foreign direct investment and the creation of foreign subsidiaries. Geographic diversification can be measured across various domains, including ownership and control, workforce, sales, and regulation and taxation. Multinational corporations may be subject to

14250-503: The worldwide revenue of a foreign subsidiary, and taxation is complicated by transfer pricing arrangements with parent corporations. For small corporations, registering a foreign subsidiary can be expensive and complex, involving fees, signatures, and forms; a professional employer organization (PEO) is sometimes advertised as a cheaper and simpler alternative, but not all jurisdictions have laws accepting these types of arrangements. Disputes between corporations in different nations

14375-749: Was a Constitutionalist Revolution in Portugal, which led to the return of the Portuguese court to Lisbon. This led to distrust between the Portuguese and the Brazilian colonists, and finally, in 1822, to the colony becoming independent as the Empire of Brazil , which later became a republic. The emergence of Indigenous political parties was especially characteristic of the British Empire , which seemed less ruthless than, for example, Belgium, in controlling political dissent. Driven by pragmatic demands of budgets and manpower

14500-577: Was a revolt in 1789 and subsequent slave uprising in 1791 in the French colony of Saint-Domingue , on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola . In 1804, Haiti secured independence from France as the Empire of Haiti , which later became a republic. The chaos of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe cut the direct links between Spain and its American colonies, allowing for the process of decolonization to begin. With

14625-477: Was characterized by massacres of civilians on both sides. It was not a movement for independence, however, and only a small part of India was involved. In the aftermath, the British pulled back from modernizing reforms of Indian society, and the level of organised violence under the British Raj was relatively small. Most of that was initiated by repressive British administrators, as in the Amritsar massacre of 1919 , or

14750-461: Was especially rich, and many Belgian businessmen lobbied hard to maintain control. Local revolts grew in power and finally, the Belgian king suddenly announced in 1959 that independence was on the agenda – and it was hurriedly arranged in 1960, for country bitterly and deeply divided on social and economic grounds. The Netherlands had spent centuries building up its empire. By 1940 it consisted mostly of

14875-521: Was extremely limited. On the night of 29 March 1947, a Madagascar nationalist uprising led the French government headed by Paul Ramadier ( Socialist ) to violent repression: one year of bitter fighting, 11,000–40,000 Malagasy died. In 1946, the states of French Indochina withdrew from the French Union, leading to the Indochina War (1946–54). Cambodia and Laos became independent in 1953, and

15000-416: Was free, and in 1898, Spain lost Cuba and Puerto Rico in the Spanish–American War . Puerto Rico became an unincorporated territory of the US, but Cuba became independent in 1902. The Napoleonic Wars also led to the severing of the direct links between Portugal and its only American colony, Brazil . Days before Napoleon invaded Portugal, in 1807 the Portuguese royal court fled to Brazil . In 1820 there

15125-448: Was fully aware that the means to overcoming cultural resistance depended on an "understanding" of the countries in which a corporation operated. He observed that companies with "foresight to capitalize on international opportunities" must recognize that " cultural anthropology will be an important tool for competitive marketing". However, the projected outcome of this was not the assimilation of international firms into national cultures, but

15250-618: Was inspired by the works of Garvey led Ghana to independence from colonial rule. Independence for the colonies in Africa began with the independence of Sudan in 1956, and Ghana in 1957. All of the British colonies on mainland Africa became independent by 1966, although Rhodesia 's unilateral declaration of independence in 1965 was not recognized by the UK or internationally. Some of the British colonies in Asia were directly administered by British officials, while others were ruled by local monarchs as protectorates or in subsidiary alliance with

15375-546: Was labeled as "the largest nonviolent transfer of wealth in human history." The OPEC sought immediate discussions regarding participation in national oil industries. Companies were not inclined to object as the price hike benefited both them and OPEC members. In 1980, the Seven Sisters were entirely displaced and replaced by national oil companies (NOCs). The rise in oil prices burdened developing countries with balance of payments deficits, leading to an energy crisis. OPEC members had to abandon their plan of redistributing wealth from

15500-489: Was one of the few businessmen in the era who became Prime Minister (of South Africa 1890–1896). His mining enterprises included the British South Africa Company and De Beers . The latter company practically controlled the global diamond market from its base in southern Africa. In 1945, the United States was the world's largest oil producer. However, their reserves were declining due to high demand. Therefore,

15625-571: Was ultimately a victor of World War II, Nazi Germany's occupation of France and its North African colonies during the war had disrupted colonial rule. On 27 October 1946, France adopted a new constitution creating the Fourth Republic , and substituted the French Union for the colonial empire. However power over the colonies remained concentrated in France, and the power of local assemblies outside France

#990009