Multinational corporations

Multinational corporations (MNCs), which produce and sell goods across national borders, have become enormously powerful actors in the global economy. The largest MNCs have annual revenues exceeding the GDP of many countries. Apple, Walmart, Saudi Aramco, Amazon, Toyota, and others operate global supply chains involving dozens of countries.

MNCs have brought benefits: investment, employment, technology transfer, and access to global markets for products from many countries. They have also been criticized for poor labor conditions in developing-country factories (the 2013 Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh, which killed over 1,100 garment workers, drew global attention), for tax avoidance, for environmental damage, and for the power they exert over governments.