CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     CONCEPT OF GLOBALISATION

Globalization refers to the process of the intensification of economic, political, social and cultural relations across international boundaries. It is principally aimed at the transcendental homogenization of political and socio-economic theory across the globe. It is equally aimed at “making global being present worldwide at the world stage or global arena”. It deals with the “increasing breakdown of trade barriers and the increasing integration of World market (Fafowora, 1998:5). In other words, as Ohuabunwa, (1999: 20) once opined:  Globalisation can be seen as an evolution which is systematically restructuring interactive phases among nation

ns by breaking down barriers in the areas of culture, commerce, communication and several other fields of endeavour.

Globalisation, according to Ohiorhenuan (Ibid), is the broadening and deepening linkages of national economies into a worldwide market for goods and services, especially capital. As Tandon (1998B: 2) once opined, globalisation seeks to remove all national barriers to the free movement of international capital and this process is accelerated and facilitated by the supersonic transformation in information technology. It is principally aimed at the universal homogenisation of ideas, cultures, values and even life styles (Ohiorhenuan 1998: 6) as well as, at the deterritorialisation and villagization of the world. Expanding this argument, Gordimer (1998), argued, that it is principally concerned with the expansion of trade over the oceans and airspace, beyond traditional alliances which were restricted by old political spheres of influence. Thus, it presupposes the “making or remaking” of the world (Diagne and Ossebi. 1996) by creating “a basic change in the way in which major actors think and operate across the globe” (Biersterker, 1998). In other words, it connotes “the rapid expansion through giant multinational companies of capitalism and their “blood sapping principles” of “liberalisation”, “commercialisation”, privatisation” and “undemocratic and property-based democratisation” to several areas of the world including where it had hitherto been resisted or put in check” (Madunagu, 1999, 53).

Multinational Corporations

Oxford Dictionary of economics (2003:310) defines Multinational Corporations as a firm conducting business in more than one country, through branches or subsidiary companies. The Penguin Dictionary of economics (1980:315) defines Multinational Corporations as a company, or more correctly, an enterprise, operating in a number of countries and having production or services facilities outside the country of its origin. A commonly accepted definition of an MNCs is an enterprise producing at least 25 per cent of its world output outside its country of origin.

The ways Multination Corporations are conceptualised have important implications for the claims of stakeholders. This is more so in view of the growth of huge multinational corporations (MNCs) worldwide and the implications of their operations in different jurisdictions. This work focuses on non-shareholding stakeholders, employees and the community in particular; whose position in relation to the corporation as this work  demonstrates is largely dependent on the conception of the corporation. The work examines the role of MNCs in Nigeria against the background of the dominant theoretical construct of the corporation in the country. The work argues that because of their enormous economic power, which has been a subject of considerable debate, the dependency of the economy of the host country on their operations, their shareholding structure and because of the nature of the resources they exploit MNCs cannot justifiably be construed as private actors. This research further shows the consequences of the conception on corporations whose home states is in the E.U and therefore are largely construed as social institutions but when operating in an environment like Nigeria assumes a different role.

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