CORPORATE POWER: THE BEAUTY OR THE BEAST?

Abstract

During the postwar decades, the world economy was visibly changed by the more manifest presence of the multinational corporations; multinational companies, as the main vector of the direct investments, exert a major impact on the location or relocation of economic activities, the pattern of international trade, the dynamics of the national economies, the labor productivity etc. MNCs have become important sources of technology, capital, and knowledge; their activity has a significant impact on the global distribution of wealth. Strengthening the role of multinational corporations in the global economy has fueled numerous debates in the academic circles, particularly with regard to their effects on the host economies, but also to the challenges they launch on the balance of power and the position of the national states.