U3L3 Corporation
IMPORTANT
For this assignment, you must submit three parts all at once:
A. Corporate Global Power in 1999, fill in the blanks
B. Global 500 this year, fill in the blanks and analysis
C. Comprehension questions: The Corporation
In this activity you will investigate the phenomenal growth of the modern business corporation
as today's dominant institution, with the potential to create both great wealth and harm.
Text Reference: What is Corporate Social Responsibility? (Pgs 155–159)
Links:
PART A
“Top 200: The Rise of Corporate Global Power”
PART B
Global 500
PART C
The Corporation on YouTube
•
Chapter 1 -- What is a Corporation?
•
Chapter 2 -- Birth
•
Chapter 3 -- A Legal Person
•
Chapter 4 -- Externalities
•
Chapter 5 -- Case Histories
If the YouTube videos don’t work, you can watch all 5 chapter from here
Corporate Global Power
“Of the 100 largest economies in the world, 51 are corporations; only 49 are countries.”
-- Institute for Policy Studies
Part A – Corporate Global Power in 1999
READ “Top 200: The Rise of Corporate Global Power” and answer the following questions.
•
In 1999, the combined sales of the top 200 corporations was _____ times the size of the combined
annual income of the bottom 1.2 billion people living in ''severe'' poverty.
•
While the sales of the top 200 corporations were worth _____ % of world economic activity, they
employed only _____ % of the world's workforce. In other words, the top 200 firms had 1/__th of
the world’s economy, but gave jobs to less than _____ % of the people.
•
Between 1983 and 1999, the profits of the top 200 firms grew _____ %, while the number of people
they employed grew by only _____ %.
•
Name five things that corporations do not legally need to reveal to the public:
1. a breakdown of their employees by country
2. toxic emissions at overseas plants
4. wage rates at overseas facilities
5. layoffs and the reasons for layoffs
3. locations of overseas plants or contractors
•
In 1999, U.S. corporations dominated the Top 200, with _____ slots or 41% of the total. Japanese
firms were second, with only_____ slots. The country of _________ was not represented in the Top
200.
Part B: Global 500 this year
READ “Global 500”, Fortune’s annual ranking of the world's largest corporations, and answer the
following questions.
•
This year (20___), U.S. corporations occupy ______ of the top 200 slots, Japan has ______, and
China has ______ . (Hint: Look up the list by country and count the number of firms that rank in the
top 200.)
•
•
Find the Top 20 Global Corporations by Revenue, Main Business and Country
1. Wal-Mart Stores
2. Royal Dutch Shell
3. Exxon Mobil
4. BP
5. Toyota Motor
6. Japan Post Holdings
7. Sinopec
8. State Grid
9. AXA
10. China National Petroleum
11. Chevron
12. ING Group
13. General Electric
14. Total
15. Bank of America
16. Volkswagen
17. ConocoPhillips
18. BNP Paribas
Main Business
Retail
oil and gas
oil and gas
oil and gas
automotive
financials
oil and gas
electricity
financials
oil and gas
oil and gas
financials
electricity
oil and gas
financials
automotive
oil and gas
financials
Country
United states
england
united states
england
japan
japan
china
china
france
china
united states
netherlands
united states
france
united states
germany
united states
canada
19. Assicurazioni Generali
20. Allianz
•
insurance
financials
italy
germany
Of the top 20 global firms by revenue, how many are in the following industries:
# of firms
Oil or Energy
Insurance
Financial /Banking
Automotive
Retail
Postal/Courier
Appliances
•
8
1
6
2
1
0
0
Of the top 20 global corporations by revenue, how many have headquarters in:
# of corporations
U.S.
China
France
Germany
Japan
Netherlands
U.K.
Italy
Part C: The Corporation
6
3
2
2
2
1
2
1
WATCH Chapters 1 through 5 of the film The Corporation on YouTube. Answer the relevant questions
after each chapter.
Chapter 1 -- What is a Corporation? (7:15)
• What is a Corporation?
A corporation is a legal entity that is separate and distinct from its owners. It can enter into
contracts, sue and be sued, own property, and pay taxes. Corporations can be either for-profit or
non-profit and can be of various sizes, from small privately held companies to large publicly traded
corporations. They are created under the laws of the state in which they are incorporated.
Shareholders own the corporation through the purchase of stocks, and the board of directors,
elected by the shareholders, make decisions on behalf of the corporation.
Chapter 2 -- Birth (4:55)
• How did lawyers gain the right to have the corporation declared a legal person in the U.S.?
In the United States, the concept of a corporation as a legal person was established through a
series of court cases in the late 19th century. The first major case was Dartmouth College v.
Woodward in 1819, in which the Supreme Court ruled that a corporation was a legal person and
had the same rights as an individual to enter into contracts. This ruling laid the foundation for the
idea that corporations were separate legal entities from their shareholders.
The key case that firmly established the corporation as a legal person with many of the same rights
as an individual was Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad in 1886. In this case, the
Supreme Court made a ruling in a dispute between the county and the railroad company, but in its
decision, the court made a statement that corporations were legal persons. This statement, made
by the Chief Justice who was not speaking for the court, was not part of the actual ruling, but it
was widely reported in newspapers and treated as precedent, and it became the foundation of
legal interpretation of corporate personhood in the US.
Chapter 3 -- A Legal Person (5:47)
• By law, which interests is the corporation legally bound to consider first?
By law, a corporation is generally required to consider the interests of its shareholders first. This is
known as the "fiduciary duty" of corporate directors and officers, which requires them to act in the
best interests of the corporation and its shareholders. This means that the primary goal of a
corporation is to maximize profits for its shareholders, and the decisions made by the board of
directors and management should be aimed at achieving this goal.
Chapter 4 -- Externalities (2:12)
• What is an externality?
an externality is the effect of a transaction between two people with a 3rd party not consenting to
this transaction
•
According to this chapter, what does the term “externality” basically mean?
They compared it to a shark meaning nothing in the way is going to stop it and its just going to
happen to further the business
Chapter 5 -- Case Histories (22:54)
• Name four “externalities” resulting from global expansion of the corporation.
1.Environmental externalities: Global expansion of corporations can result in negative
environmental impacts, such as pollution, deforestation, and habitat destruction. For example, a
corporation's factory located in a developing country may not have the same regulations and
enforcement as a factory located in a developed country, leading to greater pollution and
environmental degradation.
2.Social externalities: Global expansion of corporations can also result in negative social impacts
such as displacement of local communities, exploitation of labor, and cultural erosion. For
example, a corporation's expansion into a rural area may displace local residents, or a
corporation's use of low-paid workers in a developing country may exploit local labor.2.
3.Economic externalities: Corporations may also have negative economic impacts on local
economies through the displacement of local businesses and the exploitation of natural resources.
For example, a corporation's expansion into a small town may put local businesses out of work, or
a corporation's extraction of natural resources from a developing country may leave the local
population without the resources they need to sustain themselves.
4.Political externalities: Corporations global expansion may also result in negative political impacts
such as corruption, lack of transparency and accountability. For example, a corporation's lobbying
in favor of laws that favor their interests over the general population, or a corporation's bribing of
government officials to gain access to resources or to avoid regulations