Global Context of Business and Government - Essay Example

BUSINESS AND GOVERNMENT IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT Student’s name Course Unit Professor’s name University Date Topic title: Business and Government in Global Context Executive Summary The paper aims to show us the benefits of involvement of government in business and also the consequences and what it stands to gain in terms of growth and power. The paper also shows the key roles the government plays in business activities as far as its smooth running is involved and also shows the various forms of government and which function best as far as the interests of the public are placed at the fore front. Adverse effects that the government encounters when some corporations have power over them and influence their decision making. It is shown how the unions fought for the rights of the workers at the time when they were being under paid and at the same time over worked for long hours even overtime that they were not paid for in the Garment industry in Cambodia. Also how Cambodia overcame its situation being the poorest country through signing of the bilateral trade agreement with the USA. The businesses are open to critisim and have control over the ground and gain support from politicians as the businesses provide employment to a lot of people. Contents 1.0 Introduction 3 2.0 Ways the Businesses Control the Government 4 2.1 Power Over the Ground 4 2.2 Control over the Media 5 2.3 Support of the Masses 5 2.4 Neutralisation of Opposing Parties 6 2.5 Politicians Aid to Initiatives by Businesses 6 2.6 Decisions Made Based Government Getting Employment from Business 7 2.7 Credible Information Sources 8 2.8 Influence over the Internet 9 3.0 Consultations from Critics 9 3.1 Case: Chinese Business Structures 10 4.0 Recommendations 11 5.0 Conclusion 11 6.0 Reference List 12 Business and Government in Global Context 1.0 Introduction Globalised environment and the government have a significant relationship arguably given the divergent markets. The main aim for this retrospect paper is to show how businesses influence the government and the power it bears with respect to its control over the government. Tentatively, the discussions highlights the crucial roles that the government, civil society and the business over the political process and the government’s regulatory influence on the business. It also aims to enhance increased understanding of business structures. Moreover, to develop a deeper understanding on the nature and the complexity of the relationship between business, government and politics. It gives a perspective on why the government exists and the structural and ideological options. It will also help understand the complex relationship between the government and business. It also aims to give insight on the relation of political economy, business, government and the civil society. Promote understanding of neo-liberalism to globalization. 2.0 Ways the Businesses Control the Government 2.1 Power Over the Ground The businesses have power over the government by having the upper hand when it comes to power over the ground. They get to persuade politicians in office to support their objectives and if that is not possible then they use the power of the business to accomplish the goals it wants. The business get to succeed in their endeavours by spear heading the conversations to those they can confirm with and at the end of it all convince them to move in the way that the business wants them to move. For instance, in the event that public has a keen interest on the environmental effect then the business overlooks the opinions of the media and politicians and portrays the economic benefits that it will come with their initiative. The politician’s involvement in business has no hidden agendas (Media Culture & Society n.d). Overtime the few people left on the opposing side will be viewed as enemies against the progression of the country. 2.2 Control over the Media The business may also have control over the government by compromising the media. The know when it is appropriate to involve the media in their initiatives and when not to since once they involve the media then its issues are exposed and open to the public eye which reduces their control over government and reduces the leverage they have over them. Before businesses release any information they then have to filter the information they give regardless of whether the initiative is good or whether it is compromised. For instance where the message was wrongly portrayed where lobbyist James Bethell from Westbourne Communications was driven into salvaging a 43 billion dollar initiative that was at first sold to ministers how in the long run ended up benefiting just a few commuters. 2.3 Support of the Masses The businesses may also control the government by gaining a huge following that support the initiative they are running. The control over the government to businesses is more effective when they are backed up by the general public. Masses are voiced and they have a major impact on how the government functions. The masses backing up the initiatives of the businesses then the government refusing to support initiatives it will have two conflicting parties that are very strong (Springer n.d). Like for instance when Westbourne voices its issues using the masses which is its clients. Westbourne was hired in 2011 to protest against the rate of tax which was at the top despite the fact that who was behind the initiative is not known (Taylor& Francis Online n.d). Before the budget was made known to the public by the chancellor in 2012 letters appeared in the media sources that demanded it to be removed, which was supported by 20 economists (Morning Post n.d). 2.4 Neutralisation of Opposing Parties The businesses face their battles using the guerrilla warfare tactics. The aim at gaining the government’s attention to their initiatives but do not put into consideration the arguments brought forward by parties such as environmentalist. The businesses have laid out strategic tactics to reduce complains put forward. Monitoring of moves by the opposing parties is paramount. In a particular context where Edelman proposes that monitoring of the business should be from all perspectives (Macrothink Institute n.d). 2.5 Politicians Aid to Initiatives by Businesses Some initiatives may require the politicians’ aid to pass them and so they can be successful. Not at all times is in reference to influence of the politician deals are made at the instance where the initiative proves to be difficult to implement and may need the intervention of a politician. Like in the case of the Cambodia garment industry. Cambodia from 1970 to 1990 suffered from civil war, foreign occupation and genocide. It was also a very poor country at the time (Firm Turnover n.d) . Many people died in the period of 1975 and 1979 from the Khmer Rouge killings. An export garment industry was viewed as a way of getting back on track for the country. The US lent a hand to them through a bilateral trade agreement (Firm Turnover n.d). At the time the US faced challenges of job losses and decrease in of their labour standards (Palgrave Macmillan n.d). Unions in the US successfully convinced the US’s Clinton to make alterations in Cambodian labour standards so that they could reach out to the US market. The increased garments quotas were tied to the betterment of wages and working conditions. Factories were under the monitoring of the international labour organization. Unions of the Cambodian unions led to the increase in wages and good working conditions. Cases of child labour exploitation has reduced and good working conditions implemented. Jobs have been created especially for the women and more clothing lines have emerged. This factories are however owned by foreigners like China and South Korea. The garment industry is the most important sector in Cambodia. It employs 65% of its labour force (NC STATE College of Textiles n.d). 2.6 Decisions Made Based Government Getting Employment from Business The government makes decisions based on it gaining employment from businesses being set up and therefore favour them. This has seen the people working in the public sector moving to the more attractive private sector. The government is not able to fully maximize the potential of an organisation which has contributed to the privatization of many organisations (Structure Reform n.d). The main aim of private developers is to give maximum profits and utilise resources this is a benefit to the government as the economy is strengthened (Science Direct n.d). At the same time the government gets to reduce the number of unemployed people in the nation as it uses methods that are labour intensive in their industries which also leads to improved standards of living. The government therefore must then be under the requests and wants of the businesses as it will help its improvement in terms of economic strength. For instance, in the Fordism Regime the employees shared constantly the productivity gains with the owners. The profit margin remained stable as the main goal was to retain full employment. The regime was kept in check were minimum wages were given and so were the awards also the money supply was regulated by national banks to meet the needs of the economy. It was more of an extension compared to that of Taylor’s principle of scientific management. The production flow was continuous all through. Machinery to reduce the time taken in production by putting up new machinery. It also encouraged the division of labour among the employees. There was a sort of cycle where the employees did different types of work in the factory which reduced monotony. The machines in the factory were controlled by the people put in place to lead their industries (Global Governance n.d). The goods produced were rather affordable by the people in the sense that it could be accessed in ease. The market acted as the socializer, the consumers were also socializers and the corporation were socially responsible (Scientific Research n.d). The textile, garment and footwear industry was used to show the bad forms of how the employees’ rights were abused such as exploiting of child labour, payment of low wages, working for long hours, working overtime without any extra pay and also subjection to dangerous working situations. 2.7 Credible Information Sources Businesses sources of information are normally very questionable as the public believes that it will use any means of persuasion to ensure that it appeals to the customers with the aim of maximizing its profit margins through them. This has resulted the business into looking for more trustworthy third party that will give this information (Business Ethics n.d). For instance companies responsible for producing tobacco are known for using this technique as consumption of tobacco may have adverse effects on one’s health. In recent campaigns has lead them to finance agents in news capacities and encourage officers in charge of setting standards to get the approvals from their leaders. The British American Tobacco is in charge for financing the Common Sense Alliance that is against not well thought out regulation policies. It is seen that in the recent past it gave 1.25 billion dollars to the European Commission in the aim of settling the conflicting involvement in illicit trading. 2.8 Influence over the Internet In the current predicament of state involvement into the internet and people need to be in the internet to succeed as far as their businesses is concerned and them reaching a wider scope market wise. A way of controlling the information sourced to the internet is by filling it with positive information which is not as simple. If information of proper content is able to be accessed by many people and appeal to them since the internet is a global market and information is able to be accessed by a huge masses of people within a short span of time. If the business manages to appeal to the market then their activities will be backed up by the market leaving the government no option but to support them. Over the recent past businesses have been seen creating parody blogs that reach out to the clients that contains only positive things (Questia.com n.d). This positive information is flooded in the webs such that the negative ones are overshadowed. Some of the businesses have gone to the extent where they have doctored information provided and compromised the authenticity of these search engines as was the case for Bell Pottinger firm. 3.0 Consultations from Critics The businesses seek to find out the public’s opinion in their activities. They do this by carrying out a consultation exercise. Through this exercise businesses are able to foresee risks that they may fall victim of and gain more insight on how to go about problems. This will reduce opposition from the parties that are involved as they would have given a go ahead before the activity takes place as they would have voiced their opinions. Even if the people do not support the initiative more times often than not they are able to be passed and the business does what it wants as they would have followed the required procedures (Wageningen UR n.d). 3.1 Case: Chinese Business Structures In order for businesses to excel they require investments, employees who will work to produce the products and buyers of the products. Business may be owned privately, none profitable or owned by the state. They may also vary in terms of scale and design (Chen 2008, p. 13). In many countries government is comprised of the national government, county government and enterprises that are ran by the government. In the years the number of state owned businesses in the OECD nationalities has reduced (Economic Roundup n.d). Problems faced by China’s SOEs in 2014 were like the failure to meet the government’s order to concentrate on what are considered key sectors such as aviation. It must manage them in order to be able to handle the economy. The profit margin of state organisations reduced (Science Direct n.d)Problems that are facing China’s SOEs now are in energy sectors such as the coal mining have faced many challenges due to China’s reduced rate of economic growth (Wu, et al 2016). People have moved from traditional industries to the tertiary sector leading to challenges that have faced the manufacturing sector due to stock piling. The demand has decreased which is an important factor which has led to earning low interests which cannot compensate for this (Morning post n.d). In September 2015 China made reforms on its SOEs. It was divided into commercial and none profitable corporations (Morning post n.d). It showed interest in the requirement for public goods. Duties of the government and business were altered. 4.0 Recommendations The government should set up elaborate measures to allocate power to corporations that have the best interest of the public at heart. It should aim at the growth the country. Outsourcing should be done though with diligence in that the information outsourced should be in confidentiality with people you trust. Corporations also should not be given too much power such that they hold other unions at ransom. Multinational and transnational corporations make decisions on how and what is best for the corporations involved and not a particular thing as a single entity. These corporations have huge powers on local unions since they can threaten to change the location of a union to a non-union based country. The involvement of government in business is paramount so that it can control the money for the good of the public rather than the aim of maximizing profit. For instance, Both USA and Australia continue to privatize their correctional facilities and migration centres (National Criminal Justice Reference Service n.d). Involvement of private developers has been seen to continue even after the Centre-left elections (Heinoline n.d). Ideological and neo-liberal considerations are that they have saved resources by outsourcing the running of their detention facilities. 5.0 Conclusion The involvement of the government in business has led to the improvement in business activities. Since it gives incentives and subsidies so as to help create job creation. The industries should use labour intensive production so as to increase the rate of employment. Privatization has led to the growth of the private sector with the help of the government and support leading to production of quality goods. The government’s activities are driven by big business that if the decisions that the government makes are not in their favour then the government will suffer in the long run as it is these businesses that provide adequate resources that end up funding the same activities. However, the government should keep a close eye in the activities that the businesses indulge in and the implications that it will have environmentally, politically, socially and especially economically to the nation. Whereas there is anticipated change in the globalised environment , it is imperative that business functions in conformance of government policies aimed at enhancing development. 6.0 Reference List Arenas, D. (2013) Different Paths to Collaboration Between Businesses and Civil Society and the Role of Third Parties: Journal of Business Ethics Vol 115, Issue 3, pp 515-529(4th May 2016) Asuyama, Y., Chhun, D., Fukunishi, T., Neou, S.,Yamagata. (2012) Firm Dynamics in the Cambodian Garment Industry: Firm Turnover, Productivity Growth and Wage Profile Under Trade Liberalization Vol 18 , Issue 1,pp 51-70(4th May 2016) Brown, T.F. 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