People-centred Global Governance Transnational Corporations We already noted the stimuli of competitive threats and advantages to which nation-states must respond under globalisation; the stimuli which frame how nations see the world. The same is essentially true of corporations, for theirs, too, is a world of competing corporations; a world in which increasing market dominance is the only way to survive. Competition between large, publicly quoted corporations, moreover, plays out not just in the product and service markets in which they operate, but also through global stock markets where they compete for share value with all other publicly quoted corporations. The ability of corporations to move their operations across national borders is a key part of this competition for dominance because it brings the stimuli of differing national tax and regulatory regimes into their worldview; regimes which, because of the ability of corporations to move their operations around, can be selected or avoided largely at will. For any corporation not to take advantage of lower tax countries would, after all, be to place itself at a competitive disadvantage vis-Ă -vis other corporations. Locked in to competition as they are, the worldview of corporations, then, is not one that is capable of disclosing a solution to present global problems. Some may be inclined to question this, being encouraged by the fact that a few major corporations have succeeded in behaving in a socially and environmentally responsible manner while also being extremely profitable and successful. Many readers will have heard, for example, of The Body Shop95, which makes cosmetics that have not been tested on animals, or of Interface, the flooring company that makes environmentally friendly, recycled carpet tiles96. Both of these companies, and some others, have been very financially successful as a result of their ethical stance. But it is important not to be lulled into a false 95 96
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