These days the number of companies operating at multinational level has increased. To what extent are they responsible for the local communities in which they are located?

 These days the number of companies operating at multinational level has increased. To what extent are they responsible for the local communities in which they are located?

It is an undeniable fact that globalization, industrialization and privatization has helped many companies to expand their businesses worldwide. It is often argued that wherever multinational companies setup their business, they are responsible towards the local area’s communities and environment. However, I partially agree to the given notion.

Apparently, multinational companies play an important part and are responsible to the local communities in various ways. First and foremost is, multinational companies not only help in the economic development of the locality and the country, but also help in the environmental development of the area as they invest huge sums of money and also build infrastructure like roads. The prime example of this is the company Adani Port in Kutch, a rural area in Gujarat, after they setup their business in Kutch the roads, infrastructure are getting better day by day. Secondly, unlike the bygone days, in the modern era they create great employment opportunities for the local people, which is a win-win situation for the company and the local people as the company get employees and workers at a favourable expense and also local people do not need to migrate to urban cities for work, which also helps to solve the problem of overpopulation in urban areas indirectly. Thirdly, many multinational companies also setup schools for the children of their employees where they provide free education and also scholarships for further educations which in turn boosts the literacy of the area.

On the other hand, besides the company’s responsibility, the local people and the government should also co-operate and be responsible towards the company. Chiefly, it is seen that sometimes the local communities do not have a welcoming attitude towards the multinational companies as they feel that these companies will have a bad effect on them. For instance, recently the local people damaged the property of a multinational company named Foxxcon as they viewed the company as a threat to their land and jobs. Furthermore, the government should also try to help and frame rules and regulations which will help the company as well as the local people to not create any bad relations between them and help them to function smoothly.

To recapitulate, multinational companies get benefited from the local communities hence they should try to give something back to them which will create a win win situation for all and also benefit the country in economic development.