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1. Introduction
In the past three decades, we have been witnessing an unprecedented surge in the growth of large multinational corporations (MNC) fueled by globalization and the associated events including the collapse of the Soviet Union, advances in information technology, deregulation and market liberalization. International business scholars interchangeably use the terms multinational corporation (MNC), multinational enterprise and transnational corporation to denote an enterprise that owns or controls value-adding activities in more than one country (Dunning and Lundan, 2008). MNCs are successful firms that have grown over many years into large corporations that are international in their operations (Aggarwal et al., 2011). MNCs are profit-seeking entities, which have international power, capital, labor and enormous resources across the globe (Buckley and Casson, 2016). Large MNCs constitute the cornerstones of our modern societies and their impacts are felt in every aspect of our life including production, employment, consumption, communication, education, shopping, innovation and wealth creation. Large MNCs determine the level of productivity and prosperity. They innovate and spread new technology, and set principles for other social actors. Large MNCs are driven by an insatiable hunger for economies of scale and expansion to global markets (Branson, 2002). Because of their immense growth, large MNCs create significant socio-economic changes on a global scale. As large MNCs continue to grow, there are mounting concerns about their impacts on society. A review of the international business and management literature reveals that the nature and social impacts of large MNCs have not received enough attention. Indeed, many studies have focused only on the concept of corporate social responsibility or sustainable development (Carroll, 1999; Matten and Moon, 2008; McWilliams and Siegel, 2001). The widely accepted definitions of corporate social responsibility describe it as actions and behaviors whereby enterprises integrate societal concerns into their business policies and operations (UNCTAD, 2004). As such, the mainstream studies emphasize “socially-responsible” codes of conduct but do not study how firms, particularly large MNCs, affect our societies, our institutions and our lives.
In view of the dearth of research on this topic in the international business and management literature, the current paper aims at offering a critical examination of the various social impacts of large MNCs in the age of globalization. As the title suggests, the paper adopts a...