International Trade

Details: Does free trade encourage pollution as corporations build factories and plants in countries with more lenient air and water pollution controls? Or does it encourage higher standards, as better controls and higher standards are brought in with the growing corporations?

The CEO and COO in the USA hope to use your writing and experience to convince other employees of the value of what Acme is doing abroad. They have asked that you write an article for the company newsletter about the success of an outside company in multinational partnership. This will denote to readers that Acme has done its research and seeks to do the same with care for the host environment. They will write and include a paragraph about you and your work for Acme at the end of the article.

Goals: Multinational corporations are sometimes at the leading edge of lean production techniques and new ways of working with the community. Transfer of these approaches through foreign direct investment by the multinationals can be a critical pathway for developing countries to acquire these essential building blocks for sustainable industrialization. Today's dominant industrial paradigm - lean production - tends to minimize raw material needs by reducing waste and unwanted stock, and it is associated with participation and individual responsibility of workers and host communities throughout the chain of production.

Select a multinational corporation that has been successful in forming partnerships with workers and the host communities. Conduct research on the company through websites you have learned of through the Library, the Internet, and your reading to create a 2-3 page company newsletter article in which you do the following:

Discuss the corporation's business activities in a foreign host country.
Discuss the comparative advantages for the firm to operate in the host country.
What were the environmental issues facing the firm, host community, and/or workers?
How was the issue resolved?
How did the resolution affect the short and long run costs of the firm?
What are the lessons to be learned that can be applied to your position at Acme Motors in Nuevo Laredo?