Multinational corporation and colonialism

See also: Charter company and Neocolonialism

The history of multinational corporations is closely intertwined the history of colonialism, with the first multinational corporations founded to undertake colonial expeditions at the behest of their European monarchical patrons.^[17] Prior to the era of New Imperialism, a majority European colonies not held by the Spanish and Portuguese crowns were administered by chartered multinational corporations.^[18] Examples of such corporations include the British East India Company,^[19] the Swedish Africa Company, and the Hudson’s Bay Company.^[20] These early corporations facilitated colonialism by engaging in international trade and exploration, and creating colonial trading posts.^[21] Many of these corporations, such as the South Australia Company and the Virginia Company, played a direct role in formal colonization by creating and maintaining settler colonies.^[21] Without exception these early corporations created differential economic outcomes between their home country and their colonies via a process of exploiting colonial resources and labour, and investing the resultant profits and net gain in the home country.^[22] The end result of this process was the enrichment of the colonizer and the impoverishment of the colonized.^[23] Some multinational corporations, such as the Royal African Company, were also responsible for the logistical component of the Atlantic slave trade,^[24] maintaining the ships and ports required for this vast enterprise. During the 19th century formal corporate rule over colonial holdings largely gave way to state-controlled colonies,^[25][26] however corporate control over colonial economic affairs persisted in a majority of colonies.^[21][25]
During the process of decolonization the European colonial charter companies were disbanded,^[21] with the final colonial corporation, the Mozambique Company, dissolving in 1972. However the economic impact of corporate colonial exploitation has proved to be lasting and far reaching,^[27] with some commentators asserting that this impact is among the chief causes of contemporary global income inequality.^[23]
Contemporary critics of multinational corporations have charged that some present day multinational corporations follow the pattern of exploitation and differential wealth distribution established by the now defunct colonial charter corporations, particularly with regards to corporations based in the developed world that operate resource extraction enterprises in the developing world,^[28] such as Royal Dutch Shell, and Barrick Gold. Some of these critics argue that the operations of multinational corporations in the developing world take place within the broader context of neocolonialism.^[29]
However, multinational corporations from emerging markets are playing an ever-greater role, increasingly impacting the global economy.[3