Corporate Power Research Articles

I Want What I Want- Period! Our Consumption of Corporate Harms

There is a relative bankruptcy of critical criminological scholarship that acknowledges the underpinnings of a hyper-consumer society and our willful and/or inadvertent legitimation of corporate power and subsequent harms. If we look deeper into our consumption and the mundane choices we make, our role in the faciliation of crimes of the powerful becomes frighteningly apparent. We argue here that in our everyday lives, our consumption of propaganda of fear and the hegomonic discourse of security, our technofetishism for the latest consumer electronic gadgets, our consumption of fashion and food, and a host of other actions and choices are done without thinking of how we are complicit in the perpetual cycle of harms and violence of corporations.

Double Agents

Double Agents

Optimal sourcing strategy for enterprises to achieve 100% renewable energy

RE100 is a voluntary campaign for global companies to use 100% renewable energy in their business and production processes. Many global companies participating in RE100 have adopted various approaches for renewable energy sourcing. There is increasing awareness that global companies cannot indefinitely avoid participating in the RE100 campaign, however, there has been limited research on economically achieving RE100. This paper provides an optimal strategy for companies to source renewable energy to economically achieve RE100 in the future. The approaches for meeting energy demands with renewable electricity are analyzed, and a feasible sourcing strategy is presented. Additionally, using the linear programming optimization technique for quantitative analysis, an annual strategy is derived for cost minimization while achieving RE100 during the analysis period. The analysis shows that as the renewable energy generation cost decreases over time, the cost-effective strategy is to deviate from the utility environment at a specific time and select corporate power purchase agreements for implementing RE100, and it further demonstrates the need for policymakers to create an environment in which companies can freely choose from a combination of power purchase options and various certification methods to maximize their enterprise competitive power.

Missing data imputation using an iterative denoising autoencoder (IDAE) for dissolved gas analysis

• A data imputation method is proposed to address transformers with multiple missing DGA data. • An iterative imputation method is demonstrated, based on a denoising autoencoder. • Features are extracted from both gas trend and composition ratios for better imputation. • The proposed method is validated using a vast amount of field data. With the expansion of the energy market, safe and stable operation of the electrical power system has become an important issue. In an effort to achieve this goal, much research has been conducted on diagnosis approaches suitable for core components of the electrical power system. Transformers are one such core component. Most of the research on transformers has focused on developing a diagnosis model; less effort has been devoted to the data, in spite of the fact that such models require data of sufficient quantity and quality, which is not usually readily available for transformers. Thus, in this paper, we propose a way to fully exploit the valuable transformer data, using a data imputation approach called the iterative denoising autoencoder (IDAE) method. The proposed method imputes missing values of dissolved gas analysis (DGA) data, which is frequently lost, for various reasons. IDAE can help diagnose the health state of transformers accurately by estimating the missing values of DGA data. The proposed method is verified in this research through three comparative studies that examine field data provided by an electric power corporation. Specific studies provide: (1) a comparison with conventional methods on imputation performance for a single gas, (2) examination of imputation performance between multiple missing values, and (3) documentation of diagnosis accuracy before and after imputation. The results of the case studies show that the proposed method is effective for imputation of the missing DGA data.

Neoliberal globalization, hegemonic crisis, and the struggle for a countermovement the case of the ‘Responsible Business Initiative’ in Switzerland

ABSTRACT Since the emergence of neoliberalism, the power of multinational corporations has dramatically grown. Given the limits of ‘self-regulation’ (e.g. Corporate Social Responsibility), this paper examines the attempt to develop a regime of ‘public governance’ rooted in law-based regulation. The focus is on a referendum voted in 2020 that aimed at regulating Swiss-based multinational corporations. This case is interesting for two reasons. First, Switzerland hosts among the biggest multinational corporations in the world; changing regulations in Switzerland thus implies modifying the rules of globalization as a whole. Second, while corporations are often accused of directly influencing the political agenda through lobby or corruption, in this case citizens were endowed with the power to change the rules for these corporations. While the proposal was finally rejected, the referendum campaign allows reflection on the interplay between globalization and national democratic politics and on the possibilities and difficulties of developing alternative forms of globalization.

Governance gap? Vale's corporate action and socioenvironmental conflicts in an international perspective

Mining transnational corporations (TNCs) can be seen as engines of several forms of dispossession and violence in the lives of affected populations. Through the exploitation concession, TNCs go on to exercise governance functions in the political order of the territories where they settle. This contribution is the result of empirically-driven work motivated by national and international activity of the Brazilian mining TNC Vale S.A. in three host countries where it operates: Brazil, Canada, and Mozambique. It demonstrates how the everyday governance of the population affected by the TNC go beyond territories of weak states and has two main aspects: the “government role”, where the corporation acts as provider of services traditionally performed by the government; and the expanded exercise of corporate power in the political order using coercive as well as cooperative and participatory governance mechanisms. Contrary to the supposed prosperity that comes with mineral abundance, a joint analysis of Vale's presence in the three contexts reveals scenarios of conflict emerging as resistance from the affected populations to counter the dynamics of corporate governance and violence that the mining project generates.

A Preference Analysis for a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Electricity Trading Platform in South Korea

The Korean government is committed to advance the country’s energy transition to greener energy by increasing the share of renewable electricity to 20 percent by 2030 and to 30–35 percent by 2040. Achieving these goals will necessitate flexibility in energy markets as well as innovative business models and technological solutions. Peer-to-peer (P2P) electricity trading platforms (ETPs) are rapidly gaining traction, as they enable the integration of distributed energy sources into power systems. This study explores whether South Koreans are willing to participate in a hypothetical P2P ETP, which allows prosumers (who both consume and produce electricity) to trade electricity surpluses with their neighbours or with KEPCO (Korea Electric Power Corporation). We employ a choice experiment (CE) to examine respondent heterogeneous preferences and their willingness to pay (WTP) for a hypothetical P2P ETP in South Korea. Our findings indicate that two-thirds of total respondents in our CE are in favour of a P2P ETP if available. Cost savings and security play an essential role in respondent preferences for a P2P ETP business model. Respondents also prefer to trade renewable electricity with KEPCO rather than with other individuals. Per our statistical estimations, respondent WTP for a P2P ETP was estimated at USD 55.68/per month. Our analysis strongly recommends increasing consumer awareness of P2P ETPs to spur adoption. Energy trading platforms that are anchored in secure block chain technology can generate cost savings as well as support the country’s policy tilt toward green energy.

Legal waivers in settlement agreements: Implications on access to remedies in business and human rights

Legal waivers in the business and human rights context are an agreement corporations use to provide compensation to victims in exchange for waiving their right to file future claims in a court of law in corporate human rights abuses. Corporations use legal waivers to further secure legal immunity from potential future claims for adverse human rights impact. In contrast, right-holders accept legal waivers as they provide quick resolution of grievances, mainly in the form of monetary compensation. This article investigates the inequality of bargaining power under which legal waivers operate. It advances the central claim that the use of legal waivers in private remedial processes reflects corporate attempts to renegotiate human rights standards by exercising authority. I use the Porgera case study to shed light on how power inequalities between corporations and right-holders distort the nature of business actors’ governance authority in business and human rights. I further argue that legal waivers strengthen the power of corporations while simultaneously not serving the public interest that corporations claim to uphold in facilitating a private remedial process for right-holders. I conclude that the power inequalities exacerbate the “power” element of authority without affecting the legitimacy of corporations but distorting the nature of their governance authority.

Tobacco industry messaging around harm: Narrative framing in PMI and BAT press releases and annual reports 2011 to 2021.

Influencing public perception is a key way in which all transnational corporations (TNCs) maintain market dominance and political power. Transnational tobacco companies (TTCs) have a long history of leveraging narratives to serve commercial ambitions. The global reach of these companies' narratives has been highlighted as a challenge in combatting public health problems caused by tobacco. The corporate power of TTCs is carefully curated, and their narratives play an important role in the setting of governance dynamics at local, national and transnational levels. This qualitative work explores and compares the language used by British American Tobacco (BAT) and Philip Morris International (PMI) around harm, harm reduction and terms used to refer to newer nicotine and tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products. We systematically examine framings used by these two TTCs through company reports published between 2011 and 2021. Qualitative coding was carried out by four coders, according to a protocol developed specifically for this work. We firstly identified the presence of pre-selected keywords and then assigned chunks of text containing those key words to one or more associated frames drawn from Boydstun's policy frames codebook (2013). Qualitative coding identified the most common frames from Boydstun's codebook and thematic analysis highlighted three overarching themes. The most common frames assigned were "capacity and resources", "health and safety" and "economic" frames. The overarching themes were individualization, normalization, and regulation. These themes capture how both BAT and PMI use particular framings to downplay the role of TTCs in the perpetuation of population- and individual-level harms related to tobacco use. They seek to normalize their role in public discussions of health policy, to cast themselves as instrumental in the redress of tobacco-related inequalities and shift responsibility for the continuation of tobacco-product use onto individual consumers. These tactics are problematic for the effective and impartial development and implementation of local, national and international tobacco control agendas.

Evaluating the Legitimacy of the Investor-State Dispute Settlement Mechanism for the AfCFTA

Phase two of the negotiations on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has begun. This phase includes negotiating the protocol on investment. The International Investment Regime (IIR) allows foreign investors to institute proceedings against states through Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), which is criticised as undergoing a ‘legitimacy crisis’. This paper assesses the legitimacy of ISDS to evaluate whether it is a suitable mode of adjudicating international investment disputes in the AfCFTA. Accordingly, it sets out the criteria to be used in assessing legitimacy and further uses these criteria to appraise the legitimacy of ISDS, ultimately demonstrating that the present ISDS framework lacks sufficient legitimacy to be adopted as the mode of adjudicating international investment disputes in the AfCFTA. This is because of the perception that ISDS is unfair and biased due to its imperial and neo-colonial background and the excessive corporate power it grants to foreign investors. ISDS is also lacking in transparency and democratic values and conflicts with the AfCFTA’s objective of sustainable and inclusive socio-economic development. The paper advocates against the inclusion of ISDS in the AfCFTA protocol on investment and asserts that the challenge is in finding a mode of adjudication that is more equitable and inclusive than ISDS.

Platform power: monopolisation and financialisation in the era of big tech

Abstract This paper addresses the questions of corporate power represented by digital platforms. We undertake a conceptual analysis of platform power so that it can provide an explanation of key motivations and behaviours for monopolisation in the platform economy. We argue that there emerges a hierarchical power structure in which platform companies relentlessly pursue power over users, and small platforms increasingly depend on big tech and financial capital. Drawing theoretical insights from the monopoly capital school and empirical evidence from platform companies in China, this paper further explores the macroeconomic implications of platform monopolisation and financialisation. It is demonstrated that the hierarchical power structure in the platform economy may increase income inequality, exacerbate overcapacity and generate financial instability.

Artificializing accounting numbers: a sensemaking perspective in times of crisis

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study how people use competing accounting numbers to make sense of and legitimize actions in a complex environment in times of crisis.Design/methodology/approachThis paper analyzes the implementation of a standardized budget model at a USA intergovernmental organization, by relying on a triangulation of data sources, including face-to-face interviews, direct observations, and archival documents. The organization faces one of the greatest crises it has ever experienced. An accounting team and a human resources team make sense differently the same reality–staffing. The sensemaking perspective framework is utilized to provide a theoretical structure for the analysis.FindingsThe understudied organization undergoes constant evolution during the budgetary crisis; data reveal different forms of cues, which activate the sensemaking process, such as fading and compressed cues. Although compressed cues subsequently emerge, they play a more crucial role in managers' enactment than pre-existing fading cues. Artificializing accounting numbers refer to the social process of constructing compressed cues or artificial artifacts that are neither wrong nor right, neither soft nor hard and not useful for peoples' sensemaking but used to legitimize managers' strategic decisions.Practical implicationsThis artificializing process explains the people's resistance to policy implementation. Furthermore, the multiplicity of cues provides useful information for regulators and managers to understand uncertainty during a crisis.Originality/valueThis study presents a rare case of an international third sector organization amid a budgetary crisis. Among few studies referring to numbers as sensemaking resources, this study focuses on the importance of systematic power and corporate power relative to the process of sensemaking.

Drum Rhythms and Golden Scriptures: Reasons for Mormon Conversion Within Haiti's Culture of Vodou

Drum Rhythms and Golden Scriptures: Reasons for Mormon Conversion Within Haiti's Culture of Vodou

Disparity learning during youth internships in Singapore

ABSTRACT A great deal of hope is pinned on experiential learning initiatives for young people. This hope is in line with policy approaches adopted by global organisations such as UNESCO and the World Bank in which learning is characterised as the vehicle through which transformation, self-actualisation and social development can occur. In order to provide young people the opportunity to experience such self-discovery, there has been a growth in internships which serve to facilitate young people’s transition from education to work. This paper explores the more sinister sides of such experiential learning. We map the ways in which youth learn about racial inequalities and class privilege through internships. Drawing on focus groups conducted with youth in Singapore, a global city with a multiracial population and a strong orientation towards meritocracy, we explore young people's discussions of their ‘disparity learning’. During internships, youth learn about workplace exclusion on the basis of race and gender, social structures of privilege and the hegemony of corporate power. We suggest that the recognition of disparity learning opens up the potential for the design of internships which provide opportunities for challenging race and class based inequalities embedded in workplace cultures.

SHAREHOLDERS’ INTERESTS VERSUS SOCIAL DEMANDS: INCONGRUOUS AGENDAS

In this note the chasm between shareholder and stakeholder interests in the running of the corporation in an emerging economy in general, and the third world country in particular, is considered. A study of two corporate governance models is undertaken with the intention to demonstrate that inclusive corporate governance which does not relegate stakeholder interests to the periphery is more efficient under the Two-Tier Board than the Anglo-Saxon model which is followed in South Africa. The reality of an entrenched corporate governance model which is supported in the South African Companies Act 61 of 1973 (the Anglo-Saxon model) is appreciated; hence it is argued that it is unlikely that South Africa might, in future, change to the Two-Tier board. The answer to the international revolution of realising societal expectations lies either in the King Report on Corporate Governance in South Africa (2002) (hereinafter King II) or modified corporate mindset, or both. It is also argued that the proposals in the Policy document of theDepartment of Trade and Industry (DTI) (South Africa Company Law for the 21st Century: Guidelines for Corporate Law Reform, May 2004, GN 1183 GG 26493 23-06-2004 May 2004, also available at http://www.dti.gov.za/ccrdlawreview/companylaw.htm) for optional representation of stakeholders on boards and the proposed inclusion of the statement recognising stakeholder interests in the Companies Act constitute a good start to changing the corporate mindset towards being stakeholder-sensitive. It is argued that the focus of King II on the triple-bottom line approach is negated by its ambivalence on enforcement and the status of stakeholdersin the South African corporation. The article then concludes that in a country which emerged from a history of entrenched overt racism, a significant recognition of stakeholder interests is critical to the socio-economic need for transformation to create a stable civil society. Globalisation has given rise to remarkable increase in the power of the global corporation. Events in the corporate sector can have negative repercussions not only for the shareholders of that particular corporation but also for society at large, either in that particular country or internationally. The emergence of powerful multinational corporations has led to a demise of state authority. The spate of corporate failures, however, has precipitated a move towards strengthening corporate governance rules to ensure thatcompanies are well governed. Indeed it has been opined that companies contribute enormously to the economic and social wellbeing of our societies (Worthington “Corporate Governance: Remedying and Ratifying Directors Breaches” October 2000 (116) LQR 638).

The Heart of Toronto: Corporate Power, Civic Activism, and the Remaking of Downtown Yonge Street by Daniel Ross

The Heart of Toronto: Corporate Power, Civic Activism, and the Remaking of Downtown Yonge Street by Daniel Ross. Un article de la revue Ontario History (Volume 114, numéro 2, fall 2022, p. 143-269) diffusée par la plateforme Érudit.

The Lightness of Human Rights in World Heritage: A Critical View of Rights-Based Approaches, Vernaculars, and Action Opportunities

ABSTRACT Why are the global rights commitments made by States Parties to the World Heritage Convention failing to trigger effective responses to critical human rights infringements? This paper responds to a continuous call from heritage practitioners to help clarify the meaning and significance of human rights-based approaches (RBA) that are adopted as policy imperatives, yet simultaneously undermined in practice. The first part of the paper reviews the vernacularization of human rights discourse and objectives at UNESCO and in the World Heritage policy field. It is argued that while clear formal commitments to human rights exist in the language, much ambiguity and several dilemmas remain in the framing of connections between heritage and human rights. The second part offers a critical discussion of the institutional traps, dilemmas and unresolved questions involved in adopting RBA in heritage work. A set of key questions follow about the why, what, for whom, and when, as well as how and under what conditions, human rights matter in heritage processes. While structural constraints appear daunting, accepting that heritage processes are powerful leads to real choices about whether to cement inequalities and state or corporate power hegemonies, or, conversely, to contribute towards building more equitable relationships.

Introduction: corporate power and political domination

ABSTRACT In recent years, an interdisciplinary debate on the social and political role of business corporations has evolved. With this special issue, we would like to facilitate a comprehensive discussion of three questions that are especially pertinent in that debate: (1) How is the social and political agency of corporations to be understood? (2) How should the power of corporations be analyzed? (3) Under which conditions would the social and political roles of corporations be legitimate? In this introduction to the special issue, we start with a short outline of the debate. In the next step, we provide an overview of the five contributions. We conclude by summarizing what can be learned from those contributions with respect to the three research questions.

Digitization of Society: Alternative Projections of the Future

The impact of digitization on four spheres of society, i.e., economic, political, social, and spiritual, is analyzed. Digitization is defined as the diffusion of information and communication technologies (ICT) that can bring about both positive (legitimate) and negative (wrongful) effects. At the same time, today the digitization of public spheres directly involves the component of ensuring the digital security of society, which is becoming increasingly global in character. Cyber wars and cyber attacks cause economic damage on a global scale, amounting to six trillion dollars US annually, which is commensurate with the economic losses of wartime. Large-scale digitization of public spheres for the first time in human history creates an objective opportunity for constructing and designing future social states, which makes a fundamental difference between the course of future socio-economic and political processes and the historical evolution of the previous eras. This gave rise to a dichotomy of virtual utopias and dystopias of Future projects. Dystopias are inspired by visions of the coming “digital slavery,” while utopias focus on visions of a “digital paradise.” Polarized views on the digital Future are based on the processes of the “digital divide,” the meaning of which is that digitization contributes to a significant increase in inequality in access to digital goods, which in turn results in a growing inequality in the distribution of income and wealth. The coronavirus pandemic promoted a powerful acceleration of digitization processes, which acted as a form of society’s adaptation to its stresses and harmful consequences. Digitization has made social distancing possible and cost-effective. At the same time, the pandemic was conducive to a colossal increase in the economic power and political influence of digital corporations, which objectively requires a sharp increase in the regulatory role of the state, which should put digitization under effective public control.

Regime of Obstruction: How Corporate Power Blocks Energy Democracy. Edited by William K. Carroll

Founded in 1974, the Canadian Journal of Communication (CJC) aims to publish Canadian research and scholarship in the field of communication studies. The purview of the journal is the entire field of communication studies as practiced in Canada or with relevance to Canada.