Transnational companies have shown themselves almost wholly unprepared for these changes, although the globalization of the world economy has hugely increased their range and influence. The supply chains of retailers may involve sweatshops, sexual or racial discrimination, exploitation of child labor and starvation wages. For corporations the environment in which they operate can be uncertain and dangerous. Company employees have been arrested in China on ill-defined charges, taken hostage and killed in Chechnya, and are targets for attack in Colombia. In seeking physical security for its plant and people, company action can worsen matters by association with oppressive state forces, thus aggravating the political or economic injustice which may lie at the root of the problem.
Corporations can be part of the solution if they have the wit and wisdom to be so.
This requires a change of perception about the frontiers of their responsibility. Companies cannot and should not act as governments. Responsible companies have long recognized their obligations to protect the lives, the health and safety of their employees. Protection of the environment has been forced upon them by public pressure. These are all aspects of human rights, as is the corporate contribution to the creation of wealth which is the foundation of economic rights.