The Corporation Analysis

I find it ridiculous that I have to say this: corporations are not people. And yet, the supreme court seems to disagree. In 2010, the supreme court ruled in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that grants corporations the rights of citizens. Since then, many people have rightfully asked for the abolition of Corporate Personhood. Corporations are not sentient beings and have no moral code or understanding of the law; therefore, they are not responsible for any legal discretions: people running the corporations are. People can consciously make decisions that are harmful to others but may never have to reconcile for it because they were doing it under the company. Here’s the thing: corporations can't go to jail. The only way to make corporations pay is to literally make them pay fines. Even lawsuits worth millions of dollars can be nothing to large companies with vast amounts of wealth. Corporations will just pay the fines and continue functioning as before.

Throughout history, major corporations have taken control over nations. During the late 1800s and early 1900s big business have made a name for themselves in the united states. Even though, major corporations have had a positive impact on society, they in fact hurt our economy greatly.

Corporate transgressions continue to occur in the United States every day and are a form of violence. Take for example the case of UrbanCore Development, LLC. Recently the real estate development firm has been in the news mostly for the local protests the company has sparked by signing a deal to purchase public lands from the city of Oakland. Their website, www.urbancorellc.com states, “UrbanCore emphasizes partnerships between the public, private, and community sectors, and is known for successfully bring these groups together to complete projects. The result of these public-private relationships is that UrbanCore is able to enhance the feasibility of the private investment in its transactions by leveraging the public investment contributions in each project.” I find this interesting considering the company is coming under fire for lying about the future availability of low income housing in it’s proposed development off of 12th Street near Lake Merritt. The deal that they have created would oust elderly Asian people from their homes with nowhere to go and no plans for relocating the elders. The company has also come under fire for lying about contributions it made to Mayor Libby Schaff’s campaign. Records have surfaced that may prove that the campaign contributions that UrbanCore made were

A corporation was originally designed to allow for the forming of a group to get a single project done, after which it would be disbanded. At the end of the Civil War, the 14th amendment was passed in order to protect the rights of former slaves. At this point, corporate lawyers worked to define a corporation as a “person,” granting them the right to life, liberty and property. Ever since this distinction was made, corporations have become bigger and bigger, controlling many aspects of the economy and the lives of Americans. Corporations are not good for America because they outsource jobs, they lie and deceive, and they knowingly make and sell products that can harm people and animals, all in order to raise profits.

Children across the country can be heard pledging allegiance “to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands;” however, research shows we no longer have a democratic republic in the United States. When the desires of the majority are systematically subverted to the desires a small and powerful minority, as is often in the case in the US, that system is an oligarchy. The democratic republic envisioned by the founding fathers has been replaced by an oligarchy to which they would have objected. With no express discussion of corporations in the constitution, the responsibility of defining the role and privileges of corporations in the US has been left largely to the United States Supreme Court.

In the book, The Corporation Joel Bakan presents arguments, that corporations are nothing but institutional pathological psychopaths that are “a dangerous possessor of the great power it wields over people and societies.” Their main responsibility is maximizing profit for their stockholders and ignoring the means to achieve this goal, portrays them as “psychopathic.” Bakan argues that, corporations are psychopaths, corporate social responsibility is illegal, and that corporations are able to manipulate anyone, even the government.

Fear of repercussion is reason many people avoid acting in a criminal or inappropriate manner. This allows for public order and prevents chaos in society. The same distress should be applied to corporations to act appropriately. When a corporation acts illegally, I believe Congress should have the power to revoke their charter for it should be treated more as a privilege and less as a right

The hazy boundary between society and corporation will always be a source of tension. Those organizations leave social problems and cause huge environmental destruction. From outsourcing layoffs in the U.S., bankrupted suppliers, environmental destruction, to impoverished workers who are left without anything having to be on welfare in order to maintain the life of their families. On a better note, numerous organizations either concerned for the planet, giving recognition of what is better for its employees, are giving a better way of doing things in a corporation. Knowing about the history of these companies, they are working to build a better sense of ethics. Demonstrating that socially, bringing policies into affect can also bring profit as well.

One of the prevalent belief is that corporations were set up solely to maximize profit to shareholders. Unlike other business models, corporations have the sole status of being viewed as a ‘legal person’, with the rights similar to natural citizens including “engage in business and contracts, initiate lawsuits, and itself be sued” (Business Dictionary). This unique classification provides corporations with the rare opportunity to take advantage of the power corporations have to benefit society and the economy. One such example is the potential for companies to incorporate under a B-Corp (Benefit Corp) structure rather than as a C-Corp. The way that a companies structures itself can have significant implications on its corporate governance.

A Corporation can be defined as a legal creation, however the corporation itself, would only exist on a piece of paper. A corporation will never die a natural death like humans die naturally, and corporations will always outlive the individual who created it. With that said, the corporation itself is never really committed to any employee or committed to any neighbor. However, a corporation can always demand employees, a corporation can always demand taxes that are extremely high, and a corporation can also restrict environmental laws. Corporations hold a great deal of power in today's society.

Yet this capacity to do great good is matched by an ability to inflict or be complicit in great harm. Merely by operating in certain areas of the world, corporations can give economic support and moral sanction to governments implicated in highly oppressive or corrupt activities. Even in developed countries, the Starbucks and Amazons of the world

In the book, The Corporation Joel Bakan, presents arguments: that corporations are nothing but institutional pathological psychopaths that are “a dangerous possessor of the great power it wields over people and societies.” Their main responsibility is maximizing profit for their stockholders and ignoring the means to achieve this goal. This in results portrays them as “psychopathic.” Bakan argues that: corporations are psychopaths, corporate social responsibility is illegal, and that corporations are able to manipulate anyone, even the government.

Since corporations are not physical things or people, it is very easy for them to avoid any kind of trouble. Corporations have become great at passing on their externalities to the public. An externality is an expense of any kind, whether it is something such as environmental damage or forcing people in an area to pay money for something, that a corporation forces the public to pay for while they privatize all profits. Corporations being externalizing machines fit in very well with their psychopathic behavior. They externalize any cost to the public because they can and it helps them achieve their goal of making as much money as possible. A quote from Robert Monks puts it very well, he says “The corporation is an externalizing machine

Let’s step back and look at the business itself, corporations are practically a legal person. Therefore they have social responsibilities. We call this CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility). “CSR is good for the planet and good for people. Employees whose personal values fit with the organization’s CSR mission are often more satisfied. (Stephens 2016)”. There are so many things a business can do to improve their public reputation through CSR. “We are committed to offering high-quality, ethically purchased and responsibly produced products (corporate)”. Starbucks a world famous coffee shop is always using their CSR as way to promote business. They pride themselves on using the finest coffees, from the most ethically sourced regions. This is a great marketing strategy. It also improves employee job satisfaction! CSR is such a great thing more businesses should really look into. Buyers in the market are now becoming more conciensous of where

Company A and company B are two completely different companies and now they are merging together. They have been competitors for years and the HR job will be very crucial. When it comes to informing employees about this new decision that has been made, it is important not to overwhelm them with a lot of information. There are some things that they need to know, but they don’t need to know everything.