In the early 1990s probably over 80 per cent of the world’s trade was in the hands of MNCs and TNCs (Anon., 1993: 220). In 1974 the Group of 77 (G77) – a coalition of 100, mainly developing, countries – demanded a New International Economic Order (NIEO) at the UN General Assembly. The NIEO included plans for new commodity agreements, alteration of what were seen as unfair patent laws and general North–South economic reform, especially expanded free trade as a way of creating employment and wealth. These demands have received considerable support, and TNCs and MNCs can benefit from better access to world markets. Some are less keen, and advocate a new protectionism – a reduction in the volume of trade, as an alternative to free trade, to cure the market problems that led to demands for NIEO (Lang and Hines, 1993).