Similar developments are found in the decaying industrial and mining centers of Europe, where the closure of coalmines and steel mills leads to the economic and social decline of whole regions. As in the case of Willy Loman in Arthur Miller’s play, these communities often feel that they have been used and sucked dry and are now being thrown away because they are no longer needed. The feelings of resentment and exploitation are particularly severe when the plants or mines being closed are profitable but not profitable enough from a corporate standpoint.
That corporate and community interests are not always synonymous is a truism common to all organizations, not just the multinationals. But the scale of operations among the latter is so enormous that it makes the consequences of their decisions especially great. We have illustrated the point by focusing on how changes in corporate strategy, even if only to increase rates of profit, can set the basis for widespread socioeconomic change. In a similar way, the decisions of multinationals to move their liquid capital from one country to another to take advantage of interest rate differentials can have a major effect on the international balance of payments of the countries concerned. Or a decision to pursue a particular line of corporate development can have a major effect on national and regional economic planning, distorting the pattern of relations that the host region or nation wishes to encourage.