It is no coincidence that the World Economic Forum (WEF) is frequently associated with globalization and its negative aspects. The membership of the WEF is made up of the world’s foremost global corporations who over the last two decades have been the driving force behind the process of economic globalization. They have successfully established a neoliberal economic order (characterized by liberalization, deregulation, and privatization) that gives them access to new markets, cheap labor, and profitable investment opportunities.

In the seventies and eighties they were called multinationals. Today they are known as transnational corporations (TNC). TNCs may be described as groups of corporations with international production and distribution structures and a centralized strategic command.

According to estimates of the UN-conference on Trade And Development (UNCTAD) there are some 65’000 transnational corporations worldwide with a total of 850’000 subsidiaries. Three quarters of these are based in the US, Japan, or Europe. Of the 100 largest corporations, no less than 99 are based in a country of the north. Only a single top-100 corporation has its headquarters in the south (South Korea). In recent years, mergers and acquisitions have concentrated world economic power in the hands of a small number of giant corporations. Two of the top five corporations are the result of giant mergers – the car industry group DaimlerChrysler and the oil multinational ExxonMobil.

In terms of economic potential these giant corporations surpass many national economies. Of the world’s 100 largest economic entities 51 are private corporations and 49 are countries. The annual sales of the number one industrial corporation – General Motors – are larger than the combined GNP of Ireland, New Zealand and Hungary. And the combined economic potential of the five largest concerns is bigger than that of the world’s 46 poorest countries.