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2 results

  • 2 - Megacorporations

  • from Part I - The Birth of a Megacorporation
  • Glen Whelan, McGill University, Montréal
  • Book:
    Megacorporation
    Published online:
    06 April 2021
    Print publication:
    08 April 2021, pp 21-42

  • Summary

    Chapter 2 details the megacorporate concept. It begins by noting that, whilst references to the idea of a megacorporation can be found in contemporary works of fiction, these references tend to be vague. The chapter’s following section thus turns to the task of differentiating the idea of a megacorporation from three other corporate types: i.e. normal corporations, multinational corporations and total corporations. After this, it is proposed that, in addition to being generally characterized by their global scale of activities and broad scope of influence, megacorporations are more specifically characterized by their monopolistic activities, their social responsibility concerns, their political-economic hybridity and by their existential impact on our lives. Given these criteria, the chapter’s penultimate section proposes that the East India Company provides a clear historical example of a megacorporation. A brief summary brings the chapter to its conclusion.

Megacorporation
  • The Infinite Times of Alphabet
  • Glen Whelan
  • Published online:
    06 April 2021
    Print publication:
    08 April 2021
  • When the scale and scope of influence that a corporation wields is so great that it eclipses that of nearly all other corporations combined, it attains megacorporate status. Whelan proposes that, amongst the current big tech cohort, it is only Alphabet, the parent company of Google, that can be categorized as such. In advancing a novel philosophical perspective, and aspiring to an amoral ideal of analysis, Whelan reveals Alphabet's activities to be informed by the ideology of infinite times, consequently transforming how we experience the past, present and the future at personal and social levels. By shining a light on such corporate existential impacts, Megacorporation: The Infinite Times of Alphabet opens up a new field of research that makes the philosophical analysis of business and society an everyday concern. This novel study on corporate social influence will appeal to readers interested in big tech, business and society, political economy and organization studies.