Child Labour

Child labour is the employment of children in any sector of work which would deter them from their childhood. This is usually the case in poorer countries as it interests with their chances of being educated. Their main aim is to earn money for the family which usually happens. This can affect them in many ways mentally and physically. Not learning how to read or write or not being able to socialise and have their stages of growing up. It can be dangerous as hiring young children in jobs for example factory work which tends to happen.

Nike Inc. promised to take out underage workers and require overseas manufacturers of its wares to meet strict United States health and safety standards.

Nike said it would raise the minimum age for hiring new workers at shoe factories to 18 and the minimum for new workers at other plants to 16, in countries where it is common for 14-year-olds to hold such jobs. It will not require the dismissal of underage workers already in place.

Asia child labour is accounted for which is very high figures as Asia has one of the biggest populations which in total is around 114 million of work the workforce is child labour. In Africa 32% of its workforce is child labour which is nearly a third of the total workforce. As you can see Africa has the highest percentage of child labour out of the total workforce.

Clothing companies such as Nike and Primark have been accused of this as they have employed many children in countries such as Bangladesh India in Asia. They have hired many children into their factories and there has been many documentaries how the process for the children. There have been reports of children suffering and being injured during their time during work at these factories as they have to deal with using sewing needles and machines and they have been injured on many occasions due to this. Primark had been accused for only paying there workers 60p for the day.

Here, the children are normally employed by their parents as they live in rural areas and they need to help farm crops. It is thought that extreme poverty and lack of schools are the cause of such high levels of child labour.

                               
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2014325/Nike-workers-kicked-slapped-verbally-abused-factories-making-Converse-line-Indonesia.html

Expolitation in poor countries

Exploitation has happened quite a lot in places such as China within big businesses. However there have also been accusations of workers being exploited in poorer countries such as Bangladesh and India. A deadly fire which killed more than 110 garment workers in Bangladesh has raised quite a few questions. The workers were all trained to deal with a fire and there were also over 300 fire extinguishers available to fight the fire. However, witnesses had explained that a number of doors had been locked by the management which had prevented workers from escaping.

This is because companies in Europe and the US are to save on their maufacturing costs by moving their factories to poor countries where they can get away with paying low wages, and forcing their workers to work long hours.

 

This then has an effect on the country as a whole, as all of the profits made from the products are absorbed by the business, and the workers still recieve a very small amount of money. This means that the incomes of a population remain low - and the country's economy cannot grow.

Expolitation in international business

Exploitation of workers in international business

Exploited by multinationals and developed countries, especially their labour force which is normally considerably cheaper in comparison to the workforce in developed countries. This is because in the MDC's there are many more rights and regulations for workers including a minimum wage which can be a lot higher than the wages of Third World workers. The developed world also does exploit the third worlds' economy by paying low prices for the goods and services that they sell which are normally primary goods such as raw materials.

The largest group exploited workers is migrant workers, which is made up of men, children, but mostly women. But it is not only the migrant workers that are facing this plight. Anita Chan, author of China’s Workers Under Assault, discusses these other workers facing poor conditions. Chan explains that “For many formerly privileged workers in the state-owned industrial sector, working conditions, benefits and job security have declined precipitously over the past fifteen years.” These low wages are commonly below the minimum wage which the Chinese government set in the Labor Law.

http://www.studymode.com/essays/Exploitation-Of-China-s-Workers-441474.html

The exploited labour is normally where workers are made to work for long hours and at very low rates in poor working conditions such as factories and sweatshops. These workers normally are very poor and have low or no education, with a lacking health care service. 

Some examples of these two kinds of exploitation are :

The african mining companies which are mostly owned by western countries are known for their exploitation of third world workers who work in poor conditions for very little pay. This link shows the history of african mining:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/1624_story_of_africa/page25.shtml

Unfair wages for African Workers

Tesco have reported profits of over £3 billion last year and workers in africa are being paid under £98 per month, some people are saying that Tesco should share out the profits more and give the workers in africa a better wage. This article from the guardian explains this in more detail:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/may/15/tesco-south-africa-workers-conditions

These forms of exploitation are easier on the poor and weak and big internationals use this to cut down their costs and increase profit.

However if this exploitation was to be leaked through the press to the public about a specific company then this may deter their customers from using them for goods or services as it would be seen to be unethical. So this reduced business would have drastic effects on their profits and so by using Third world labour they are taking a risk that if it got out then they would be in a bad position with public image. Also if there were suppliers for this business then they may not supply them anymore so that their negative image does not go onto them and ruin their customer base.

They were accused of exploiting young workers where some of them were physically and verbally abused and were also forced to work 100 hours overtime every month. The workers were not allowed to sit during shifts and were working in poor conditions. They however did deny using child labour but this was a very recent accusation of them which took place in September 2012.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploitation
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/scramble-to-exploit-poor-nations-in-africa/story-e6frg8zx-1225962341037

http://www.economywatch.com/foreign-direct-investment/pro-poor.html

Politcal

The concept of political risk in international business is based on the existence of possible threats to the firm from political instability and lawlessness in the area of investment. Once a firm leaves the basically standardized world of domestic business law, the global environment is much more fluid; most states can use many levers of power to extract more resources from the investing firm. 

The reason behind the embargo is that the European Union fears that the dictatorship in Burma is becoming to violent and brutal. 

They fear that if the Burmese carry on recieving weapons, then they could decide to invade a country, jeopardising EU treaty agreements and negotiations. The reason behind the embargo is that the European Union fears that the dictatorship in Burma is becoming to violent and brutal. They fear that if the Burmese carry on recieving weapons, then they could decide to invade a country, jeopardising EU treaty agreements and negotiations. The Iranian currency has fallen during the past year and has lost a third of its value which has sparked street protests. US official and also other Western officials blame the drop on combination of economic mismanagement as well as sanctions. 

The UK has adopted into their legislation the European Unions decision to adopt an arms embargo on Burma. This means that it is illegal to export arms and related material - ie military weapons and goods, to Burma. The UK has interpreted this as covering all goods on the UK Military List.

http://www.ehow.com/about_6363401_political-risk-affect-international-business_.html