Engines of Growth or Scourges on Society? Assessing the Influence of Big Business on Labor, Consumers, and Third Parties
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47611/jsrhs.v14i1.8975Keywords:
big business, entrepreneurship, business regulation, antitrust, labor market, externalities, employment, economics, lobbying, FTCAbstract
Highly successful companies are often vilified for their pursuit of profit, which is perceived to come at the expense of the people. Yet those who build highly successful companies are also routinely praised as visionaries who create jobs and improve the quality of life for consumers through their innovative products. So which is it? Are large and successful businesses engines of growth or scourges on society? This paper explores that question by assessing the impact of big business on three specific stakeholders: labor, consumers, and third parties. It concludes that the impact on all stakeholders is mixed. At their best, large and successful businesses provide lucrative jobs for their employees, create valued goods and services for consumers, and use the fortunes amassed to advance philanthropic causes. Yet these benefits may be overshadowed by more serious harms. Highly successful businesses can use their dominance to exploit employees. They can also suppress competition, allowing them to charge higher prices for inferior products. They can even exacerbate problems like climate change by failing to consider the externalities of their operations and erode the foundations of democracy through their disproportionate social and political influence. However, this paper underscores that such harms are not inevitable. Carefully crafted and actively enforced government regulations can play a central role in reining in the worst effects of big business while amplifying their positive impact.
Downloads
References or Bibliography
“27% of jobs at high risk from AI revolution, says OECD.” Reuters. Jul 12, 2023. https://www.reuters.com/technology/27-jobs-high-risk-ai-revolution-says-oecd-2023-07-11/
“Amazon apologises for wrongly denying drivers need to urinate in bottles.” BBC. April 4, 2021. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56628745
“Andrew Carnegie: The Richest Man in the World.” PBS. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/carnegie-steel-business/
“Apple's number of employees in the fiscal years 2005 to 2023.” Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/273439/number-of-employees-of-apple-since-2005/
Atkinson, Robert D. and Michael Lind, “Is Big Business Really That Bad?” The Atlantic. April 2018. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/04/learning-to-love-big-business/554096/
Beattie, Andrew. “Why Did Microsoft Face Antitrust Charges in 1998?” Investopedia. October 25, 2021, https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/08/microsoft-antitrust.asp
Brown, Sarah. “6 arguments for carbon taxes.” MIT Management. Feb. 22, 2022. https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/6-arguments-carbon-taxes
Caney, Tim. “Big Business and Big Government.” Cato Institute. July/August 2006. https://www.cato.org/policy-report/july/august-2006/big-business-big-government
Chaidez, Alexandra. “Groups spent record $4.2 billion in 2023 lobbying federal lawmakers, report says.” NBC News. Jan. 27, 2024. https://www.nbcnews.com/investigations/lobbyists-spent-record-42-billion-2023-federal-lawmakers-rcna135943
Cho, Renée. “How Buying Stuff Drives Climate Change.” State of the Planet. Dec 16, 2020. https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2020/12/16/buying-stuff-drives-climate-change/
Coviello, Decio et al. “What Happens to Worker Productivity after a Minimum Wage Increase?” Kellogg Insight. December 1, 2022, https://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/worker-productivity-minimum-wage-increase
“Credits for new clean vehicles purchased in 2023 or after.” IRS. https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/credits-for-new-clean-vehicles-purchased-in-2023-or-after
Daly, Lyle. “The Largest Companies by Market Cap in 2024.” The Motley Fool. June 3, 2024, https://www.fool.com/research/largest-companies-by-market-cap/
“Does Trickle-down Economics Add Up – or Is It a Drop in the Bucket?” Knowledge at Wharton. Dec 12, 2017. https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/trickle-economics-flood-drip/
Dunn, Amina and Andy Cerda. “Anti-corporate sentiment in U.S. is now widespread in both parties.” Pew Research Center. November 17, 2022, https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/11/17/anti-corporate-sentiment-in-u-s-is-now-widespread-in-both-parties/
“Elon Musk’s Super Pac spent $200m to help elect Donald Trump.” The Guardian. November 12, 2024. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/12/elon-musk-america-pac-donald-trump-campaign
“Employee Rights Under OSHA.” USF OSHA, https://www.usfosha.com/osha-articles/employee-rights-under-osha/
“Entrepreneurship: A Catalyst for Job Creation.” Regions’ Alliances for Interconnected Startup Ecosystems. November 7, 2023, https://theraise.eu/startup-news/entrepreneurship-a-catalyst-for-job-creation/
“EU hits Apple with $2bn antitrust fine following Spotify complaint.” Al Jazeera. March 4, 2024, https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2024/3/4/apple-hit-with-nearly-2bn-eu-antitrust-fine-in-spotify-case
“FTC Sues Amazon for Illegally Maintaining Monopoly Power.” Federal Trade Commission. Sep 26, 2023. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/09/ftc-sues-amazon-illegally-maintaining-monopoly-power
French, Nick. “Don’t Fall for the Myth of the Job Creator.” Jacobin. Apr 7, 2023. https://jacobin.com/2023/04/dont-fall-for-the-myth-of-the-job-creator
“The Global Fund.” Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. https://www.gatesfoundation.org/ideas/articles/bill-gates-how-the-global-fund-saves-millions-of-lives
Greenhouse, Steven. “‘Old-school union busting’: how US corporations are quashing the new wave of organizing.” The Guardian. Feb 26, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/26/amazon-trader-joes-starbucks-anti-union-measures
Hong, Ki et al. “Lobbying regulation: a global phenomenon.” Reuters. November 7, 2023. https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindustry/lobbying-regulation-global-phenomenon-2023-11-06/
Huddleston, Tom Jr. “Bill Gates plans to give away ‘virtually all’ his $113 billion—here’s the impact that could actually have.” CNBC. July 15, 2022, https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/15/bill-gates-plans-to-give-away-virtually-all-his-113-billion-fortune.html
Kabir, Omer. “Profits are at record highs, so why are tech companies laying off so many workers?” Calcalist. Feb 12, 2024. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/wffo5u4am
Kantor, Jodi, and David Streitfeld. “Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising
Workplace.” The New York Times. August 16, 2015. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/technology/inside-amazon-wrestling-big-ideas-in-a-bruising-workplace.html
Krajewski, Markus. “The Great Lightbulb Conspiracy.” IEEE Spectrum. Sep 2014. https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-great-lightbulb-conspiracy
Mann, Brian et al. “Supreme Court overturns opioid settlement with Purdue Pharma that shielded Sacklers.” NPR. June 29, 2024. https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/06/29/nx-s1-5021798/supreme-court-overturns-opioid-settlement-with-purdue-pharma-that-shielded-sacklerssupreme-court-overturns-sackler-settlement-delaying-funds-meant-for-communities-battling-opioids
Meier, Barry. “Sacklers Directed Efforts to Mislead Public About OxyContin, Court Filing Claims.” New York Times. Jan 15, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/15/health/sacklers-purdue-oxycontin-opioids.html
Meinrenken, Christoph et al. “Carbon emissions embodied in product value chains and the role of Life Cycle Assessment in curbing them.” Scientific Reports. 2020. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-62030-x#citeas
Morris, Ian. “Seven Ways Windows 95 Changed The World.” Forbes. August 24, 2015, https://www.forbes.com/sites/ianmorris/2015/08/24/windows-95-changed-the-world/?sh=7f31f7582ad3
Mukherjee, Amritanshu. ‘iPhone throwback.” Hindustani Times. September 1, 2022, https://tech.hindustantimes.com/mobile/news/iphone-throwback-the-original-2007-iphone-started-the-smartphone-revolution-71662003477214.html
“Number of employees at the Microsoft Corporation from 2005 to 2023.” Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/273475/number-of-employees-at-the-microsoft-corporation-since-2005/
Ortutay, Barbara. “How Elon Musk uses his X social media platform to amplify right-wing views.” PBS. August 19, 2024. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/how-elon-musk-uses-his-x-social-media-platform-to-amplify-right-wing-views
Ray, Margaret A., and David R. Anderson. Krugman’s Economics for the AP Course. Feb 1, 2019.
Saloojee, Y. and E Dagli. “Tobacco industry tactics for resisting public policy on health.” Bull World Health Organization. 2000. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10994263/
Smith, Adam. Wealth of Nations. 1776.
Stewart, Billy. “Addressing corporate externalities for sustainable economy.” Digital Marketing News. June 21, 2024. https://www.dmnews.com/addressing-corporate-externalities-for-sustainable-economy/
Stewart, Emily. “America’s monopoly problem, explained by your internet bill.” Vox. Feb 18, 2020. https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2020/2/18/21126347/antitrust-monopolies-internet-telecommunications-cheerleading
Sugrue, Thomas. “Downsizing: Depopulation, Disinvestment, and the Fate of the City.” From Motor City to Motor Metropolis: How the Automobile Industry Reshaped Urban America. http://www.autolife.umd.umich.edu/Race/R_Overview/R_Overview5.htm
“Two million U.S. jobs. And counting.” Apple Inc. https://www.apple.com/job-creation/
Vallely, Paul. “How philanthropy benefits the super-rich.” The Guardian. Sep 8, 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/sep/08/how-philanthropy-benefits-the-super-rich
Vaute, Vianney. “On Apple’s ‘Batterygate’: Why Settling For $500-Million Is The Wrong Move.” Forbes. Mar 10, 2020. https://www.forbes.com/sites/vianneyvaute/2020/03/10/on-apples-batterygate-why-settling-for-500-million-dollars-is-the-wrong-move/?sh=54481f112ea6
White, Edward. “Tesla overtaken by China’s BYD as world’s biggest EV maker.” Financial Times. Jan 3, 2024. https://www.ft.com/content/716c9b0b-d8cd-491a-a91b-d70c1e540797
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Copyright (c) 2025 Seeun Jang; Michael Van Genderen
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Copyright holder(s) granted JSR a perpetual, non-exclusive license to distriute & display this article.
