There are fewer and fewer companies producing in Germany. Rather, production is often relocated to near or far abroad, especially to so-called low-wage countries. There are solid reasons for this: companies are internationalizing, for example in order to produce cheaper or to reach a larger sales market. Manufacturing companies are one of the main drivers of globalization , as they directly and indirectly influence the interdependencies between countries. The importance of international companies is evident in the increasing movements of goods and commodities. Manufacturing companies in industrialized countries are now almost all present in international markets. You will then also become a “ global player", Also called" global players ". These global players operate worldwide and take advantage of the special differences between the countries where the company is headquartered. Most of the time, the headquarters of these companies are selected based on economic reasons. The global players benefit from the fact that they can set up their headquarters in a tax-privileged region and burden the global subsidiaries with low profits. The actual company profit is generated by the headquarters, which benefits from the low taxes. Such maximization methods run through all the activities of global players and are specifically promoted, for example, by commissioning management consultancies and business consultancy firms.

In addition to the global players, a large number of smaller companies also buy into international markets and benefit from global price fluctuations and other advantages. Subcontracting services from other countries are also an integral part of the corporate policy of many medium-sized companies and corporations. In particular, companies that trade in mass-produced goods or need them for further processing are dependent on international advantages such as the advantage of lower wages abroad. The sale of goods and services today almost inevitably has to take place across national borders, as the companies involved have to grow. The home markets are served quickly, however, so that new markets have to be developed in order to create a basis for further growth.

A company that operates globally beyond the national borders of its country of origin is generally referred to as a global player. It has networks of branches and corporate centers around the world and has subsidiaries operating in their respective areas of the world.

This gives global players the opportunity to operate global networks effectively and use synergies. Global players, for example, operate huge factories in developing or emerging countries to manufacture their products, but also the branches and logistics centers to ship these products around the world and sell them in the industrialized countries. A network of different brands and subsidiaries enables them to ideally adapt to the respective market conditions in the various countries. Due to the huge turnover and broad product range, it is also possible for them to work more effectively as a locally operating company and to compensate for market fluctuations in certain areas. They are therefore superior to small companies and adopt them, to strengthen their own market position. This leads to a growing centralization of the market to a few companies.

Finally, it should be noted that global players, due to their sheer size, also have political influence. In the world economy it is common for economic contacts to exist before political contacts and to enable them. That is why the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, for example, often travels to foreign countries with “representatives of the economy”. Economic cooperation promotes the foreign policy of the countries involved, which in turn brings economic advantages. This in turn means that business and politics not only like to cooperate, but simply conditional on each other. Economic and political cooperation can result in stability and peace, but also global economic crises.

The ability to operate in free markets across borders has enabled multinational companies to make decisions far removed from the rules of democracy. They are only bound by the requirements of the states in which they operate. Of course, the states try to protect the interests of their people, but they are dependent on the companies. The economic strength and competitiveness of a state depends directly on the companies that produce within its borders and give people work. Since the onset of globalization, they have been in competition with other states. If a state enforces particularly tough regulations, a company can simply relocate its headquarters to another state, which in turn benefits from the company.

The fact that global players have taken such great power in the world economy not only serves the good of humanity. The fierce competition between the multinationals means that they are forced to maximize their effectiveness. This happens through low wages for the workers and sometimes unscrupulous use of the earth and its resources. In search of maximum profit, global players have factories built in developing countries to take advantage of the helplessness of the workers there. They destroy the local structures and offer the unemployed, starving population a chance to survive - with low pay. Protection of employees does not exist or is circumvented by the company, as a result of which the workers sometimes work twelve hours a day for earnings of one euro. Forests are also being cleared to make room for agriculture, soils are made unusable by chemicals and seas are fished empty, as moral aspects as well as the control of institutions or states in the huge companies hardly come into play.

In the end, only one instance was able to put a stop to the corporations: demand. The increasing awareness of the people about the problems of globalization has meant that global players have to pay close attention to the reputation of their customers. If the headlines say that a global player tolerates particularly poor working conditions in its factories, this has a negative impact on sales. The company has to react.