Comparing Market Building Strategies and Cost Minimizing Strategies

While it is not black and white, most globalized companies fall into two categories. Some corporations pursue market-building strategy, they tend to invest in human rights and treat their workers well; while other corporations pursue cost-minimizing strategy tend to use outsourcing and other strategies to get around human rights requirements. Market-building companies tend to make long-term investments that are unlikely to produce immediate profit. Cost-minimizing companies tend to make short-term investments cut corners, out source, and any other strategy to get around restrictions involving human rights. They will use low wages, poor quality, long hours, and bad health conditions to save money. An example of this is oil companies such as Shell's experience in Nigeria. They were taking advantage of Nigeria’s lack of human rights restrictions. This allowed them to work their workers as long as they wanted, pay them close to nothing, and have little or no health care. They also ended up working against a movement for rights for rights for the Ogoni people.