Dear Dagmara,

thank you for opening this interesting discussion! First of all, I agree with you that the power of big, transnational corporations (TNCs) or multinational corporations (MNCs) is omnipresent these days. There are many examples, of course, and you cite a very prominent one with the Nissan/Carlos Ghosn case. If you permit, I will just add a few thoughts here: I think it is important to keep in mind that it is not only big TNCs who are the actors here. It is also still nation states as well as multi-lateral blocks of such states such as the EU, USMCA (formerly known as NAFTA), ASEAN, MERCOSUR etc. China's "Belt and Road Initiative" also comes to mind here. We should also not forget the power of international regulatory bodies such as the WTO (and to a lesser extent the IMF). What I am trying to get at here is that in my view, TNCs are one group among many different stakeholders and actors both in the global market economy as well as in the political arena (geopolitics etc.). Also think of the power nation states - still today - often exert indirectly through their financial investments/holdings,.which may not necessarily be in TNCs/MNCs in the strict sense of these terms (think of Saudi Arabia and Russia as just two examples). Moreover, TNCs of course compete amongst each other over influence in national or transnational markets, regulatory and political spaces. This again does give nation states or strategic "blocks"/conglomerates of those quite considerable leverage. Just think, for instance, of regulations the EU imposes on companies such as Facebook, Twitter etc. as an example. Finally, I'd be interested to know whether you're also including a historical perspective in your thesis? Just think back to the VERY early days of economic globalization: The early Dutch and British corporations (you may even think as far back as to the Italian Medici and traders of Genoa!) were very powerful, indeed, vis a vis their "states"/worldly rulers, respectively. The story continues from there through the centuries of accelerating and ever more interconnected globalization. Perhaps the late David S. Landes would be a good author to turn to here - I'd definitely recommend his works!

Hope this helps a bit and keep us posted about the progress of your work!

All the best,

Julius

Check out literature on supermarketization. There is interesting literature on how supermarkets drove quality and health standards that, in turn, led to better consumer protection.

Hi Dagmara, insightful topic. Check out this PHD dissertation, am sure you will find something related to your search: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=how+corporations+influence+the+government&oq=how+corporations+influence+#d=gs_qabs&u=%23p%3D-0V1gveunOcJ