The No-Nonsense Guide to Corporations

In the beginning of the modern industrial age, there was the corporation. An entity so influential, that it has come to define the very foundations of modern economics. Its scope so vast, so pervasive, that its impacts on our lives are often taken for granted. Big business is in our food, our water even the very air we breathe. It’s in our media, education and especially our government. And yet, popular understanding of these behemoths is so poorly understood. At last, this No-Nonsense Guide to Corporations serves to fill this gap.

This guide explains the fundamentals of the modern corporation in an easy to understand format and answers some common questions. What does a CEO of a major firm actually do? Why do corporations have so much sway over government? Why do workers lose their jobs when a company is still making healthy profits?

At a time when there is so much insecurity about the global economy and the future of the planet, many people are increasingly turning their attention towards the role that corporations have played in the current crises we face. This book presents the facts in an accessible manner, while also pointing towards some of the more hopeful developments emerging to counter corporate power.

About the author Adam Ma’anit is a former editor of the New Internationalist magazine. He is a longtime activist and writer on issues of social, economic and environmental policy, and has previously worked with corporate watchdog group Corporate Europe Observatory and the Transnational Institute. He is co-author of the book Europe Inc.: Regional and Global Restructuring and the Rise of Corporate Power, published by Pluto Press, as well as numerous reports on corporate lobbying in the EU, and trade and climate politics. He is currently an energy policy analyst and campaigner at Platform based in London.