WHY I WANT TO DO THIS?

I have decided that I hate multinationals.  They are too big, too pervasive and we are in thrall to them and that as far as possible I am going to rid my life of them.  Some of them try to be ethical but I don't think capitalism or perpetual growth is a good idea. I want to see if I can rid my life of Multinationals.

I know I won't be able to rid myself of pharmaceutical companies as I have a chronic health condition that requires daily medication. 

I am excited, though, to see how far I can get! 

The first thing I have to do is define Multinational.  The free dictionary definition is: - “Having operations, subsidiaries, or investments in more than two countries: a multinational corporation.”¹ Chamber’s Dictionary says “A large business company which operates in several countries.” ²

By that definition companies such as Marks and Spencer, with 480 international stores³ is a multinational.  Bang goes my favourite shop!

I have just looked up BHS⁴; it is a predominantly British company although it has franchises in other countries.  I am going to let that slide for the moment as I need to have one decent High Street Store to get clothes in! 

I have already given up Amazon and only use Google on my phone as I don’t know how to change the internet browser as I am not a techie! I might see if my niece can do it though.  I have just realised this blog is run by Google, oops. I use Mozilla Firefox⁵ on my main computer and laptop.  It is slightly better than some because it reinvests all its profits in its own projects and doesn’t have shareholders.

My iPad is a law unto itself as I use it but don’t understand it and although Apple is a multinational I am not giving my iPad up till it breaks! I will leave all the rest of the computer companies till later as they are going to be difficult to deal with as the internet is by its very nature international and the companies probably multinationals although I don’t know for certain yet.

Wish me luck, this might be very difficult!

1. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/multinational
2. Chamber’s 20^th Century Dictionary
3. http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/aboutus/mands-today/reaching-our-customers
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Home_Stores
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Corporation A MozillaZine article explained:  The Mozilla Foundation will ultimately control the activities of the Mozilla Corporation and will retain its 100 percent ownership of the new subsidiary. Any profits made by the Mozilla Corporation will be invested back into the Mozilla project. There will be no shareholders, no stock options will be issued and no dividends will be paid. The Mozilla Corporation will not be floating on the stock market and it will be impossible for any company to take over or buy a stake in the subsidiary. The Mozilla Foundation will continue to own the Mozilla trademarks and other intellectual property and will license them to the Mozilla Corporation. The Foundation will also continue to govern the source code repository and control who is allowed to check in.