跨国公司的做法通过不健康产品影响人口健康,塑造健康的社会决定因素,或影响管理其活动的监管结构。关于社区对跨国公司政策和做法的影响的研究有限。本文的目的是调整以前用于快餐和采掘业公司的现有健康影响评估方法,以评估澳大利亚境内的卡尔顿和联合啤酒厂(CUB)业务。CUB是一家大型跨国公司AsahiGroupHoldings拥有的澳大利亚酒精公司。识别潜在影响的数据来自文件分析,包括企业文献;媒体分析,和12个半结构化面试。这些数据是根据企业健康影响评估框架绘制的,其中包括CUB的政治和商业实践;产品和营销;劳动力,社会,环境和经济条件;以及消费者对健康的不利影响。我们还进行了一项生态研究,以估计由于充血性心脏病导致的酒精可归因分数和死亡负担,糖尿病,中风,乳腺癌,澳大利亚的肠癌和损伤。还估计了啤酒的可归因分数和死亡人数以及CUB的份额。
我们发现公司在所有领域的运营都有积极和不利的发现。CUB从事一系列有益于社区的商业实践,包括可持续发展目标和企业慈善事业,但也包括税收安排在内的负面方面,营销实践,以及政治捐赠和游说,这些都是由新自由主义的监管环境促成的。我们发现了不利的健康影响,包括胎儿酒精谱系障碍以及暴力和侵略,这些影响不成比例地影响了土著和其他弱势群体。
我们的研究表明,在一个日益由跨国公司管理的世界中,在快速变化的全球金融化资本主义经济中研究跨国公司会带来方法论和概念上的挑战。它强调了未来研究的必要性和机会。不同的方法揭示了足够的信息,以认识到需要强有力的监管框架来帮助避免或调解负面的健康影响。
The practices of transnational corporations (TNCs) affect population health through unhealthy products, shaping social determinants of health, or influencing the regulatory structures governing their activities. There has been limited research on community exposures to TNC policies and practices. The aim of this paper was to adapt existing Health Impact Assessment methods that were previously used for both a fast food and an extractives industry corporation in order to assess Carlton and United Breweries (CUB) operations within Australia. CUB is an Australian alcohol company owned by a large transnational corporation Asahi Group Holdings. Data identifying potential impacts were sourced through document analysis, including corporate literature; media analysis, and 12 semi-structured interviews. The data were mapped against a corporate health impact assessment framework which included CUB\'s political and business practices; products and marketing; workforce, social, environmental and economic conditions; and consumers\' adverse health impacts. We also conducted an ecological study for estimating alcohol attributable fractions and burdens of death due to congestive heart disease, diabetes mellitus, stroke, breast cancer, bowel cancer and injury in Australia. Beer attributable fractions and deaths and CUB\'s share were also estimated.
We found both positive and adverse findings of the corporation\'s operations across all domains. CUB engage in a range of business practices which benefit the community, including sustainability goals and corporate philanthropy, but also negative aspects including from taxation arrangements, marketing practices, and political donations and lobbying which are enabled by a neoliberal regulatory environment. We found adverse health impacts including from fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and violence and aggression which disproportionately affect Indigenous and other disadvantaged populations.
Our research indicates that studying a TNC in a rapidly changing global financialised capitalist economy in a world which is increasingly being managed by TNCs poses methodological and conceptual challenges. It highlights the need and opportunity for future research. The different methods revealed sufficient information to recognise that strong regulatory frameworks are needed to help to avoid or to mediate negative health impacts.