Globalization

Decatur, Illinois-based Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) is one of the world's largest agricultural conglomerates, with its share of controversy around environmental and other issues. Operating 270+ facilities world-wide, ADM is in the business of agricultural processing, storage and transportation. It is also rapidly moving into biofuel production, particularly ethanol and biodiesel -- a development that led Corporate Accountability International to induct ADM into its 2008 Corporate Hall of Shame.

ABN AMRO is an international bank with European roots. Focus is on consumer and commercial clients in local markets and global markets on selected multinational corporations and financial institutions, as well as private clients. ABN amro is active in four principal customer segments: Personal Banking, Private Banking, Business and Commercial and Corporate and Institutional.

Barrick Gold Corporation is the largest pure gold mining company in the world, with its headquarters in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and four regional business units (RBU's) located in Australia, Africa, North America and South America. Barrick is currently undertaking mining and exploration projects in Papua New Guinea, the United States, Canada, Australia, Peru, Chile, Russia, South Africa, Argentina and Tanzania. On January 20, 2006, Barrick acquired a majority share of Placer Dome.

Perenco (annual revenues about $3 billion) is a privately held independent oil & gas exploration and production company with its main offices in Paris and London. It has activities in Africa, Central and South America, Turkey and the North Sea. In 2007 it signed an exploration deal with the regional government of Kurdistan in Iraq.

Tenaris [TS: NYSE, Buenos Aires, Mexico and TEN: MTA Italy] is a company that is a global manufacturer and supplier of seamless and welded steel pipe products and provider of pipe handling, stocking and distribution services to the oil and gas, energy and mechanical industries. It is also a leading regional supplier of welded steel pipes for gas pipelines in South America.

Caterpillar Inc. is the world's largest manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, and industrial gas turbines. Famous for their products featuring caterpillar tracks and a distinctive yellow paint scheme, Caterpillar produces a wide range of heavy equipment, mainly engineering and demolition vehicles, including the Caterpillar D9 bulldozer. Among other controversies Caterpillar has been accused of human rights abuses in the Israeli Palestinian conflict by selling demolition equipment to the Israeli Defense Force.

One of the last remaining powerful U.S. conglomerates, United Technologies Corporation (UTC) is the parent company of Pratt & Whitney, one of the most famous names in jet engines; Sikorsky, a leader in helicopter production, including the famous (or infamous) Black Hawks; Carrier Corp., the largest supplier of heating and air conditioning systems; Otis, the world’s largest elevator company; and Hamilton Sundstrand, a leading producer of aerospace products. UTC also has a large fire-safety products business based on its acquisition of British firms Chubb PLC and Kidde PLC.

The Unilever Group consists primarily of Unilever NV and Unilever PLC and is one of the world’s top makers of packaged consumer goods and sells products like deodorants, fragrances, soap, margarine, tea and frozen foods all over the world. Unilever controls subsidiaries in at least 90 countries and is one of the world’s top food firms.

Telefónica, S.A. is one of the largest telecommunications companies worldwide. Based in Spain Telefónica owns and operates neumerious fixed-line and mobile communications companies around the globe; of the five major telecommunications companies worldwide Telefónica is second in terms of clients and in 2007 ranked fourth behind China Mobile, AT&T, and Vodafone in market value.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A., is a semi-public Brazilian oil company headquartered in Rio de Janeiro. The company was founded in 1953 and is a former Brazilian oil monopoly. Its output is more than 2 million Barrels of oil equivalent per day.