Labor Considerations

• Western business' actions in developing countries have often been criticized as exploitative. Many foreign processing plants, particularly in the food industry, do not offer their employees a significant share of the business' prosperity. In some cases, laborers in these processing plants work in very dangerous conditions for less than $1 per hour. Adding to the problem is that workers in these plants are often expected to work very long hours, making it difficult for them to pursue activities like education. Another consideration is that processing plants often employ child labor, subjecting children to intense working conditions that may interfere with physical development.
  
  

Environmental Effects

• Processing plants in developing countries are often criticized for contributing to environmental degradation. As part of the Kyoto Protocol -- a U.N. treaty aimed at fighting climate change -- countries around the world have agreed to lower carbon dioxide emissions and other forms of pollution. Many developing countries have been having a hard time meeting their goals, partly because equipment in their industrial processing plants is outdated and inefficient. This is not always the fault of the countries in question; in some cases, the people are placed in a tough spot between having to use environmentally irresponsible plant technology and having to forgo economic development.
  
  

Economic Growth

• Still, processing plants in developing countries contribute positively to the countries' gross domestic product. Wages and profit generated by the plants can be taxed by the government and used to develop social services like education and health care. Of course, it is not always the case that taxes generated by processing plants are used constructively; however, at the very least, the plants provide an economic base for growth in developing countries that the native population would not otherwise have access to.
  
  

Output

• Processing plants in developing countries contribute products that may not be feasible to produce in other countries. Many developing countries have particularly strong food sources, for example, making it logical to set up processing plants to process the foods -- like fish and rice -- in those countries. Also, the availability of cheap labor in developing countries lowers the total input costs for the goods processed there, making them cheap for the consumer. Of course, this economic benefit sometimes clashes with the moral and human rights cost of sweatshop labor. However, not all processing plants in foreign countries pay "sweatshop" wages, and in some cases, things like foreign exchange rates make it logical for Western businesses to set up processing plants in developing nations.