Megacorporation, mega-corporation, or megacorp, a term originally coined by Alfred Eichner in his book The Megacorp and Oligopoly: Micro Foundations of Macro Dynamics[1] but popularized by William Gibson,[2][3] derives from the combination of the prefix mega- with the word corporation. It has become widespread in cyberpunk literature. It is synonymous with syndicate, globalist- or transnational capital. It refers to a corporation (normally fictional) that is a massive conglomerate (usually private), holding monopolistic or near-monopolistic control over multiple markets (thus exhibiting both a horizontal and a vertical monopoly). Megacorps are so powerful that they are above the government laws, possess their own heavily armed (often military-sized) private armies, are operators of privatized police forces, hold "sovereign" territory, and even act as outright governments. They often exercise a large degree of control over their employees, taking the idea of "corporate culture" to an extreme.
In the Alien film franchise characters are repeatedly manipulated and endangered by the unscrupulous megacorporation Weyland-Yutani, which seeks to profit from the Aliens.
Buy N' Large logo
In the animated Pixar film WALL-E, the megacorporation Buy n' Large has completely supplanted every planetary government.
In the Avatar series of films, the Resources Development Administration (RDA) is a megacorporation that outmatches most governments in wealth, influence, and military power. The RDA has monopolized ownership of all extra-terrestrial colonies and assets, granted in perpetuity by an international committee.
Examples in games
In the sci-fi strategy game Stellaris, players can choose to control a megacorporation that has consumed all aspects of their alien government, with variable policies such as indentured servitude, media conglomerates, or even employee resurrection.[6]
In the video game The Outer Worlds, many megacorps purchase the rights to solar systems from Earth governments. Corporate colonies, being lightyears away from government influence, are effectively governed by their parent companies, with employment acting as citizenship.[citation needed]
In the Ratchet & Clank franchise, each of the featured galaxies is dominated by an arms manufacturer with a near-total monopoly on commercial activity, the largest of which is simply called "Megacorp".[citation needed]
In Cyberpunk 2077, several megacorps (most notably Arasaka and Militech) provide security services and sell weapons. While also controlling The populous through different methods in a distopian way. [8]
In Titanfall franchise, which contains Apex Legends, a megacorporation named Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation [IMC] dominates the entire mining and manufacturing industry across the Frontier (galaxy) based on Earth, well as maintaining private military contractors to suppress dissidents.[9]
Although the term itself arose out of science fiction,[citation needed] certain real-life corporations, such as colonial-era chartered companies and zaibatsu, have achieved or approached megacorporation status in various ways.[citation needed] The private Dutch East India Company, for example, operated 40 warships and had 10,000 private soldiers to monitor its farflung spice empire, while the British East India Company controlled a large colonial empire and maintained a 300,000 strong standing army in the mid-19th century before the company was dissolved and its territories absorbed into the British Empire. In the French colonial empire, the Hudson's Bay Company was once the world's largest landowner, exercising legal control and a trading monopoly on its territory known as Rupert's Land which consisted of 15% of the North American land mass.[citation needed]
Today many countries have competition laws (also known as antitrust laws) to prevent real-life corporations from having mega-corporation characteristics. On the other hand, some countries protect a certain industry deemed important by mandating that only a single company, usually state-owned, can operate in it. An example of the latter is Saudi Arabia, which gains the majority of its government revenues through its mega-corporation Saudi Aramco.[citation needed]
In the book The Wal-Mart Effect, Charles Fishman describes Walmart as "[in] a whole class of megacorporations of which Wal-Mart is just the most extreme, vivid example".[10]
