Line #26 PlayingWith/MegaCorp


1	'''Basic Trope''': A huge corporation that [[AcmeProducts sells everything]] and has [[NGOSuperpower government-like reach and powers]].
2	* '''Straight''': [[TropeCo/TropeCo Motor]] [[BlandNameProduct Union]] manufactures everything from aircraft to zippers, tends to buy up its competitors or drive them out of business as soon as they appear, and lobbies the government into giving it more and more power.
3	* '''Exaggerated''':
4	** Motor Union is a [[OneNationUnderCopyright One World Order Under Copyright]].
5	** Motor Union is TheEmpire [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny in all]] [[BlandNameProduct but name]].
6	* '''Downplayed''':
7	** Motor Union is a huge umbrella corporation that manufactures a lot of things, but it has no less than five direct competitors along with other megacorporations that occupy different markets.
8	** Motor Union has been granted vast power by Tropestan to act as a proxy to Tropestani interests, but is still firmly under the Tropestani government's thumb.
9	* '''Justified''':
10	** The country of Tropestan where the Motor Union is situated has a laissez-faire economy with little to no regulation to stop creation of monopolies.
11	** The world is a CrapsackWorld where ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney dictates {{Realpolitik}}.
12	** Motor Union sells very popular products, and its leaders run excellent marketing and [=PR=] campaigns.
13	* '''Inverted''':
14	** The country of Tropestan is a [[CommieLand communist state]], so instead of businessmen controlling the government, [[RussianReversal the government controls the businessmen]].
15	** Rather than a CommieLand, Tropestan has a market economy but follows state capitalism, so its government has a number of businesses controlled directly and can easily cower the [[DecoyLeader supposedly private owners]] of other companies into submission (think [[UsefulNotes/ToGetRichIsGlorious People's Republic of China]] since UsefulNotes/TheNewTens).
16	** Tropestan has [[BalkanizeMe so hyperbalkanized]] that its only surviving remnants are now businesses.
17	** Every business is broken down into preposterously small publicly traded corporate sub-units. For example there being one for the night shift of the janitors of a single fast food restaurant.
18	* '''Subverted''':
19	** Motor Union, which hyped around the galaxy as a MegaCorp is a big pile of overadvertised and overpriced stock whose main use is as a tax write off. [[IncompetenceInc It is incompetently administrated]] and dripping in debt and its very existence is a giant PetTheDog on the part of all the [[MerchantPrince Merchant Princes]] around who don't deign to buy it out.
20	** Motor Union calls itself a Mega Corporation but it is clearly one InNameOnly.
21	* '''Double Subverted''': That's because it is a front for Trope LIC which uses it as a place to put their [[ReassignedToAntarctica useless personnel]], to dump all the pollution their secret factories create, and to divert attention from their own [[TheChessmaster evil plans.]]
22	* '''Parodied''': The boardroom meeting of Motor Union executives is shown - and as soon as one of them mentions a market they haven't cornered, everyone is thrown into blind panic until the CEO screams at them to get a hold of themselves and explains how they're going to take over that market too.
23	* '''Zig Zagged''':
24	** The influence of Motor Union waxes and wanes as the plot demands.
25	** Motor Union is nominally a corporation but full of oddities, checks and balances, and aspects of other systems. Depending on the period of time it may resemble an unequal democracy, feudalism, or even ironically a communist state.
26	* '''Averted''': Motor Union is a big corporation, but like in real life, it can't measure up to TheGovernment.
27	* '''Enforced''': The work in which Motor Union appears is a study of monopolies, making it neccesary to have a monopoly as an example.
28	* '''Lampshaded''':
29	** "Is there anything that Motor Union doesn't sell?" "Nope."
30	** "[[VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution Corporations have more power]] [[{{Cyberpunk}} than the government]]... [[MemeticMutation I never asked for this]]..."
31	* '''Invoked''': The country of Tropestan deregulates its economy, hoping that {{Mega Corp}}s show up and bring in some tasty, tasty tax money.
32	* '''Exploited''': TheConqueror claims the intent to liberate people from the grip of Motor Union.
33	* '''Defied''': The Tropestani regulators have outlawed large corporations (and [[UsefulNotes/TheodoreRoosevelt forcibly broke up those that already existed]]), so {{Mega Corp}}s are unable to form.
34	* '''Discussed''': ???
35	* '''Conversed''': ???
36	* '''Implied''': All products seen for sale in Tropestan are made by Motor Union.
37	* '''Deconstructed''':
38	** As Motor Union expands, swallowing up competitors and eventually supplanting TheGovernment, they are forced to provide public services simply to keep their customers and employees safe, healthy, and educated enough to shop and work. Profits end up declining as more and more of the company's money is spent on maintaining and protecting the business instead of actually doing business. In the end, Motor Union simply becomes the new government and ceases to be a true corporation. Keeping society afloat is now a higher priority than making money, defeating the entire purpose of the company in the first place.
39	** If Motor Union becomes a monopoly, it basically defeats the innovative purpose of laissez-faire competition, resulting in said monopoly [[DystopiaIsHard suffering and decaying from stagnation]] and [[PointyHairedBoss increasing incompetence]]. Eventually, the economy will collapse due to a capitalistic society's inability to function without capitalism.
40	** Motor Union [[BullyingADragon bribes, threatens, and swindles]] its way towards controlling the vital aspects of Tropestani state... and then [[TheGovernment Tropestani government]] [[AwakeningTheSleepingGiant decides to show]] [[CurbStompBattle who's really in charge]].
41	** Motor Union was never designed to function outside of another nation's standards of laws. Without one to deal with things like minority shareholder dispute resolution or any way to hold the CEO accountable it becomes a defacto dictatorship after the CEO [[BoardToDeath kills the board to consolidate power.]] The investors soon become holders of useless pieces of paper and it is more meaningfully described as a 'state which arose after the collapse of Tropestan, and the subsequent vacuum filling by Motor Union followed by the CEO's coup'.
42	* '''Reconstructed''':
43	** While Motor Union effectively becomes the new government, it is a borderline feudal government that provides no public services to its subjects while controlling every aspect of their lives to prevent revolution. It doesn't even matter if their profits are down, since they control the value and distribution of all money and goods. The heads of the company never cared about money, [[DespotismJustifiesTheMeans just power]]; Motor Union was simply a means to achieve that end.
44	** Motor Union was founded by the people holding all the power in Tropestan, so even if it slowly takes over the country, no-one will try to close down or nationalize it because in Tropestan end it benefits the same people.
45	** Motor Union sends its ''extremely'' well-equipped and very large [[CorporateWarfare "Company Security Forces"]] and/or [[HiredGuns hires]] the Troperian military to defend its property...and they [[CurbStompBattle demolish]] the Tropestani government forces. The Tropestani government then wisely decides to leave them alone.
46	* '''Played For Laughs''': [[MegaCorp Motor Union]] is a supplier of AcmeProducts to hapless cartoon characters.
47	* '''Played For Drama''': [[MegaCorp Motor Union]] is a primary antagonist run by ThoseWackyNazis in a {{Cyberpunk}} story.
48	----
49	Back to MegaCorp

Context PlayingWith / MegaCorp