The_Open_Door_deel1

THE PROPOSED TYRE PLANT
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Apart from its contribution to the Liberian Treasury, the
Firestone Plantations Company's link with the national economy has
ever since the company's establishment in Liberia been limited to
the payment of starvation wages to its plantations workers, the
importation of rice, some haphazard donations of a charitable
nature - often political ones in disguise - and the remuneration
of Liberian Lawyers and counsellors. In addition, the company
undertook the free distribution of seeds and clones to Liberian
rubber farmers - an activity which during its fifty years'
existence in Liberia became increasingly important - and the
purchase of their produce which then is exported, unprocessed,
like the company's own production. This situation has resulted
over the years in the company being an enclave within the dual
economy the Liberian economy became after the influx of foreign
investments, i.e. after 1926. Foreign investors allotted to
Liberia the role of a supplier of raw materials which limits its
position in the international division of labour.
. The Government of Liberia has been well aware of this aspect
of underdevelopment and has always wanted to change the country's
status into one of a producer of final (rubber) products. However,
in relying on the influx of foreign investments it has
gradually developed a passive attitude towards the issue of the
domestic financing of the industrial use of its natural resourses.
Since Liberia through this attitude became dependent on foreign
capital to start a rubber manufacturing industry the Liberians
asserted little influence on the role which was assigned to them
in the process of the international division of labour. The following
case illustrates this point while at the same time providing
evidence for the accusation that a foreign company may
want to influence, tries to influence, or actually influences
the foreign policy of a sovereign country, in this case Liberia,
In 1967 a Liberian mission visited Akron, U.S.A., to discuss with
the managers of the Firestone Tire & Rubber Company the possible
creation of a tyre factory in the West African Republic. Anxious
as it was to succeed it offered the rubber producing and processing
company extremely favourable incentives and privileges.
After over twenty studies and numerous visits by Liberian
Government officials to Akron the first definite proposal for
the establishment of a tyre factory by Firestone in Liberia was
put forward in 1969. It was concerned with the construction of a
factory with a minimal annual output capacity of 125,000 tyres
and involving a total investment of approximately $ 8.5 million.
Among the rights granted to the company were the right to unrestricted
import licenses for imports needed; exemption from customs
duties, other customs charges of general application, and
corporate income taxes for a period of 10 years; and the right
to employ a maximum of fifteen expatriates connected with the
operation of the plant.