Doing Business In Less Developed Countries

There are substantial opportunities and risks in establishing a successful business in developing countries. Financial and economic risks of doing business with developing countries, manifested in World Debt Crisis, require careful examination before a business venture is attempted. The book provides thorough historical information about LDCs' economies and causes of their indebtedness. The most recent data regarding economic performance, indebtedness, and infrastructure, of LDCs are presented as well. The book should prove useful to those considering business in developing countries and to scholars studying economic development and international business and finance. Written without an extensive use of sophisticated models and jargon, the book is accessible to both academic and nonacademic readers. The book consists of four parts. The first part focuses on defining LDCs and analyzing their stages of economic development. The second part presents two background chapters to aid the reader to put LDCs into an economic and historical context. Part III examines the World Debt Crisis and its effects on developing countries and implications for business in these countries. The final part of the book develops a strategic planning model to assist businesses in deciding whether to do business in indebted LDCs and once the decision is made to guide implementation of business plans. Infrastructure is critical to the success of prospective business enterprise. An appendix presents the most recent and detailed information about infrastructure in LDCs along with an index developed to serve as a quantitative guide to the availability of infrastructure. The book also contains appendices that present detailed data on relevant financial and economic variables in developing countries and an annotated bibliography.

Seventeen in a series of annual reports comparing business regulation in 190 economies, Doing Business 2020 measures aspects of regulation affecting 10 areas of everyday business activity.

Economic and social progress requires a diverse ecosystem of firms that play complementary roles. Making It Big: Why Developing Countries Need More Large Firms constitutes one of the most up-to-date assessments of how large firms are created in low- and middle-income countries and their role in development. It argues that large firms advance a range of development objectives in ways that other firms do not: large firms are more likely to innovate, export, and offer training and are more likely to adopt international standards of quality, among other contributions. Their particularities are closely associated with productivity advantages and translate into improved outcomes not only for their owners but also for their workers and for smaller enterprises in their value chains. The challenge for economic development, however, is that production does not reach economic scale in low- and middle-income countries. Why are large firms scarcer in developing countries? Drawing on a rare set of data from public and private sources, as well as proprietary data from the International Finance Corporation and case studies, this book shows that large firms are often born large—or with the attributes of largeness. In other words, what is distinct about them is often in place from day one of their operations. To fill the “missing top†? of the firm-size distribution with additional large firms, governments should support the creation of such firms by opening markets to greater competition. In low-income countries, this objective can be achieved through simple policy reorientation, such as breaking oligopolies, removing unnecessary restrictions to international trade and investment, and establishing strong rules to prevent the abuse of market power. Governments should also strive to ensure that private actors have the skills, technology, intelligence, infrastructure, and finance they need to create large ventures. Additionally, they should actively work to spread the benefits from production at scale across the largest possible number of market participants. This book seeks to bring frontier thinking and evidence on the role and origins of large firms to a wide range of readers, including academics, development practitioners and policy makers.

Business is increasingly being called upon to demonstrate 'what more' it does for society. In a climate in which companies are frequently painted as social outlaws who need fundamentally to change their ways, this determined if ill-founded attack has been met for the most part by appeasement in corporate circles. This acquiescence has given rise to the burgeoning 'corporate social responsibility' industry. Why is business going along with this? The current conversation about business and society is dominated by the perspectives and interests of those who live in rich western countries. Many activists, analysts and others do not grasp the realities of poverty and the hard choices of development outside the industrialised world. As a result, the debate about business, 'responsibility' and corporate involvement in development is distorted, with few voices from developing countries being heard and the positive contribution of 'just doing business' almost completely unacknowledged. In this book, Ann Bernstein argues that a new approach and a new discourse are required to cut through an increasingly flawed conversation with potentially dangerous consequences for the poor and for developing countries in particular. Informed by many years of living, working, and championing the role of business in growth and development in a middle-income developing country, Bernstein urges business not to let the attacks stand unchallenged. It must find the confidence and strategic vision to stop apologising, develop its own public agenda, and start propagating the phenomenal benefits of competitive capitalism for the less developed countries of the world.

Poor people in developing countries could make excellent suppliers, employees and customers but are often ignored by major businesses. This omission leads to increased risk, higher costs and lower sales. Meanwhile, businesses are asked by governments and poverty activists to do more for economic development, but their exhortations are rarely based on a proper business case. Make Poverty Business bridges the gap by constructing a rigorous profit-making argument for multinational corporations to do more business with the poor. It takes economic development out of the corporate social responsibility ghetto and places it firmly in the core business interests of the corporation, and argues that to see the poor only as potential consumers at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP) misses half of the story. Make Poverty Business examines the successes, failures and missed opportunities of a wide range of global companies including Wal-Mart, BP, Unilever, Shell and HSBC when dealing with the poor and with development advocates in the media, NGOs, governments and international organisations. It includes a discussion on how to use a poverty perspective to provoke profitable innovation – not only to create new products and services but also to find new sources of competitive advantage in the supply chain and to develop more sustainable, lower-cost business models in developing countries. Make Poverty Business will be essential reading for international business managers seeking to increase profits and decrease risks in developing countries, development advocates who seek to harness the profit motive to achieve reductions in poverty, and academics looking for practical strategies on how business can implement BOP initiatives in developing countries.

For the first time, here is the complete history of the International Finance Corporation (IFC). In the fifty years since the end of World War II, the world of development finance has grown rapidly. One of the many financial institutions which cropped up to help war-torn countries with their reconstruction was the IFC. International Business Expansion Into Less-Developed Countries examines the success of the IFC in its wide variety of public sector development activities. Covering thirty-five years of IFC operations, the book thoroughly evaluates the formulation of the concept of the IFC and its evolution as a viable global development finance agency. It is the most complete and up-to-date treatment available of the IFC. The administration and operational procedures are described in detail as are case examples of financial development in all regions. Problems encountered by the IFC and new and future activities of the IFC are discussed. Scholars of economic development and international finance will find the unusual way in which the IFC was established and the case examples presented a highly valuable reference, as will students of international studies and organizations.

This book focuses on the challenges and opportunities facing companies in emerging and developing countries. China and India have become the primary business destination for many global companies that are looking for market opportunities and low costs of production, whilst Morocco, Dubai, Brazil, Malaysia and Russia are also being targeted. This new edited volume helps develop a better understanding of the realities of doing business in emerging and developing countries, in particular exploring the dynamics between corporations – both indigenous and multinational – and local pressures in developing, transitional and emerging economies. The book points out the benefits and pitfalls of doing business in emerging and developing countries, as well as the adjustments that are necessary for success. It also discusses entrepreneurship in emerging and developing countries, exploring its new realities from women’s entrepreneurship in Muslim countries to social entrepreneurship in developing countries. The volume also points out the new challenges for SMEs of emerging and developing countries in a global competitive environment. Finally, it analyses corporate governance from a local partner perspective and an institutional perspective. Building Businesses in Emerging and Developing Countries will be of interest to business managers, students and researchers involved in international entrepreneurship and corporate governance.

April 1997 More than 3,600 entrepreneurs worldwide respond to a survey about problems with uncertainty in dealings with the state. Case studies and anecdotal evidence have suggested that uncertainty about policies, laws, and regulations has hampered development of the private sector in many developing countries. Brunetti, Kisunko, and Weder present results from a new cross-country survey that provides comparable data on local investors' problem in dealing with the state. The survey was conducted in 69 countries and covers more than 3,600 entrepreneurs. The questionnaire asked 25 questions about investors' perceptions about such issues as the predictability of laws and policies, the reliability of the judiciary, corruption in bureaucracies, and security of property rights. It also asked about general obstacles to doing business and the quality of state-delivered services. Brunetti, Kisunko, and Weder discuss their methodology and present many findings. Among them: * In less developed countries the majority of entrepreneurs constantly fear policy surprises and unexpected changes in rules that can seriously affect their business. Entrepreneurs in Asia have the most trust in government announcements of policy changes and changes in rules; entrepreneurs in the Commonwealth of Independent States are the most cynical about new announcements; and half of businessmen surveyed in Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe do not believe government announcements. * Entrepreneurs worldwide feel that the cost of doing business is substantially increased by theft and crime and in many developing countries the business community feels that authorities do not adequately guarantee their personal safety and do not reliably enforce their property rights. * Unreliable judiciaries are perceived as major problems in many developing countries. This applies in particular to the Commonwealth of Independent States and to Latin American countries. * Entrepreneurs in industrial countries perceived the greatest obstacles to doing business to be tax regulations and high taxes, labor regulations, safety or environmental regulations, financing, regulations for starting new businesses and operations, and general uncertainty about the costs of regulation. * Entrepreneurs in South Asia and Southeast Asia ranked the top obstacles to doing business as high taxes and tax regulations, inadequate infrastructure, inflation, labor regulations, and regulations for starting new businesses and operations. * In the Middle East and North Africa, entrepreneurs considered lack of infrastructure the chief obstacle to doing business, followed by corruption, high taxes and tax regulations, and financing. * In Central and Eastern Europe, high taxes and tax regulations were the only regulation-related obstacle ranked high, followed by financing, corruption, and inflation. * The worst obstacles in Latin America were considered to be corruption and inadequate infrastructure, followed by crime and theft, problems with finance, and high taxes and tax regulation. * In Sub-Saharan Africa the biggest problems were corruption, tax regulations and high taxes, inadequate infrastructure, inflation, crime and theft, and financing. This paper - a product of the Office of the Chief Economist and Senior Vice President, Development Economics- was produced as a background paper for World Development Report 1997 on the role of the state in a changing world. The study was funded in part by the Research Support Budget under the research projects Cross-Country Indicators of Institutional Uncertainty (RPO 680-51), and Indicators of Government Quality as Perceived by the Private Sector (RPO 681-52).