Multinational Corporations And Global Poverty Reduction

Argues that multinational corporations have contributed and can continue to contribute enormously to the reduction of global poverty.

World leaders have given the reduction of global poverty top priority. And yet it persists. Indeed, in many countries whose governments lack either the desire or the ability to act, poverty has worsened. This book, a joint venture of a Harvard professor and an economist with the International Finance Corporation, argues that the solution lies in the creation of a new institution, the World Development Corporation (WDC), a partnership of multinational corporations (MNCs), international development agencies, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). In A Corporate Solution to Global Poverty, George Lodge and Craig Wilson assert that MNCs have the critical combination of capabilities required to build investment, grow economies, and create jobs in poor countries, and thus to reduce poverty. Furthermore, they can do so profitably and thus sustainably. But they lack legitimacy and risk can be high, and so a collective approach is better than one in which an individual company proceeds alone. Thus a UN-sponsored WDC, owned and managed by a dozen or so MNCs with NGO support, will make a marked difference. At a time when big business has been demonized for destroying the environment, enjoying one-sided benefits from globalization, and deceiving investors, the book argues, MNCs have much to gain from becoming more effective in reducing global poverty. This is not a call for philanthropy. Lodge and Wilson believe that corporate support for the World Development Corporation will benefit not only the world's poor but also company shareholders as a result of improved MNC legitimacy and stronger markets and profitability.

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.

Seminar conference report on the role and responsibilitys of multinational enterprises in poverty reduction in developing countries - discusses their role in employment creation, welfare, community development, technology transfer and in structuring a new international economic order; includes a case study of an agribusiness firm in the Philippines and a summary report of a 1979 UNCSTD Conference. Maps and references. List of participants. Conference held in Notre Dame 1978 and 1979.

Based on research presented at The Harvard Business School’s first-ever conference on business approaches to poverty alleviation, Business Solutions for the Global Poor brings together perspectives from leading academics and corporate, non-profit and public sector managers. The contributors draw on practical and dynamic how-to insights from leading BOP ventures from more than twenty countries world-wide. This important volume reflects poverty’s multi-faceted nature and a broad range of actors—multinational and local businesses, entrepreneurs, civil society organizations and governments—that play a role in its alleviation.

This volume reports the results of the large international 'MNEmerge' research project, financed by the European Commission, and provides an understanding of the impact of multinational enterprises on United Nations Millennium Development Goals and successive Sustainable Development Goals in developing countries.

In the 1990s, foreign direct investment began to swamp all other cross-border capital flows into developing countries. Does foreign direct investment support sound development? In particular, does it contribute to poverty reduction?

Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2005 in the subject Economics - International Economic Relations, grade: 2, University of Kassel, 22 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Multinational Corporations (MNC) are important transitional agents in the contemporary global political economy. Although they can be viewed as economic actors following the logic of international market, their activities inevitably arouse questions of national power. Not surprisingly, such questions are most pronounced in the study of developing countries where weak government and societies potentially give the MNC strong bargaining position. Thus, the nature of their relationship between developing countries and the implication of this relationship for economic growth remains highly controversial. How ever, proponents of MNC posit in the past that MNC have made important contribution to developing countries. This interaction between MNCs and third world economy has led to a profound relationship whose impacts are enormous. Although many scholars have written more on the impact of MNC on host less developed countries, the most important question is, Do foreign firms behave differently from locally owned firms and if so what are their implication? Multinational corporations are one of the main conduits through which investment is channelled and their evolution has reflected broader developments (OECD 2003). This impact however will be examined from the negative and positive impact gearing towards the development of third world. However it is imperative to examine the characteristics of developing countries as well as some objectives of Multinational Corporations (MNC).