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This guide to corporate expansion planning shares the
insights of a veteran leader of global business site selection consulting
for location choices by corporate executives.
Marcel was the founder of Plant
Location International in Brussels, and has assisted many leading
corporations with their expansion plans around the world.
Exporting America : Why Corporate Greed is Shipping American
Jobs Overseas
This highly respected business news anchor attracted a lot of
attention during the 2003-2004 period leading up to the US elections through
his criticism of business outsourcing in a very popular feature series,
"Exporting America".
Whether one agrees with all his
analysis and conclusions or not, it is an important contribution to the need
for a more informed debate on not only the public policy and long-term
social and economic impacts of outsourcing and globalization in general, but
also the role of corporate leaders and their business and social
responsibilities.
The basic premise is that outsourcing jobs to other
countries will ultimately be harmful to American interests despite any
short-term business cost savings.
This book also attracted many very
thoughtful Amazon.com reviewer comments.
It's interesting that the ones which agreed with Dobbs'
basic premise and analysis seemed to give more thoughtful reviews, while
some of his critics just bashed his position or the book without much
substance. That is, frankly, consistent with what he already reported
from viewer and business editor reactions to his programs. Then again,
maybe some very smart but now unemployed people just had more time and
inclination to review his shows and the book.
0316586994 - as on Amazon.com, where only used copies are
available
This fairly old book reflecting ideas and issues from
Ambassador (Senator) Moynihan's time at the UN (1975-76) may seem obsolete
or off the subject as globalization is popularly defined today, but I think
not. Consider the back cover comment by Henry Fairlie of the
Washington Post :
"He pitted himself against the
double standard which is applied in the General Assembly, by which nations
in which there are few violations of human rights are condemned, while those
in which such a violation is a system of government from day to day, are
allowed to be the accusers ... But [Moynihan's] real attack was on the
acceptance, not least in America, of this double standard."
That still seems very timely today. As I write this, Libya was just elected to chair the UN
Commission on Human Rights, and few people in the US probably even noticed
or cared about this news, or know that the African representatives nominated
Libya for their turn at the leadership of this body. Given their
collective human rights records, it was probably a logical choice, and
representative of their commitments.
Sometimes we need to stand up and be heard, even if our
views are not welcome, or else we are accomplices to the bias and
degradation of the debate. That is for more than just human rights.
We need to stand up for transnational business, too, against the seemingly
endless flow of UN studies which blame companies for the mistakes of
governments, including their costly failures at economic development.
The myth of corporate neo-colonialism needs to be
confronted and stopped, just like other populist demagoguery which blames
the "foreign devils" for problems which are really home-grown disasters.
Hatred is being misdirected at companies, as recent terrorist events have
shown, because companies are becoming easy scapegoats for failed economic
policies which create great economic disparities.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
1978
Bruce Donnelly
For decades the UN
persistently condemned the global reach and economic power of transnational
corporations as the cause of many of the evils of the world, despite all
evidence to the contrary (such as the minor detail of social problems which
have persisted since long before the creation of virtually all corporations,
and in places where they hardly operate at all, while corporate investment
has clearly transformed some poor regions of the world more rapidly than all
the foreign aid programs put together).
As in Moynihan's UN tenure, there is an urgent need to expose the
globalization hypocrisy, rather than act as though it doesn't matter.
Unchallenged, harmful myths about development become accepted wisdom, which
can set back any real progress as severely as some of the disastrous policies which came out
of the 1970's UNCTAD process, as amply demonstrated in Latin America in the
1980's, such as the "lost decade" in Brazil, and lost decades in
India and Africa.
There can
be little doubt that policy mistakes have been made over the years, but it is not all on one side.
Governments have followed many self-destructive policies without any real
IMF or foreign influence at all.
Their "foreign
devil" scapegoating for popular local consumption is bad enough without
falling into the trap of accepting the blame for the economic failures of
these other countries and organizations, as many demonstrators have done.
Rather than seek scapegoats as a way to shift blame, there needs to be a far
more positive approach, defining a way forward. It is one thing to
learn from mistakes, and another to endlessly seek failures instead of
focusing on what works.
The Chastening: Inside the Crisis that Rocked
the Global Financial System and Humbled the IMF
1891620819
Often criticized by people who have no understanding of what
the IMF really does, this is a good starting point to understand why it has
come under fire, including very logical criticism by Joseph Stiglitz (below)
Paul Blustein
2001
Bruce Donnelly
Globalization and Its Discontents
Author won Nobel Price in Economics 2001; this is his critique of
"Washington consensus" global
economic policy, and the impact of IMF actions and World Bank programs on
developing countries.
Not a rant against globalization in general, but rather a
good review of the unintended consequences of policies which were undertaken
with good or understandable intentions, but led to very bad outcomes.
Few clear solutions are suggested, however, beyond some
suggestions for changes at the World Bank and IMF.
One need not agree with his conclusions entirely to respect
some of the insights as a well-informed contribution to the debate.
Unfortunately, the road to poverty is paved with good
intentions, and that includes the efforts of the globalization protestors
who have taken comfort from his analysis. It is one thing to
criticize, or even to engage in a well-informed and rational debate, and
quite another to find a viable way forward.
Academics are great at finding fault with 20-20 hindsight
(whether through biased or objective analysis of the many very real problems
which persist), but like that old Beatles song "Revolution", we'd all love
to see the plan. At least this author has made some plausible
suggestions from a well-informed perspective as somebody who had real
responsibility for changes, and therefore understands the complexity.
Joseph Stiglitz
2002
Bruce Donnelly
You can easily find
the popular "rants" about "globalization" on Amazon.com or the Internet in
general. Just look up works by Kevin Danaher, Noam Chomsky, and
others, and follow the links, some of which are appalling but need to be
understood, since otherwise rational, intelligent people actually believe
them.
Indeed, they sell better than the more serious works,
giving some illusory legitimacy to them. Just as public opinion polls
and instant analysis by popular journalists are not a sound basis for
foreign policy decisions, the ability of this crowd of protestors to make a
lot of noise doesn't make them right.
Their point of view should be considered, but so should
others who are quieter, including the people in many other countries who
have very directly suffered the consequences of bad economic policies and
development choices. Their leaders may want to shift their own blame
to others, but the bottom line is pretty simple. Some countries with
few resources have made great strides at improving the lives of their
people, while others with great resources have done poorly. The common
thread isn't the IMF or World Bank policies.
A Report of the Independent Commission on International
Development Issues, by which a group of very socially-minded statesmen tried to
define an agenda for the next 20 years to change the economic problems of
the "South" through policies in the "North" to help
develop a
"new world economic order", as the UN called it. That drew
less interest in the Reagan-Thatcher era, when the focus was elsewhere.
Interesting ideas in hindsight. Despite good intentions, some people host
conferences or write policy studies or rants on the
Internet or in popular media, while others use demonstrations or violent responses against whoever they blame
now for the perceived economic and social injustices of the world.
None has come up with a real, working global solution yet.
The problems are as well studied as the human suffering and needs are
self-evident. The problem is that it isn't up to the "North" to figure
out what works or not as a global solution, tempting as that is for social
democrats.
It is up to the "South", and nations which "got it right" in recent decades
didn't develop through UN, World Bank, or IMF policies or bilateral or
multilateral aid programs. Instead, they figured out what they could
do to improve their own situation, and then they did what they could, and
when ideas didn't work, they changed course.
The failures are mostly those who believed that somebody else was obliged to
solve their economic and social problems. That doesn't mean that
foreign aid or IMF and World Bank or UN programs don't matter. They
can be very beneficial (or not), They just aren't the real drivers of
economic and social progress. They are tools which can be used well,
or used poorly.
Willy Brandt
1980
Bruce Donnelly
The solutions are less clear than the instant experts think, and the North
(and the IMF in particular) are not the root of all evil today, nor are the
transnational corporations.
Such institutions are mostly run by people with good
intentions, and it should be possible to find better solutions
together, rather than fall into the trap of focusing effort on finding
failures or scapegoats for problems, rather than helping good people to achieve better
results.
We should not be patient with failure, but we should not
jump to global conclusions about complex local development problems, either.
More importantly, we should not accept the premise that we
are responsible for coming up with the solution to global poverty and other
social problems.
Instead, we need to be supportive
of those who are committed to such progress, and are achieving results, so
that they will do better, and others will soon follow their lead out of
self-interest. We have limited resources, so we need to apply them
where they will be put to good use to make progress, rather than treated as
a global form of social entitlement programs.
People
like to say that we can't be the world's policemen - that local problems
require local solutions and respect for sovereignty and different cultures.
Well, we can't be the world's social welfare agency either. Just
because we want them to succeed doesn't mean it is our obligation to pay for
whatever path they choose to follow to economic development.
George Soros on Globalization
1586481258
Whether one agrees with all the details of his viewpoint or
work, his is an important point of view in the debate
George Soros
2002
Bruce Donnelly
Open Society : Reforming Global Capitalism
1586480197
As above. Have a look at earlier works too, such as
Underwriting Democracy, from 1991, about his role in the former Soviet
Union and eastern Europe during a very difficult transition period.
Not a new debate, obviously, about "democratic pluralism" and
the North-South divide in development. One need not agree with the
author to find this critique to be interesting background to the general
globalization / sustainable development debate of recent years.
The Mystery of Capital : Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West
and Fails Everywhere Else
0465016146
Without agreeing with the premise, it is an interesting
analysis of the impact of capital investment, which is obviously not spread
around equally for development purposes, such as between urban and rural
areas
Hernando de Soto
2000
Bruce Donnelly
The Elusive Quest for Growth : Economists' Adventures and
Misadventures in the Tropics
026205065X
Analysis by a World Bank researcher into the challenges of
developing countries which should be of interest to those concerned about
various types of aid programs to spur development or economic reforms
William Easterly
2001
Bruce Donnelly
Chaos or Community?: Seeking Solutions, Not Scapegoats for
Bad Economics
0896085112
A calmer approach to the globalization and sustainable
development debate and discussions about the causes of economic problems in
the US. Whether one agrees or not, it is an interesting point of view
by comparison to the popular works of people like Kevin Danaher, Noam
Chomsky, etc. which largely rant against corporations, government, and
multilateral organizations - spreading hatred of scapegoats and selling lots
of books, but not necessarily doing very much to actually help the people
whose welfare they profess to be so concerned about.
Profits, Progress and Poverty : Case Studies of International
Industries in Latin America
0268011524
Edited by an economist at the Univ. of Notre Dama, later in
the Latin American section of the World Bank; various researchers examined
eight industries. Old, but still interesting research about the actual
local impact of transnational investment in developing countries.
Latin America - Economic Development and Regional
Differentiation
0389201944
For those who think this is a new subject, go back and study
the consequences of what Raul Prebisch and others did for the development of
Latin America (i.e., set it back for decades, in my opinion, by "infant
industry" protectionism which failed, and by imposing unforeseen costs on the
people and companies which had to rely upon worse products at much higher
costs, plus the corruption impact of pervasive government intervention).
Economic theories and policies with good intentions can wreak havoc when
they have populist political value in authoritarian or "technocrat"
environments, where they help to legitimize bad leadership.
Arthur Morris (lecturer in Geography, Univ. of Glasgow,
at the time)
1981
Bruce Donnelly
Foreign Direct Investment (Global!)
<top> <bottom>
The Ernst & Young Guide to Expanding in the Global Market
0471528307
Resource Guide :
0471528293
0471547646
I find no more recent edition of this book, but in any case
it is a useful overview about market entry, aimed largely at mid-sized
companies starting to "go global".
Written by
Charles Valentine, who was National Director of the E&Y International Trade
Advisory Services group in Arlington VA at the time. There were also
related E&Y books on (Resource Guide to Global Markets, Guide to Mergers &
Acquisitions, etc.)
Research may add to this list later. Note that our
focus is not on trade development, but rather investment. Although
related, there are already many other sources available about import /
export and trade topics.
Dictionary of International Trade : Handbook of the Global
Trade Community
1885073909
Basic reference information published by World Trade Press.
www.worldtradepress.com
See also electronic version which can be licensed by companies.
Edward Hinkelman
1994 (and later revisions - now 2002 issue)
Bruce Donnelly
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