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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 contend, MNCs 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
that 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.
George Lodge is Jaime and Josefina Chua
Tiampo Professor of Business Administration Emeritus at
Harvard Business School. In 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower
named him Assistant Secretary of Labor for International
Affairs, a position to which President John F. Kennedy reappointed
him several years later. His books include Managing
Globalization in the Age of Interdependence, The
New American Ideology, and The American Disease.
After spending nine years in the Australian
foreign service, Craig Wilson worked for five years as a
consultant economist with the World Bank and other NGOs.
In 2005 he joined the International Finance Corporation
and is currently based in Bangladesh, where he is managing
a program aimed at improving the investment environment
in South Asia.
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