Rich Country, Poor Country: The Multinational as Change Agent

by Benjamin F. Bobo

Overview

In this series of essays that span over 20 years of research, Benjamin Bobo builds the case for multinational corporations to take an active role in combating poverty around the world. Citing sobering statistics (for example, three-fourths of the world's nations are classified as Third World and four-fifths of the world's people live in these nations), Bobo argues that huge corporate entities not only have the wherewithal but an obligation to alleviate the suffering that results from a lack of economic resources and opportunity. Through these provocative and forward-looking essays, he presents a theoretical and practical framework for multinationals to stimulate economic development in the Third World—providing access to capital, entrepreneurial expertise, and emerging technologies.

In a bold challenge to conventional thinking about wealth creation and strategic decision-making, Bobo applies such concepts as profit satisficing and stakeholder givebacks, and proposes an agenda for change that begins in business schools (the intellectual training ground for multinational managers), with increased emphasis on sustainability and human development. The net result, he argues, will be a world in which both producers and consumers benefit.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275979287
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	04/30/2005
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

Benjamin F. Bobo is Professor of Finance at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles. His research focuses on life-choice constraints of the economically disadvantaged in the United States and around the world. He is the author of many articles and books, including Locked in and Locked Out: The Impact of Urban Land Use Policy and Market Forces on African Americans (Praeger, 2001).

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
Perspective
Introduction
The Historical Context in Brief
Multinational Corporations in the Economic Development of Black Africa: Some Problems That Affect an Equitable Relationship
Issues in North-South Relations and the New World Order
MN-Third World Relations: A Comparative Study of Policymakers' Attitudes and Perceptions
Multinationals in the Third World: Reciprocity, Conflict Resolution and Economic Policy Formulation
Multinationals, the North, and the New World Order: Objectives and Opportunities
Internationalization Decision Making and the Global Interdependency Sensitivity Thesis
Multinationals and the Caribbean: A Postcolonial Perspective
Third World Investment Strategy: The African Predicament
Whose Wealth to Maximize: The Third World as Stakeholder
GIST and Profit Satisficing: Toward More User-Friendly Shareholder Wealth Maximization
User-Friendly Shareholder Wealth Maximization and B-School Pedagogy
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Bobo (finance, Loyola Marymount U.) feels strongly that income inequality between rich and poor nations and the deep poverty of the Third World can be effectively addressed by the multinational corporation. He presents 14 previously published essays that address the matter from a variety of angles, discussing such matters as MNC-host country relationships in Africa, the possibilities of MNCS putting aside exploitative practices in recognition that poor countries may otherwise unite against them, the attitudes of policymakers in poor countries and in MNCs, the lessons from conflict and conflict resolution models, expanding the corporate model of wealth maximization to include Third World stakeholders, and the issue of a new pedagogy in support of such a model.” —Reference & Research Book News

From the Publisher