Rich Country, Poor Country: The Multinational as Change Agent

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.