Summary
The Case for Business in Developing Economies is a view from developing countries on why corporations should stop appeasing their critics and promote the benefits of capitalism for the Global South. Ann Bernstein's inspiration for this book came in 1997 when South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission held a week of hearings focused on business and its role during apartheid. In the same week, Nelson Mandela implicitly challenged many of the assumptions of those who attacked companies in South Africa for operating within a racially discriminatory system when he called on SA business to invest in China - the world's largest authoritarian state and human rights abuser.
Bernstein posits that business leaders need to stop playing defence and instead stand up for markets, free trade and globalisation. It's time business had the confidence and strategic vision to stop apologising, develop its own public agenda and start propagating the phenomenal benefits of competitive capitalism for the less developed countries of the world.
The Case for Business in Developing Economies offers a penetrating analysis of the role of business in supporting development by an authentic voice from the developing world itself.
