ECONIS Select – Building Thriving Companies in Low-Income Economies

06/2010

Selected for the Global Economic Symposium 2010

Post-conflict economies and many low-income countries such as Bangladesh, Rwanda or Haiti offer prospects for high returns. The African continent illustrates this well: untapped economic potential abounds. New research shows that attractive profits are made across the continent (e.g., Collier & Warnholz, Harvard Business Review, 2009). However, investment flows outside of oil and mining have remained scarce and have taken a direct hit during the financial crisis. This group of economies is locked in a pervasive disequilibrium sustained by low expectations, a dismal reputation, high entry barriers and poor information. The creation of steady employment in formal enterprises is central to economic development and stability. The few successful companies in these markets merit attention. Factors that depress investment today may unravel as credible evidence of profitability shifts collective expectations.

To fully exploit these potentially benign dynamics, a number of questions have to be addressed:

• What strategies have made companies succeed where others have failed?
• Why have some companies succeeded where others have failed?
• Can a number of success stories change the economic landscape and inject new dynamism?
• Can recent promotion efforts (e.g., Blair in Sierra Leone and Clinton in Haiti) pump-prime investment from ground zero?
• What does this imply for economic policy and international assistance?
• Are development banks too conservative to be relevant in risky fragile economies?
• How can low-income countries credibly signal attractive business opportunities?
• Will greater access to market information change entrenched negative perceptions of investors?
• How can competitive special economic zones develop in fragile states?
• Is there scope to reverse the marginalization of the poorest countries in the global economy?

Literature selected from our database ECONIS:

• Title: The fortune at the bottom of the pyramid: eradicating poverty through profits / C.K. Prahalad
  Published: Upper Saddle River, NJ: Wharton School Publ., c 2010
  Subject heading: Transnational corporation / Globalization / Good governance / Economic ethics / Economic development / Poverty alleviation / Development Policy / Non-governmental organization / Developing countries
  Link: Table of contents
• Article: Serving the world's poor, profitably / C. K. Prahalad and Allen Hammond
  In: Strategy and globalization; Vol. 2:. - Los Angeles u.a.: SAGE. - 2009, S. 327-338
  Subject heading: Emerging markets / Transnational corporation / Foreign direct investment / Foreign market entry mode / Employment effect / Welfare effect / Low-income countries
• Title: Making poor nations rich: entrepreneurship and the process of economic development / Ed. by Benjamin Powell
  Corporate body: Independent Institute
  Published: Stanford, Calif. u.a.: Stanford Economics and Finance, 2008
  Subject heading: Entrepreneurs / Economic development / Developing countries
  Link: Table of contents
• Title: Trade and poverty reduction in the Asia-Pacific Region: case studies and lessons from low-income communities / World Trade Organization ... Ed. by Andrew L. Stoler ...
  Corporate body: World Trade Organization
  Published: Cambridge u.a.: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2009
  Subject heading: External sector / Transnational corporation / International agricultural trade / Trade in services / International migration / Labour mobility / Poverty / Low-income countries / Asia-Pacific Region
  Link: Table of contents
• Article: Investment climate and FDI in developing countries: firm-level evidence / Tidiane Kinda
  In: World development. - Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, ISSN 0305-750X, ZDB-ID 1853399. - Bd. 38.2010, 4, S. 498-513
  Subject heading: Investment climate / Foreign direct investment / Developing countries / 2000-2006
• Title: Post-crisis growth in developing countries: a special report of the Commission on Growth and Development on the implications of the 2008 financial crisis / Commission on Growth and Development ...
  Corporate body: Commission on Growth and Development
  Published: Washington, DC: World Bank Publ., 2010
  Subject heading: Economic development / Financial crisis / Developing countries / 2008
  Link: Table of contents
• Article: Globalization: entrepreneurial challenges and opportunities in the developing world / Elizabeth J. Gatewood; Sylvain Boko
  In: The role of SMEs and entrepreneurship in a globalised economy. - Stockholm: Globalisation Council u.a., ISBN 978-91-85935-33-8. - 2009, S. 122-144
  Subject heading: Small and medium-sized enterprises / Entrepreneurs / Globalization / Developing countries
• Title: Global value chains, technology transfer and local firm upgrading in non-OECD countries / Juliane Brach; Robert Kappel
  Published: Hamburg: GIGA, 2009
  Subject heading: Small and medium-sized enterprises / Village economy / Business value creation / International business cooperation / Technology transfer / Economic convergence / Newly industrializing countries / Developing countries
  Link:
  http://www.giga-hamburg.de/dl/download.php?d=/content/publikationen/pdf/wp110_brach-kappel.pdf
  Request info: - Available
• Article: Small firm growth in developing countries / Simeon Nichter; Lara Goldmark
  In: World development. - Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, ISSN 0305-750X, ZDB-ID 1853399. - Bd. 37.2009, 9, S. 1453-1464
  Subject heading: Small and medium-sized enterprises / Firm growth / Entrepreneurs / Business value creation / Social network / Business network / Developing countries
• Article: Overcoming the double hurdles to investing in technology: R&D activities of small firms in developing countries / Erol Taymaz; Ye¸sim Üçdogruk
  In: Small business economics. - Dordrecht u.a.: Springer, ISSN 0921-898X, ZDB-ID 10245601. - Bd. 33.2009, 1, S. 109-128
  Subject heading: Industrial research / Small and medium-sized enterprises / Developing countries
• Article: SME development, economic growth, and government intervention in a developing country: the Indonesian story / Tulus Tambunan
  In: Journal of international entrepreneurship. - Dordrecht u.a.: Springer Science + Business Media, ISSN 1570-7385, ZDB-ID 21624951. - Bd. 6.2008, 4, S. 147-167
  Subject heading: Small and medium-sized enterprises / Corporate performance / Economic Growth / Influence of government / Entrepreneurs / Women / Developing countries / Indonesia
• Article: Latecomer entrepreneurship: a policy perspective / Mike Hobday and Fernando Perini
  In: Industrial policy and development. - Oxford u.a.: Oxford Univ. Press, ISBN 978-0-19-923527-8. - 2009, S. 470-505
  Subject heading: Development Policy / Entrepreneurs / Small and medium-sized enterprises / Developing countries
• Title: Types of entrepreneurship and economic growth / Erik Stam and André van Stel
  Published: Maastricht: United Nations Univ., Maastricht Economic and social Research and training centre on Innovation and Techn., 2009
  Subject heading: Entrepreneurs / Economic Growth / Industrialized countries / Transition countries / Low-income countries
  Link: http://www.merit.unu.edu/publications/wppdf/2009/wp2009-049.pdf
  Request info: - Available
• Title: Entrepreneurship in developing countries / by Zoltan Acs; Nicola Virgill
  Published: Jena: Univ. u.a., 2009
  Subject heading: Economic development / Entrepreneurs / Network externalities / Industrial promotion / Import substitution / Foreign trade promotion / Developing countries
  Links:
  http://zs.thulb.uni-jena.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/jportal_derivate_00169322/wp_2009_023.pdf?hosts=
  http://hdl.handle.net/10419/31789
• Title: Lessons from the poor: triumph of the entrepreneurial spirit / ed. by Alvaro Vargas Llosa
  Corporate body: Independent Institute
  Published: Oakland, Calif.: Independent Inst., 2008
  Subject heading: Entrepreneurs / Economic development / Poverty alleviation / Development Policy / Developing countries
  Link: http://www.gbv.de/dms/zbw/562885250.pdf
• Article: MNC strategies and linkage effects in developing countries / Michael W. Hansen; Torben Pedersen; Bent Petersen
  In: Journal of world business: JWB. - Greenwich, Conn. u.a.: JAI Press, ISSN 1090-9516, ZDB-ID 13823073. - Bd. 44.2009, 2, S. 121-130
  Subject heading: Transnational corporation / Danish / Strategic management / Regional labour market / Developing countries
• Article: Serving low-income markets: rethinking multinational corporations' strategies / Shuan SadreGhazi and Geert Duysters
  In: Multinationals and emerging economies. - Cheltenham u.a.: Elgar, ISBN 1-8484-4008-1. - 2009, S. 166-182
  Subject heading: International economic relations / Transnational corporation / Foreign direct investment / Low-income countries
• Article: The impact of multinational enterprise strategy on indigenous enterprises: horizontal spillovers and crowding out in developing countries / Jennifer W. Spencer
  In: Academy of Management: The Academy of Management review: Acad., ISSN 0363-7425, ZDB-ID 196768x. - Bd. 33.2008, 2, S. 341-361
  Subject heading: Transnational corporation / Foreign direct investment / Externalities / Developing countries
• Title: Africa rising: how 900 million African consumers offer more than you think / Vijay Mahajan
  Published: Upper Saddle River, NJ: Wharton School Publ., c 2009
  Subject heading: International marketing / Business model / Export market / Purchasing power / Africa
  Link: http://www.gbv.de/dms/zbw/562885331.pdf
• Title: Is investment in Africa low despite high profits? / Jean-Louis Warnholz
  Published: Oxford: Centre for the Study of African Economies, 2008
  Subject heading: Foreign direct investment / Return on investment / Profitability / Method of moments / Africa / 2002-2007
  Link: http://www.csae.ox.ac.uk/workingpapers/pdfs/2008-31text.pdf
• Article: Lessons for African economies from Irish and East Asian industrial policy / David Bailey; Helena Lenihan; Ajit Singh
  In: Journal of industry, competition and trade . - Dordrecht: Springer, ISSN 1566-1679, ZDB-ID 20671209. - Bd. 9.2009, 4, S. 357-382
  Subject heading: Industrial Policy / Foreign direct investment / Small and medium-sized enterprises / Economic development / Comparison / Africa / Ireland / East Asia
• Article: "First-mover" investment advantages in Sub-Saharan Africa: why Northern multinationals should react (quickly) to their Southern counterparts (Focus) / Harry G. Broadman
  In: CESifo GmbH: CESifo forum. - Munich: Ifo, ISSN 1615-245X, ZDB-ID 20088085. - Bd. 10.2009, 4, S. 52-58
  Subject heading: Foreign direct investment / Transnational corporation / Location factor / Africa South of Sahara
• Title: Industrial upgrading in Sub-Saharan Africa: the competitive impact of China on supplier linkage development potentials of resident Asian entrepreneurs / by Abdelrasaq Nal & Mammo Muchie
  Published: Oxford: Univ. of Oxford, Dep. of International Development, 2009
  Subject heading: Foreign direct investment / Foreign affiliate / Industrialization / Corporate performance / Competition / China / Africa South of Sahara / upgrad
• Article: Private enterprise-driven growth and poverty alleviation in Africa / John Kuada
  In: African journal of business and economic research. - London: Adonis & Abbey, ISSN 1750-4554, ZDB-ID 22606531. - Bd. 3.2008, 1, S. 88-115
  Subject heading: Entrepreneurs / Private sector / Economic Growth / Social network / Poverty / Africa South of Sahara