The Corporate Cure for Global Ills?
The idea of using business partnerships to help alleviate global ills has taken on a higher profile in recent weeks. At the United Nations' World Summit for Sustainable Development, for example, delegates from the United States argued that private-public partnerships can be harnessed to help nations reduce poverty levels while mitigating environmental damage. Meanwhile, critics said such partnerships will end up doing more for corporations than for the poor.
The matter was vigorously debated at the summit. On one hand were advocates such as Paula Dobriansky, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Global Affairs, who said, "We are very excited about partnerships.... We see this as a commitment on the part of all. This is a call for action. This is a call for initiative." On the other hand, "many activists were furious about a 'corporate takeover' of the meeting, calling it a victory for greed and a tragedy for the poor and for the environment," reports The Economist magazine. In the end, Mark Malloch Brown, the UN Development Program's administrator, said that the involvement of the private sector is needed to sustain future development but that if governments "lie back and say to business 'Do our sustainable development for us,' it's an open invitation for some business to behave badly."
Despite the debate, there's little doubt that public-private partnerships represent a growing trend. UN organizers said they were aware of 218 proposed partnerships that intended to do everything from improve drinking water to develop renewable energy projects. Canadian chemicals company Alcan, for example, plans to help villagers in Bangladesh remove arsenic from wells and water supplies. And the European Union announced that it would cooperate with water companies, nongovernmental groups and six countries in order to improve water supplies for millions of people in Africa.
One believer in corporate involvement is George Lodge, professor emeritus at Harvard University and author of "Managing Globalization in the Age of Interdependence." In a recent article published in Foreign Affairs magazine, he advocates for the creation of a World Development Corporation (WDC), which would be chartered by the United Nations and established as a joint venture by selected global corporations. "Given the prevailing mistrust of global corporations and the threat they pose to sovereignty, having such a UN imprimatur would be crucial," he claims.
Lodge argues that market globalization isn't sufficient to end world poverty. In fact, even as globalization has spread in recent years, some areas of the world have actually grown poorer. Today, almost half of the global population lives on less than $2 per day. He believes that an organization like the WDC might turn this trend around. He writes, "Assisted by rich governments and by loans from development banks, the WDC would bring to impoverished areas technology, credit, access to world markets, and management know-how." The idea is to allow such projects to become profitable over the long run, creating systems of development that will last.
Of course, there's no guarantee that, even with UN support, such partnerships will be successful. The Business Partners for Development (BPD) network, which was initiated by the World Bank in 1998, has already learned some lessons about why partnerships succeed and fail. This network was established to encourage companies, governments and community groups to pool their expertise and create pilot projects that test the viability of partnerships. It has learned that some of its successful initiatives just wouldn't have been feasible without the partnerships. It also learned, however, that some partnerships never got off the ground, and some were abandoned in midstream. Without conflict resolution, for example, historical grievances can keep partners from working together.
In the end, though, corporations may have much to gain by engaging in successful partnerships. John Browne, chief executive of oil giant BP, says that in an age when trust in big business has been eroded, "companies have to demonstrate that our presence, particularly in poorer countries ... is a source of human progress."
For The Economist magazine's view of the United Nations' World Summit for Sustainable Development, please see
http://www.economist.com/agenda/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1313371
For a view from the United Nations itself, please see
http://www.undp.org/dpa/index.html
For more information on Business Partners for Development (BPD), go to
http://www.bpdweb.org/
To open a PDF version of BPD's report "Endearing Myths, Enduring Truths," use the following link:
http://www.bpdweb.org/endearing_myths.pdf
For information on Cambridge University's postgraduate certificate in cross-sector partnerships, go to
http://www.cpi.cam.ac.uk/pccp/
For further information on business partnerships, try the following World Bank links:
http://www.worldbank.org/business/03partnerships.html
http://www.worldbank.org/business/files/partnering.doc
The following World Bank link is to a PDF report called "Business Partnership and Outreach Group":
http://www.worldbank.org/business/briefings/note1.pdf
For an example of one corporation's stated position on the concept of sustainable development, see BP's Web site at
http://www.bp.com/environ_social/environment/sus_develop/index.asp
The matter was vigorously debated at the summit. On one hand were advocates such as Paula Dobriansky, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Global Affairs, who said, "We are very excited about partnerships.... We see this as a commitment on the part of all. This is a call for action. This is a call for initiative." On the other hand, "many activists were furious about a 'corporate takeover' of the meeting, calling it a victory for greed and a tragedy for the poor and for the environment," reports The Economist magazine. In the end, Mark Malloch Brown, the UN Development Program's administrator, said that the involvement of the private sector is needed to sustain future development but that if governments "lie back and say to business 'Do our sustainable development for us,' it's an open invitation for some business to behave badly."
Despite the debate, there's little doubt that public-private partnerships represent a growing trend. UN organizers said they were aware of 218 proposed partnerships that intended to do everything from improve drinking water to develop renewable energy projects. Canadian chemicals company Alcan, for example, plans to help villagers in Bangladesh remove arsenic from wells and water supplies. And the European Union announced that it would cooperate with water companies, nongovernmental groups and six countries in order to improve water supplies for millions of people in Africa.
One believer in corporate involvement is George Lodge, professor emeritus at Harvard University and author of "Managing Globalization in the Age of Interdependence." In a recent article published in Foreign Affairs magazine, he advocates for the creation of a World Development Corporation (WDC), which would be chartered by the United Nations and established as a joint venture by selected global corporations. "Given the prevailing mistrust of global corporations and the threat they pose to sovereignty, having such a UN imprimatur would be crucial," he claims.
Lodge argues that market globalization isn't sufficient to end world poverty. In fact, even as globalization has spread in recent years, some areas of the world have actually grown poorer. Today, almost half of the global population lives on less than $2 per day. He believes that an organization like the WDC might turn this trend around. He writes, "Assisted by rich governments and by loans from development banks, the WDC would bring to impoverished areas technology, credit, access to world markets, and management know-how." The idea is to allow such projects to become profitable over the long run, creating systems of development that will last.
Of course, there's no guarantee that, even with UN support, such partnerships will be successful. The Business Partners for Development (BPD) network, which was initiated by the World Bank in 1998, has already learned some lessons about why partnerships succeed and fail. This network was established to encourage companies, governments and community groups to pool their expertise and create pilot projects that test the viability of partnerships. It has learned that some of its successful initiatives just wouldn't have been feasible without the partnerships. It also learned, however, that some partnerships never got off the ground, and some were abandoned in midstream. Without conflict resolution, for example, historical grievances can keep partners from working together.
In the end, though, corporations may have much to gain by engaging in successful partnerships. John Browne, chief executive of oil giant BP, says that in an age when trust in big business has been eroded, "companies have to demonstrate that our presence, particularly in poorer countries ... is a source of human progress."
For The Economist magazine's view of the United Nations' World Summit for Sustainable Development, please see
http://www.economist.com/agenda/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1313371
For a view from the United Nations itself, please see
http://www.undp.org/dpa/index.html
For more information on Business Partners for Development (BPD), go to
http://www.bpdweb.org/
To open a PDF version of BPD's report "Endearing Myths, Enduring Truths," use the following link:
http://www.bpdweb.org/endearing_myths.pdf
For information on Cambridge University's postgraduate certificate in cross-sector partnerships, go to
http://www.cpi.cam.ac.uk/pccp/
For further information on business partnerships, try the following World Bank links:
http://www.worldbank.org/business/03partnerships.html
http://www.worldbank.org/business/files/partnering.doc
The following World Bank link is to a PDF report called "Business Partnership and Outreach Group":
http://www.worldbank.org/business/briefings/note1.pdf
For an example of one corporation's stated position on the concept of sustainable development, see BP's Web site at
http://www.bp.com/environ_social/environment/sus_develop/index.asp