"No CEO should be without this book." Alex Singleton, Director General, Globalisation Institute.

Make Poverty Business: Increase Profits and Reduce Risks by Engaging with the Poor, Craig Wilson and Peter Wilson
Greenleaf Publishing, October 2006, 190 pp.



Poor people in developing countries could make excellent suppliers, employees and customers but are often ignored by major businesses. This omission leads to increased risk, higher costs and lower sales. Meanwhile, businesses are asked by governments and poverty activists to do more for economic development, but their exhortations are rarely based on a proper business case. Make Poverty Business bridges the gap by constructing a rigorous profit-making argument for multinational corporations to do more business with the poor. It takes economic development out of the corporate social responsibility ghetto and places it firmly in the core business interests of the corporation, and argues that to see the poor only as potential consumers misses half of the story. The book should be read by international business managers seeking to increase profits and decrease risk in developing countries, and by development advocates who seek to harness the profit motive to reduce poverty. The book makes numerous low-risk, low-cost recommendations for businesses and donors, all of which are rooted in a rigorous discussion of the underlying strategic and economic issues.

Make Poverty Business integrates concerns over political risk, legal failure and physical security into a business case for reducing poverty.

Make Poverty Business sees the poor as more than mere consumers at C K Prahalad's "bottom of the pyramid" and instead takes a strategic view of all the ways in which a multinational company can interact with and influence the lives of the poor. The poor face poverty traps when they seek to deal with an international company. Based on sound economic theory and emerging good business practice the book recommends low-cost ways to overcome these traps and gain access to a larger and cheaper pool of employees and suppliers. The poor can also become a threat - to reputation and security - if relationships are badly managed. The book integrates concerns over political risk, legal failure and physical security into a business case for reducing poverty. It argues that country risk is something that can be actively reduced through economic development rather than passively managed with lawyers and guards.

Make Poverty Business argues that doing business with the poor can be profitably integrated into the core operations of all multinational companies, not only in those consumer manufacturers who see a marketing opportunity or those major corporations who feel under PR pressure to do some cosmetic corporate social responsibility. The book examines the successes, failures and missed opportunities of a wide range of global companies including Wal-Mart, BP, Unilever, Shell and HSBC when dealing with the poor and with development advocates in the media, NGOs, governments and international organisations. It includes a discussion on how to use a poverty perspective to provoke profitable innovation - not only to create new products and services but also to find new sources of competitive advantage in the supply chain and to develop more sustainable, lower-cost business models in developing countries.

Craig Wilson and Peter Wilson are well-placed to combine the best insights from business strategy, political risk and economic development and to discard the worst. Their combined experience includes the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, McKinsey and the British Diplomatic Service and they have worked in many of the world's most challenging environments including Bangladesh, East Timor, Indonesia, Kosovo and Sierra Leone. Their academic backgrounds in development economics (Columbia and Oxford Universities) and business strategy (INSEAD) are supplemented by real hands-on experience of what works and what doesn't for businesses and development donors.

The combined experience of the authors include the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, McKinsey and the British Diplomatic Service, and they have worked in many of the world's most challenging environments.

Michael Strong, Chief Executive of Flow, says: "Make Poverty Business will be read by business leaders, but it should be read by everyone who cares about global poverty. It contains dozens of specific, practical suggestions for corporate managers interested in increasing the stability and profitability of their operations in poor nations - and, quite remarkably - the authors make a solid, level-headed case that their suggested business practices will reduce global poverty and improve the reputation of global business. A must read for corporate managers and NGO leaders who realize that ethical business can serve the best interests of all."

Alex Singleton, Director-General of The Globalisation Institute and described by Mark Malloch Brown, deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, as the "high priest of globalisation" says: "Make Poverty Business will revolutionise how people think about corporate social responsibility. No CEO should be without this book."

Joseph S. O'Keefe, writer in residence at The Brookings Institution, says: "This is a savvy, eminently useful book that should be in the hands of global business managers and development agency staff alike. Craig Wilson and Peter Wilson go beyond the anecdotal evidence for tapping into the consumer and outsourcing potential of the poor. In clear, no-nonsense language they provide a roadmap of new angles, hidden pitfalls and profitable shortcuts.

They blend their first-hand, hard-won experience in developing nations with nuanced research by some of the world's leading development thinkers. Page for page, this book represents a very good deal - both for the poor harried managers in today's globalizing enterprises, and for the poor themselves, who will benefit from its impact."

William Keegan, Senior Economics Commentator of The Observer, says: "Entertaining, well-written and refreshingly free of management jargon, this is an engaging contribution to the debate on development".

Craig Wilson and Peter Wilson go beyond the anecdotal evidence for tapping into the consumer and outsourcing potential of the poor.

Craig Wilson's previous book, A Corporate Solution to Global Poverty, co-authored with Professor George Lodge of Harvard University, was described by the historian Arthur Schlesinger as a "fresh and original approach to the economics and ethics of globalization". The Harvard Business School academic and entrepreneur Juan Enriquez said: "Lodge and Wilson do not hesitate to dissect, deconstruct, and devour ideologies, policies, and institutions that have promised a lot and delivered very little. They provide an alternative answer, one that is clear, hard-headed, obvious, and mostly ignored; business is and will remain the driving part of the equation. If you are interested in results, this is an entertaining and smart book."






Reprinted with permission from Creative Commons. To link to the original book review see, Make Poverty Business.

To read another Global Envision article about poverty alleviation see, Poverty Alleviation Through Microfinance in China



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