The Private Sector and

Poverty Reduction

Kate Raworth, Sumi Dhanarajan and

Liam Wren-Lewis

Many commentators claim a key role for the private sector in

reducing poverty. This can be achieved through direct benefits, such
as the adoption of ethical business practices and the provision of
employment, goods, and services to the poor; and through indirect
positive impacts on macro-economic policy and business development.
This paper argues that the likelihood of business impacts being pro-
poor depends also on wider policy and structural conditions. These
include the importance of poor people in a companys business model,
and the length of local investment and commitment that this
demands. Case studies of three companies demonstrate the
importance of legislation and civil society as catalysts for pro-poor
change in business. Leadership from within the company and a strong
business case are also essential. However, multiple entrenched
problems with modern capitalist systems work against positive
change within international business. Overcoming or mitigating
these will be necessary if the pro-poor potential of the private sector is
to be realised.

This background paper was written as a contribution to the development of From Poverty
to Power: How Active Citizens and Effective States Can Change the World, Oxfam
International 2008. It is published in order to share widely the results of commissioned
research and programme experience. The views it expresses are those of the author and
do not necessarily reflect those of Oxfam International or its affiliate organisations.
1. Why consider the private sector?
According to Oxfams framework of development, people need sustainable livelihoods in order to get
out of poverty. What does that mean? A livelihood comprises the capabilities, assets and activities
required for a means of living. It is sustainable when it can cope with and recover from shocks,
maintain itself over time and provide the same or better opportunities for all, now and in the future.

In order to build up such livelihoods, people need assets in five areas:

human capital skills, knowledge and information, health and education
natural capital environment, air, water, wildlife, biodiversity
financial capital savings, credit, remittances, pensions, safety nets and benefits
physical capital transport, housing, water, energy communications, land
social capital networks, groups, access to institutions

They also need to consume goods and services to meet their immediate needs. Poor people acquire
these assets and consumption goods from four sources:
the natural resource base making use of available land, air, water, biodiversity, plant-based raw
materials and wild foods;
the unpaid, reproductive economy receiving care, nurture and security as members of a
household and community. This is especially important for children, old people and unwell
people and those who are especially dependent on the unpaid work of women
state-provided services using publicly subsidised health clinics, schools, electricity, and water
services, and benefiting from the security and stability created by good governance and the rule of
law.
the market economy selling their labour or production, buying goods and services, and
investing in ventures (for example, providing credit or equity to others, for a return on capital).

This working paper sets out to address the following questions:

On impact:
How does the private sector affect poor peoples acquisition of the necessary assets and
consumption goods?
What is the impact of private sector activity on the assets provided by the natural resource base,
the reproductive economy and state services?

On change:
What creates a dynamic Small and Medium-scale Enterprise (SME) sector?
What causes some companies to change their strategy, policies and behaviour in order to have a
positive impact on poor peoples livelihoods?

2. What is the private sector and how does it affect poverty

reduction?
In this paper, the private sector is defined as all organisations within the monetised economy which
are privately owned and funded, and that are operating for profit. It is a small sub-sector of the total
productive system on which human beings depend for their wellbeing, which is bounded by the
planets natural resource base and relies heavily on the unpaid and caring work of individuals.

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The private sector within the total productive system on which human beings depend 1

Within the monetised economy, the private sector is constituted by all those organisations that are
privately owned and operate for profit, as shown below.

1
Diagram adapted from Henderson, 1991

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Organisations in the Monetised Economy:

Within the private sector, we can distinguish further among organisations according to:
size (SMEs vs. large enterprises)
formality (formal vs. informal sector)
ownership and profit distribution (private vs. shareholders, vs. co-ops vs. mutuals)

For the purposes of this paper, we group them as follows:

Agricultural smallholders (non-subsistence)
Informal micro-enterprises
Formal small and medium enterprises
Large domestic companies
Trans-national corporations (TNCs)

The private sector relates to poverty reduction through market-based transactions and state transfers
and externalities, as shown below.

The private sector interacts with poor people in the following ways:

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 Through direct transactions Through indirect routes
1. Providing incomes: poor people engage in 3. Transfers to the state: taxes paid by
business to earn income, for example, selling wage companies provide revenue for state services
labour, or selling produce in a value chain which may be of benefit to poor people

2. Meeting needs: poor people purchase goods and 4. Externalities impacting poor peoples
services through markets, such as clothing, food, assets: companies operations affect poor
medicines people as consumers, workers, community,
and citizens through actions, which directly
or indirectly affect poor peoples human,
natural, physical, social and financial assets
(for example, polluting rivers, or lobbying
government policy on trade rules, or
controlling resources through intellectual
property law).

Private sector actors tend to emphasise their market-based contributions (1 and 2), and their
contribution to state resources (3) while downplaying their impacts through externalities (4), unless
the externalities are positive influences such as creating a better business environment or upgrading
their suppliers.

3. Big business and poverty reduction

How does big business see its own role?
Transnational companies (TNCs) are increasingly making public statements about how their business
operations help reduce poverty by, for example, contributing to the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs). These statements can be summarised as follows:
We are the prime generators of wealth
We are serving poor people by meeting their material needs
We are building the macro-environment
We give skills, innovative capabilities and resources that can be used to help poor people out of
poverty
We are socially and environmentally responsible in our core business

Oxfams response to these five common stylised claims is as follows:

We are the prime generators of wealth

This claim is made by the UNDP Commission on the Private Sector and Development (2004), for
example.

In stylised terms this can be expressed as: reducing poverty is essentially a matter of raising poor peoples
incomes. The route to this is creating jobs and market opportunities through economic growth. It is
the private sector that generates this growth. Hence business is at the heart of poverty reduction.

Oxfams response
The private sector (not simply multinational, but all levels of market-based, privately-owned activity)
is the major employer in most countries and so provides the vast majority of incomes, but,

a) private sector growth relies heavily on state support providing infrastructure, secure property
rights, workforce education and healthcare, and other subsidies (especially beneficial to
business) which enable private actors to function in the market, so it is too simplistic to say

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 that the private sector is the prime generator of wealth through growth, as if it were acting in
a vacuum and
b) adopting the sustainable development perspective, reducing poverty means creating wealth
by increasing poor peoples assets, not only financial assets but also physical, human, natural
and social. The challenge for TNCs that believe their operations are reducing poverty through
generating incomes is to ensure that the way in which they engage with poor people as
suppliers of labour (that is employees, contractors, SMEs) is simultaneously increasing, or at
least not depleting, their physical, natural, human and social assets.

We are serving poor people by meeting their needs

This claim is made by companies that are, for example, actively seeking poor people as customers, for
example.

In stylised terms this can be expressed as: the majority of goods and services that poor people need and
consume are provided by the private sector, and if people are repeatedly buying items, then these
must be meeting their needs. The recent rise of the business model, which targets consumers at the
base of the pyramid, means that more products and services are now available to poor people at
affordable prices.

Oxfams response:
a) Poor peoples needs are met both by privately produced goods and services, and by state-
provided services such as water, health, and education;
b) the business model of marketing to poor people has certainly increased the range of products
available to them, and has made many highly valued products more widely and affordably
available;
c) However, it is too easy to argue that any product bought by a poor person is helping to meet
their needs and thereby reduce their poverty. Some of the base of the pyramid discourse
conflates serving poor people with selling to poor people. It ignores the significant influence
of advertising, which accompanies privately marketed products. By contrast, advertising is
rarely used to boost demand for state-provided products such as schooling.

We are building the macro-environment

In stylised terms this can be expressed as: TNC operations contribute to the resources and structures of
the macro-economy through:
tax payments, which fund public services
good governance and corporate practice
know-how transferred to suppliers and distributors in value chains.

Oxfams response:
TNCs can bring these benefits but the main determinants of whether or not these linkages occur
(beyond tax payments) are:
a) the structure of the industry in which the company operates, and
b) the policies of the host country government.

A company owning manufacturing sites is far more likely to have a business plan spanning 20 years,
and so is more willing to invest in the quality of its local suppliers and distributors than a sourcing
company whose interest in local suppliers may be for 2-3 years only. Moreover, government policy on
joint ventures, and other initiatives to create forward and backward linkages with the local economy
can determine the positive externalities created by having a TNC present but TNCs often lobby
against these problems.

Our skills, innovative capabilities and resources can be used to help poor people out of poverty
In stylised terms this can be expressed as: we act in a philanthropic way through:
creating business opportunities for SMEs along our supply chains;

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 creating a market and stimulating competition;
applying our business DNA towards developing the skills of SMEs;
enabling access to capital for SMEs.

Oxfams response:
We agree that global companies can play an invaluable role in supporting SME development but they
need to consider:
a) the terms on which they interact with SMEs in their value chains. Do these SMEs equitably
capture value created in the chain? Do they have negotiating power? Can they upgrade within
the chain?
b) Does the entry of a TNC into the market stimulate or depress local competition?
c) Is the business DNA of TNCs really relevant to the context of SMEs in developing countries?
SME entrepreneurs face high risks, uncertain incomes, and high personal costs of financial
loss conditions not familiar to most employees in a TNC.

We are socially and environmentally responsible in our core business

In stylised terms this can be expressed as: we are pursuing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) through
modifying our core business practices to ensure that our operations are consistent with, and promote,
labour standards, human rights, or environmental protection.

Oxfams response:
This is what we consider to be real CSR, when the company places poverty reduction at the heart of
company operations through simply operating and behaving in a socially and environmentally
responsible way. It is very different from the other activities above because it is inward-looking, self-
policing and self-reforming (rather than implying that more of my presence is better for you as the
other approaches do). It is rare. And it is usually only possible to maintain while the company has
strong financial results.

Trends in global Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and trends among TNCs
FDI: A recovery from the Asian Crisis

The past fifteen years have seen levels of foreign direct investment to developing countries increase
massively from $43 billion in 1990 to $174 billion in 2003 2 . The developing world has also seen itself
gain a more significant share of global FDI up from 20.6 per cent of world inflows in 1990 to 31 per
cent in 2003 3 . This increase was mainly due to a meteoric rise between 1990 and 1997, finishing when
the Asian financial crisis revealed such investments to be riskier than previously thought. Since then,
investment has suffered a slight decline (somewhat compounded by increased perceptions of risk
following 11 September 2001). However, in recent years this decline appears to have bottomed out,

2
All figures in current US$, i.e. adjusted for inflation. Trade and investment: A global framework for foreign direct investment,
European Commission, trade-info.cec.eu.int/doclib/docs/2005/june/tradoc_113538.pdf
3
Andreas Waldkirch, Foreign Direct Investment in a Developing Country: An Empirical Investigation
www.williams.edu/Economics/ neudc/papers/fdidev_neudc.pdf

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and the rises seen in 2004 and 2005 are expected to continue in the foreseeable future. FDI is therefore
expected to continue to surpass other private capital flows to developing countries, as well as official
development assistance. However, FDI has two particularly notable characteristics when compared to
other financial inflows: it is highly volatile, and it is highly concentrated 4 .

Though the volatility of FDI appears to be decreasing, it still remains significantly less stable than
official development aid or overseas remittances. 5 The risks of such volatility were exposed to a severe
degree with the collapse of various Asian economies during the crisis in the late 1990s. At that time,
the withdrawal of loans and lack of expected investment precipitated currency crises and the
bankruptcy of local banks, setting back development in the region by some years.

Geographical Distribution: Investors Favourites Continue to Gain

Geographically, the concentration of FDI seems to be increasing. For example, whilst flows of FDI to
developing countries have declined by 26 per cent since 1999, Chinas share has increased from 21 per
cent to 39 per cent (Figure1). 6 Out of the estimated increase in net FDI flows to developing countries in
2004, 88 per cent went to five countries: Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and the Russian Federation. The
same five account for just over 60 per cent of net FDI inflows in 2004.

Region Asia & Oceania South-East Latin America & Africa

Europe & CIS Caribbean
Five Countries China Russia Brazil Nigeria
with Highest FDI Hong Kong Romania Mexico Angola
Inflows in 2004 7 Singapore Azerbaijan Chile Equatorial Guinea
Korea Kazakhstan Argentina Sudan
India Bulgaria Bermuda Egypt

This concentration has scared those countries not amongst investors favourites, as they fear it will
become increasingly difficult, and competitive, to attract substantial investment. However, the recent
enthusiasm for these five countries should be put in perspective. Whilst China accounts for 39 per cent
of the FDI to developing countries, it also accounts for almost 30 per cent of the developing worlds
population 8 . Relative to GDP, Chinas performance in attracting FDI is good but not extraordinary,
with FDI at 3.8 per cent of GDP in 19992002. Nineteen developing countries did better over the same
period. Chinas performance looks even less extraordinary if adjusted for the round-tripping of FDI

4
FDI Trends, World Bank Public Policy for the Private Sector Journal, September 2005,
http://rru.worldbank.org/documents/publicpolicyjournal/273palmade_anayiotas.pdf
5
Global Development Finance 2005, World Bank
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTGDF2005/Resources/gdf05complete.pdf
6
World Bank Public Policy for the Private Sector Journal, September 2005
http://rru.worldbank.org/documents/publicpolicyjournal/273palmade_anayiotas.pdf
7
World Investment Report 2005, UNCTAD
8
World Bank Public Policy for the Private Sector Journal, September 2005
http://rru.worldbank.org/documents/publicpolicyjournal/273palmade_anayiotas.pdf

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through Hong Kong (China), which some estimates suggest may account for as much as 30 per cent of
total FDI to China.

The increases in FDI are not limited to the richer of the developing countries. The share of net FDI
inflows going to low-income countries has increased substantially, rising from a low of less than 7 per
cent in 2000 to almost 11 per cent in 2003/04, the highest level in the past 15 years. This increase
reflects strong gains in FDI in Indias service sector and in the oil and gas sectors of a few African
countries (Angola, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, and Sudan). The share of FDI going to the least
developed countries has also shown steady gains over the past 10 years, rising from a low of 1 per
cent in 1994 to just under 5 per cent in 2003/04.

Sectoral Distribution: A Continuing Trend Towards Services

Within Africa, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Sudan and Egypt were the top recipients,
accounting for a little less than half of all inflows to Africa in 2004 10 . The characteristic that these
countries share (except for Egypt) is that they all have significant natural resources, which is one of the
sectors driving the increase in FDI. This in turn has been led by the rising market price of a range of
primary goods.

However, the share of FDI going to natural resource projects is actually lower than it used to be,
having decreased from 12 per cent of FDI inflows to developing countries in 1989-1991 to 10 per cent
in 2000-2001 (see Figure below). This appears to be part of a more general diversification in the areas
of investment. For example, cumulative FDI flows to the retail trade sector in the 20 largest developing
countries amounted to $45 billion in 19982002 (about 7 per cent of the total to these countries) 11 . The
tendency in the past was to focus almost exclusively on infrastructure and on efficiency-seeking and
tariff-jumping FDI in manufacturing, states a recent World Bank summary of FDI Trends. In the
future more and more FDI will be market-seeking investment in service sectors as well as investment
in tourism and offshore services. 12

9
Resource Flows To Africa: An Update Of Statistical Trends, UNOSA http://www.un.org/africa/osaa/reports/Resourceper
cent20flowsper cent20toper cent20Africaper cent20Anper cent20updateper cent20ofper cent20Statisticalper cent20trends.xls
10
World Investment Report 2005, UNCTAD
11
World Bank Public Policy for the Private Sector Journal, September 2005
http://rru.worldbank.org/documents/publicpolicyjournal/273palmade_anayiotas.pdf
12
World Bank Public Policy for the Private Sector Journal, September 2005
Hhttp://rru.worldbank.org/documents/publicpolicyjournal/273palmade_anayiotas.pdf

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 13

Trends in South-South FDI

A particularly notable trend within FDI is the growth in South-South flows, which have grown faster
than North-South flows. One recent estimate suggests that South-South flows rose from $4.6 billion in
1994 to an average of $54.4 billion between 1997 and 2000, equivalent to 36 per cent of total FDI
inflows to developing economies in the latter period 14 .

13
World Investment Report 2003, UNCTAD
14
Dick Aykut and Dilip Ratha, Transnational Corporations: South-South FDI flows: how big are they?,
www.unctad.org/en/docs/iteiit20043a5_en.pdf

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In Africa this is largely driven by Asian companies, notably those from China, Taiwan, and India. A
demand for primary commodities and natural resource exploitation is one part of this (for example,
food and oil), but there is also an increasing tendency for Asian companies to use cheap African
labour to take advantage of trade agreements like the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA),
which allow the exportation of goods such as textiles to the North without costly trade barriers. 15
Firms from developing countries are also using investment in the South as a way to expand their
markets, investing in overseas service industries. Privatisation programmes, for example, have been
important in attracting FDI, in particular for Malaysian and South African investors, who contributed
almost a third of the foreign exchange raised by privatisation efforts in the poorest countries between
1989 and 1998. All the major players in the African telecommunications sector are from other
developing countries, which have been able to use their managerial experience of dealing with risk to
their advantage. 16 Between 1998 and 2002, China invested $120 million into Africa. Only about twenty
per cent of that amount came into South Africa. Of the 450 Chinese-owned investment projects in
Africa identified by the World Bank, 17 46 per cent are in manufacturing, 40 per cent in services and
only 9 per cent in resource-related industries. In value terms, extractive and resource-related projects
comprise a much higher share at 28 per cent, but nonetheless 64 per cent of the value of Chinese
investment in Africa is in the manufacturing sector. In South Africa there has been a very rapid move
by Indian conglomerates into a range of sectors, services (IT, banking) as well as manufacturing,
including automotive, steel and pharmaceuticals. Transnational corporations undertake a large part of
this investment: foreign affiliates of some 70,000 TNCs generate 53 million jobs around the world. 18
Since one-third of global trade is intra-firm trade, these corporations form a key part of the global
economy, and their operations and behaviours have significant impacts upon it.

One prominent trend over the last decade is market consolidation and concentration in key industry
sectors like financial services, utilities, telecommunications, extractives, agribusiness, retail and
pharmaceuticals. As markets saturate and competition intensifies, so too are new forms of
organisation being sought to increase efficiency and enable profits to be captured more effectively.
Concentration is happening in two ways. There is consolidation in the sector where companies merge
or acquire each other. In addition, or as an alternative, there can be clustering where companies form
strategic alliances with each other in order to dominate the entire value chain upstream and
downstream. For example, a bank, the grain trader, the pesticide manufacturer and the seed producer
can all work together in the agribusiness industry.

15
Africa in the World Economy - The National, Regional and International Challenges, Fondad, The Hague, December 2005,
www.fondad.org/publications/africaworld/Fondad-AfricaWorld-Chapter16.pdf
16
Goldstein Andrea, Emerging multinationals in the global economy: data trends, policy issues, and research questions.
forthcoming, 2006.
17
World Bank (2004), Patterns of Africa-Asia Trade and Investment: Potential for Ownership and Partnership, Washington D.C.,
October 2004, www1.worldbank.org/rped/documents/ticad4.pdf
18
UNCTAD website

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How does such concentration affect poor people as consumers? Does it increase their ability to access
goods and services or not? How does it affect producers? Do farmers lose more bargaining power or
are there greater chances of being able to access the market. Similarly, do poor entrepreneurs have a
better chance of being part of these value chains, or does concentration force them out of the market?
What sort of public policies need to be in place to manage such concentration?

In a survey of some of these companies conducted by UNCTAD, the large majority expected FDI to
developing countries to increase over the next few years. 19 Continued interest by TNCs in developing
countries stems from various factors including the ability to access cheaper sources of labour and skill-
sets and possibilities of overcoming trade barriers. However the biggest driver remains the potential
to capture new markets as markets become saturated in industrialised countries. This trend is playing
out in a number of key sectors: retailing, fast moving consumer goods, banking and other financial
services, telecommunications, and other services.

With young populations, growing middle-income consumers and high rates of private consumption,
many developing countries offer rich pickings. In India, for example, one estimate suggests that
private consumption accounts for 64 per cent of the Indian economy 20 and, whilst still considered a
poor country, it has a consuming middle class of 58million people. 21 Global companies are also
beginning to explore entry into low-income consumer markets in order to capture the so-called
Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid.

Whether this will contribute to lifting poor people out of poverty is still open for debate. Many of the
proponents of this thesis believe that selling to the poor will serve the poor by enabling their access
to goods and services that will improve their quality of life and connectivity with the market, and
therefore lift them out of poverty (see below). 22 Alternative views question whether the causal link is
quite so clear and whether it takes more than simply enabling poor peoples access to goods and
services (albeit at affordable prices) to alleviate their poverty. There are also questions regarding
potential worsening effects. For example, it is questioned whether entry into markets at the base of the
pyramid by global players might drive out local entrepreneurs and create monopolies which could
eventually result in prohibitive pricing. Moreover, there are doubts that the value created will be
distributed equitably along the value chain or if it will result in further polarisation of wealth.

19
Prospects For Foreign Direct Investment, www.unctad.org/en/docs/iteiit20048_en.pdf
20 th
Stephen Roach, Morgan Stanley economist, quoted in a Special Report on Retailing in India, The Economist, April 15 2006
21
ibid. This figure is comes from the National Council of Applied Economic Research that takes into account households with
incomes exceeding $4,400 with 2001-2002 prices. Other more generous estimates based on a bar of $2,000 set the figure at
300m.
22
Prahalad et al.

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The Rise of Southern TNCs
UNCTAD has compiled annual lists of the top 50 TNCs from developing countries, which documents
the rise of these firms: in 2003 their foreign assets climbed to $249 billion from $195 billion in 2002.

Country of No. of
Origin firms in
Top 50
Hong Kong 10
Singapore 9
Taiwan 8
Other Asia 12
South Africa 4
Mexico 4
Brazil 3

Sector No. of firms in

this sector
among the top
50 southern
TNCs
Electronics 11
Petroleum 6
Food & beverage 4
Telecoms 3
Transport 3
Utilities 3
Hotels 3

The Top Five Country of

Southern TNCs Origin
Hutchinson HK China
Whampoa
Singtel Singapore
Petronas Malaysia
Samsung S. Korea
Cemex Mexico
Source: UNCTAD

For now, the significance of these TNCs from developing countries should not be overstated. Firstly,
the number of companies that are comparable to the largest TNCs from developed countries is small
only the top four in the table above are in list of the top 100 TNCs globally. These four, plus Cemex
from Mexico, own almost as much in foreign assets as the remaining 45. Furthermore, the total foreign
assets of all the top 50 TNCs from developing economies in 2003 was barely equal to those of General
Electric, the worlds largest TNC.

However, their current and potential impacts are worth considering. Many of these players are more
open to taking and dealing with risk. For example, Chinese firms are taking on a significant number of
construction and infrastructure projects, which have been avoided, by European or US firms who are
not willing to take on the level of risk commensurate with the initial investment. Southern companies
also have good experience at producing and marketing low-cost products, which may give them an
advantage in accessing low-income consumer markets in developing countries. For example, Chinese

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electronics producers such as TCL know how to produce $50 colour televisions in India and Vietnam,
while Maruti Suzuki in India is ready to export cars for $2,000. 23

What determines the impact of TNCs on poverty?

What makes corporate actors change their behaviour in order to have a more positive impact in
reducing poverty?
Oxfam believes that a determinant of a companys impact on poor people is the industry it is in:
mining or manufacturing, retailing or trading, knowledge services or essential services. The nature of
production in an industry determines a great deal about the structure of its operations and interests.

A companys structure is important in determining its connection to poor people. Each industry has a
different structure of supply and distribution chains, different forms of competition and different
shareholder expectations. These shape the scope and form of its interactions with poor people
whether they are employees, suppliers, customers, competitors or neighbours.

The length of time of investment required can deter commitment to location. Mining companies start
up an operation expecting it to last at least 50 years and cannot relocate, only shut down. Capital-
intensive manufacturing firms set up expecting a return over 10-20 years. Low-skill labour intensive
manufacturers can relocate more easily and expect returns within fewer years. Sourcing agents can
redirect their orders overnight. When companies must get involved for the long term, the long-term
interests of the country (such as a strong macro-economy, stable and predictable governance, rising
local incomes, and the capacity of the domestic business community) become more closely aligned to
their interests.

Within any given industry, however, companies can choose to follow different strategies that may
have dramatically different impacts on people living in poverty.

Companies can contribute to poverty reduction when they adopt strategies that aim to profit-by-
investing, rather than profit-by-exploiting, their workforce, the environment, the community, the local
and national business community, and national regulation and governance.

Both kinds of strategies crudely termed here as investing or exploiting for profit - can be profitable
for companies, and so either one can be in the interests of the company. But only the strategy of
investing-for-profit is in the interest of poverty reduction and national development.

The Table below illustrates the impacts of the two contrasting business strategies.

Two stylised alternative routes to profitable business:

When business invests for profit, it may: When business exploits for profit, it may:
Create jobs that offer decent and stable terms hire workers on short-term contracts, with few
and conditions, so encouraging loyal and benefits, low wages and long hours; high turnover
productive workers but cheap
Make goods and offer services that are market luxury goods to poor people backed by
accessible and affordable to poor people aggressive advertising
Make goods and offer services that do not make goods and offer services that damage the
damage the environment environment and community resources
Enable poor people to engage in profitable create supply and distribution chains that exclude
markets poor people, or engage them on exploitative
terms
Enhance poor peoples access to skills and make no effort to invest in upgrading poor
technology peoples skills

23
FDI Trends, World Bank Public Policy for the Private Sector Journal, September 2005
http://rru.worldbank.org/documents/publicpolicyjournal/273palmade_anayiotas.pdf

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Generate taxes that contribute to public avoid paying taxes and so contribute little to
expenditure macroeconomic conditions
Promote respect for human rights and protection disrespect human rights and the environment
of the environment

The question for anyone interested in improving the poverty impact of business is whether a company
will switch its strategy, from exploiting-for-profit to investing-for-profit?

In order to address this question, three case study examples of multinational companies (Shoprite, Rio
Tinto and Interface) were chosen that have changed specific aspects of their business strategies and
behaviour and now have a better impact on poverty reduction in their area of operations. They have
along the spectrum from exploiting-for-profit towards investing-for-profit. 24 In conducting this
research, key people within the company close to the source of change were approached to discover
what made change happen. From these examples, lessons could be learned about ways in which civil
society and governments can influence further change in the future in other companies. Change
factors in each case are summarised below.

a. How the biggest supermarket in Africa (Shoprite) started buying locally grown vegetables in
Zambia
What happened? Shoprites supermarkets in Zambia used to transport all produce from South Africa,
displacing sales of local vegetable producers and significantly damaging their livelihoods. Then
Shoprite started buying some fresh produce locally in Zambia, integrating local producers into its
supply chains.

How did it happen? In chronological order:

1. Entrepreneurial NGO action: two civil society leaders made Shoprites General Manager in
Zambia start thinking differently about the companys impact on the community, especially
displaced vegetable producers.
2. Changing attitudes and beliefs: the Zambian General Manager suddenly realised that the
neighbouring community was a potential threat to his business (they wanted to burn the
supermarket down), and he had to deal with this.
3. Media attention: media coverage of the pilot project to supply local vegetables to Shoprite held
those involved to account, even when it was difficult to make it work.
4. NGO partnership: the Partnership Forum provided an important bridge between the company
and the community and provided training to bring producers up to scratch.
5. Business case: the General Manager believed there was a sound business case for buying
vegetables locally.

b. How one of the worlds largest mining companies (Rio Tinto) improved the community impact of
its operations in Madagascar
What happened? Rio Tinto had a bad reputation among environmental groups for the ecological and
community impacts of its operations. Then the company conducted a social and environmental impact
assessment for a new mine in Madagascar, and has been publicly praised by environmental NGOs for
becoming a leader in this area.

How did it happen? In chronological order:

1. Legislation protecting communities: when Australia introduced an act recognising indigenous
land rights (mid-1990s), the CEO of the Australian part of Rio Tinto embraced, rather than
challenged, the ruling, motivating the company to work more closely with communities near its
operations globally.

24
A full description of the case studies is provided in the Annex to this paper, How Change Happens in the Private Sector: Just
st
So Stories for the 21 Century.

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2. NGO campaigning: the company wanted to get rid of its bad public reputation in international
campaigns.
3. Local resistance: violent and uncooperative communities around operations made the company
realise it needed a social licence to operate for long-term success, and for an edge in winning
contracts from governments.
4. Changing industry norms: Rio Tinto saw their shift as part of wider industry change, so less risky
than a solo-venture into corporate responsibility.
5. Partnerships with NGOs: partnerships with Earthwatch and Conservation International helped
the company translate its intentions into outcomes and increased commitment with local
communities.

c. How the biggest carpet company in the world (Interface) became a champion of environmentally
sustainable manufacturing
What happened? A major carpet-making company went from having almost no environmental policy
to being a champion of sustainable zero-emission manufacturing.

How did it happen? In chronological order:

1. Consumer demand: customers wrote asking what Interface was doing about its environmental
impact, and this got people in the company thinking.
2. Employee values: employees became motivated to change, and put pressure on the CEO (the
companys founder) to provide a vision.
3. CEO epiphany: the CEO (lost for a vision) read The Ecology of Commerce by Paul Hawken and it
transformed his values and his paradigm of business.
4. CEO as champion: the CEO worked hard to overcome obstacles and showed that he was ready to
carry the risks and became a champion of the issue.
5. Business case: the change delivered efficiency gains and increasing demand from environmentally
aware customers.

Drawing out common factors across the case studies.

These are obviously only three out of thousands of possible case studies on TNC change. They were
chosen somewhat randomly and without knowledge of the story behind them; there are, nevertheless,
striking similarities in their change factors:
NGOs, consumers and/or communities put initial pressure on the company;
NGOs acted as an important bridge for the TNC to work with local communities;
Government regulation forced strategic change;
There was buy-in and leadership for change at the top (CEO or GM);
The company believed there was a business case for this change.

These factors show:

the importance of NGOs in raising pressure on companies, but also in being part of a solution so
that the bridge to the local community is feasible, and
the feasibility of creating a business case for making the change, and then senior management
being convinced to shift.

Systemic problems with 21st Century capitalism

The above three case studies are encouraging: companies can pursue alternative business strategies,
and can profit while adopting a more pro-poor strategy.

But these specific examples of change within individual companies occurred in the face of strong
systemic pressures that militate against more comprehensive change of this kind. For the sake of
clarity, if it is assumed that capitalism is for-profit and privately owned enterprise is financed by

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independent investors seeking a return, then the following features of 21st century capitalism
described below are problematic for the role of business in poverty reduction.

1. Corporates as person before the law

Prior to 1861, US corporations could only be set up for a limited time, say 20-30 years and for a specific
and limited purpose which was agreed to be in the public interest, such as to build a toll road or canal.
At the end of a corporations lifetime, the assets were distributed among the shareholders and it
ceased to exist. The owners were personally liable for liabilities or debts incurred.

By the early 20th century most of these characteristics had been reversed. Corporations had acquired
the status of persons in the 1886 Supreme Court decision to extend the 14th amendment (which
protects the rights of freed slaves) to also ensure that no state shall deprive a corporation of life,
liberty or property without due process of law. The liability of shareholders had been limited,
corporations had been given perpetual lifetimes, the number of owners could be unlimited, and the
amount of capital a corporation could control was unlimited. The legal obligation of the corporation
became that of maximising returns for its shareholders.

This change in character has had a major influence in shaping the power and behaviour of
corporations, in the US and beyond. The challenge created by this far larger, more enduring and more
powerful form of corporations is exacerbated by the features described in the following paragraphs.

2. Short-termism of shareholders which undermines long-term investments needed

Investment markets place excessive focus on companies quarterly profit reports as an indicator of
success. This encourages (or sometimes forces) companies to focus on short-term performance instead
of investing for long-term performance. As a result, they are less likely to invest in building their
suppliers capacity, or to invest in building strong community relations, even though these would
deliver strong long-term performance, which is what pension funds ultimately depend upon.

One way of tackling this problem is through a common proposal 25 to integrate the environmental,
social and governance concerns into investor and capital market considerations, so that investors take
account of long-term risks and benefits. There are multiple initiatives underway, such as UNEP
working with major institutional investors. 26

In the UK, the government was going to introduce mandatory reporting on materiality in Operating
and Financial Reviews, but then reversed its stance, saying that this would be gold-plated regulation
hampering the economy. Instead it encourages companies to produce such information voluntarily as
part of best practice. 27

3. Corporate financing of election campaigns and influence over legislation

Companies provide significant finance to political parties, thereby gaining influence over the
legislative agenda. The prominence of corporate interest in setting national negotiating agendas is
clear in, for example, US negotiating positions in the Central American Free Trade Agreement
(CAFTA) (rice and sugar industries). These interests may override the interests of domestic
communities, and environmental issues, to say nothing of overseas producers affected by trade rules
and subsidies. 28

25
See e.g. www.conference-board.org/utilities/pressDetail.cfm?press_ID=2848
26
see www.interpraxis.com/UNresponsibleinvestment.htm
27
see www.manifest.co.uk/manifest_i/2005/0512December/051214ofr.htm
28
For industry-specific data on corporate financing of US elections, see
www.opensecrets.org/industries/mems.asp

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4. Multinational companies (MNCs) in a world without multinational laws
MNCs increasingly operate on a transnational basis, with operations based in one country having
severe impacts for communities in another. But the regulatory framework in which they are governed
is still nationally-based and hence not adequate for regulating their behaviour.

The UN did attempt to generate trans-national standards through its 2003 framework of Norms on
Business and Human Rights, but these are no more legally-binding on business than the human rights
covenants already entered into by their host countries, and they operate primarily as advocacy rather
than regulatory tools.

5. The cost of damaging un-priced goods

Many goods that people value, such as a clean environment, a stable community and care given in
the home, are un-priced and so excluded from market transactions. Yet they are heavily affected by
the externalities of market transactions and government regulation in many countries fails to protect
them. Two examples illustrate the point:
when women workers are repeatedly hired without secure contracts or benefits, their ability to
provide care for children and sick family members is undermined and this impacts on childrens
life chances and on community stability. 29
When drinks companies draw water from the local water supply, they may deplete resources for
surrounding villages, hugely impacting on their health and agricultural livelihoods.

In the absence of prices for these goods, it is up to government regulation to provide the parameters
for their interaction with the market. Regulation is likely to lag behind reality, be partly driven by
political concerns and may not be enforced. Civil society is, as ever, crucial for protecting un-priced
goods where regulation fails.

6. Consolidation and power

Consolidation that is occurring among leading TNCs on a transnational basis is creating major sources
of power in markets thus defying the assumptions underlying many economic models, which assume
perfect competition. This changes the implications for governments stance on trade liberalisation,
industrial policy and corporate policy.

4. Small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) and poverty

reduction
The relationship between SMEs, poverty reduction and growth is a relatively unfamiliar area for
Oxfam policy positioning and so this section aims to start to set out our positions and understanding
of the sector.

What constitutes an SME? There is no universal definition, and definitions vary, especially between
developing and industrialised countries. According to the World Bank, the following definitions
apply for the developing country context:

Small enterprises Medium enterprises

No. of employees Less than 50 Less than 300
Total assets $3m $15m

SMEs, the informal sector and poverty

One trend that stands out in the data on SME activity is an increase in the size of the informal sector
over the past 20 years (see Table 1), which appears to be a fairly consistent phenomenon in developing
countries.

29
Trading Away Our Rights, Oxfam International 2004

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Reasons for this rise are unclear. It may simply be the result of an expanding private sector in a period
of job losses resulting from the privatisation of state-owned enterprises. On the other hand, the period
has also generally seen a decrease in regulation in many countries (notably through structural
adjustment programmes), which could have the opposite effect, since the informal sector is attractive
due to the costs involved in complying with the regulatory and tax regime in the formal sector.

Table 1: Employees in the Informal Sector (per cent)

Region 1980/1990 1990/2000
Africa 44 48
Northern Africa 23 31
Sub-Saharan Africa 50 53
Latin America 29 44
Central America 30 40
South America 29 43
Caribbean 27 55
Asia 26 32
Eastern Asia 23 18
South-Eastern Asia 34 33
Southern Asia 40 50
Western Asia 13 24
Source: Women And Men In The Informal Economy: A Statistical Picture Employment Sector, International
Labour Office Geneva, 2002, www.ilo.org/public/english/employment/gems/download/women.pdf. Figures are
unweighted averages over countries in that area with available data.

One explanation is that the situation is the result of an increase in competition due to globalisation and
the reduction of trade barriers. 30 The theory is that, in a more competitive environment, those
enterprises that do not have to comply with labour law or pay taxes (that is, those in the informal
sector) will do significantly better, and hence there will be shift away from the formal sector. This
argument is controversial however: it is not clear that competition amongst small enterprises (which
are the majority in the informal sector) increases with the reduction of international trade barriers.
Evidence for such an effect is mixed. 31

Is growth of the informal sector good or bad for poverty reduction? From some perspectives it could
be positive: evidence of growing economic activity among new urban populations, urban areas can be
a location of innovation and entrepreneurship, a place for piloting and incubating future business
possibilities. From other perspectives, it is negative: opportunities to expand are limited by the
informality; less tax revenue is contributed to government; and legal norms on workers rights and
environmental protection will not be enforced.

The data do show clearly, however, that the biggest difference in private sector composition between
rich and poor countries is the shift out of informal sector activity into SMEs. In low-income countries,
the share of formal SMEs in employment is about 30 per cent; in high-income countries, that share
doubles to 60 per cent. 32 Likewise, as a share of GDP, informal activity decreases and formal SME
activity increases as countries become wealthier (see Table below).

30
See, for example, Growth, Employment, and Equity: The Impact of the Economic Reforms in Latin America and the
Caribbean, Stallings and Peres, 2000, http://ideas.repec.org/p/cpr/ceprdp/3874.html
31
See, for example, The Response of the Informal Sector to Trade Liberalization, Koujianou and Pavcnik, 2002
32
UNDP 2004: 13

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Table 2: Composition of the private sector showing that SMEs become more important as countries
get wealthier
As a per cent of GDP Low income Medium income High income countries
countries countries
Informal activity 47 31 13

SMEs 16 39 51

All other activity 37 30 36

Source: Ayyagari, Beck and Demirg-Kunt 2003

So far, these data seem to back up the position of most development organisations that a thriving SME
sector is a large part of the answer to generating growth within developing countries. It is surprising
then, that the available evidence on the role of SMEs in economic growth does not make this case. One
prominent cross-country study 33 (76 countries, including over 40 developing or transition countries)
of SMEs in 2003 found:
High correlation between SMEs and per capita GDP growth, but no clarity on causation (do SMEs
cause growth, or does growth cause SMEs, or both?);
No evidence that SMEs reduce poverty or reduce income inequality; there is no evidence of a
significant link between SME activity and the depth or breadth of poverty in a country;
Qualified evidence that the overall business environment facing large and small firms (for
example, ease of entry and exit, sound property rights and contract enforcement) influences
economic growth.

This is only one study but it is based on the largest database of SME activity and is widely cited. Its
failure to produce results that confirm the pro-poor significance of promoting SMEs is surprising,
given that many people assume there would be clear and visible impacts on poverty from SME
development. Comparison of SME development in many countries is shown in Table 2 below.

33
Beck, Demigurc-Kunt and Levine, 2003

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Comparison of SME development across countries
Informal
Ease of Doing Sector as per
*Number of Time to start a Time to GNI per capita
Business cent of GNI
SMEs per business enforce a (2003)
Rankings (99/00) Doing
1,000 people (days) contract (days) [US$]
(at 1/1/05) Business
Website
United States 73.4 18 288 9 12.6 28,350
Hong Kong,
41.5 11 211 7 16.6 25,430
China
Canada 74.4 3 346 4 16.4 23,930
Australia 63.1 2 157 6 15.3 21,650
Singapore 31.6 8 69 2 13.1 21,230
United Kingdom 34.2 54 614 69 26.4 20,217
Spain 74.1 108 169 30 22.6 16,990
Greece 72.2 38 151 80 28.6 13,720
Vietnam 0.5 116 445 120 33.6 3,490
Uganda 3.1 9 330 93 32.1 2,790
Nicaragua 76.1 45 155 59 45.2 730
Moldova 4.8 30 280 83 45.1 590
Bangladesh 1.3 35 365 65 35.6 400
Kenya 0.7 47 360 68 34.3 390
Kyrgyz Republic 4.6 21 492 84 39.8 330
Nigeria - 44 730 94 57.9 320
Ghana 1.2 85 200 82 38.4 320
Mali - 42 340 146 41.0 290
Tanzania 76.7 35 242 140 58.3 290
Malawi 72.5 35 277 96 40.3 170
Source: Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises: A Collection of Published Data, Marta Kozak, International
Finance Corporation, Washington DC http://rru.worldbank.org/PapersLinks/Open.aspx?id=6358

The 2004 UN Commission on the Private Sector and Development promoted SMEs 34 . The Commission
was chaired by Paul Martin and Ernest Zedillo, with a number of TNC leaders in the advisory group
including Hewlett Packard, Citigroup, Statoil and McKinsey. According to this commission:

The private sector can alleviate poverty by contributing to economic growth, job creation and poor
peoples incomes. It can also empower poor people by providing a broad range of products and
services at lower prices. Small and medium enterprises can be engines of job creation seedbeds for
innovation and entrepreneurship. But in many poor countries, SMEs are marginal in the domestic
ecosystem. Many operate outside the formal legal system, contributing to widespread informality and
low productivity. They lack access to financing and long-term capital, the base that companies are
built on.

According to this report, actions are therefore needed to upgrade informal sector activity into thriving
SMEs. Table 3 below summarises the suggested actions per actors.

34
UN Commission on the Private Sector and Development

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Table 3: Summary of actions suggested by the UN Commission on the Private Sector and
Development to upgrade informal sector activity into SMEs
Actor Action needed
Developing country Reform regulations and strengthen the rule of law
governments Formalise the economy and help upgrade informal enterprise
Engage the private sector in the policy process
Developed country Foster a conducive international macroeconomic environment and trade
governments regime
Redirect the operational strategies of multilateral and bilateral development
institutions and agencies
Untie aid
Multilateral Apply the Monterrey recommendation of specialisation and partnership to
institutions private sector development activities
Address informality in developing countries, start by mapping its structure
Private sector Channel private initiative into development efforts
Develop linkages with multinational and large domestic companies to
nurture smaller companies
Pursue business opportunities at the bottom of the pyramid
Set standards on governance and transparency
Civil society Increase accountability in the system
Develop new partnerships and relationships to achieve common objectives
Continue as critical observers of the development agenda

Oxfam has not yet developed an overall position in response to this but we do warn of the dangers of
entrepreneurship over-enthusiasm.

The UN Commission Report begins, This report is about walking into the poorest village on market day and
seeing entrepreneurs at work. It fails to ask the question: if the village is brimming with entrepreneurs,
why is it still the poorest?

Proponents of private sector led development emphasise the dynamism of the micro SME sector,
equating people working for themselves with entrepreneurs. These people certainly are assuming the
risks of business as entrepreneurs do, but may have no desire to be in this position. Labelling them as
entrepreneurs hides a large number of people who are simply pursuing a survival strategy, rather
than strategically building up a viable business.

Creating a thriving SME sector: a Case Study from Taiwan

The following historical overview of Taiwans SME sector is drawn from material written for the
Taiwanese government and so must be read in that light.
Interesting points for Oxfam to note include:
*The obvious importance of import substitution policies, active industrial policy (the Major
Construction Projects) in building the economic environment. Heavily interventionist approach, with
strategic changes over time.
*The country made a classic progression over the decades from agricultural processing industries,
through labour-intensive manufacturing, to high tech industry.
*The wider context was one of land reform, universal education, and low cost labour that made
Taiwan very competitive internationally. When labour costs rose in the 1980s, labour-intensive
activities were outsourced in global supply chains, marking the rise of Taiwan as a mid-chain supply
agent.
*Some SMEs were export-oriented from the outset (probably necessary given Taiwans size and
location) and export-orientation became increasingly important.

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*SME networks within Taiwan brought benefit from supply chain linkages and the ability to be flexible
on production capacity.
NB. Its curious that the account makes little mention of the fact that the vast majority of industries in
Taiwan pre-1990s were in fact state-owned enterprises.
The development of Taiwan's SMEs over the past fifty years or so can be divided into 7 periods.
The First Period - the 1940s: A Period of Economic Reconstruction
Taiwan's economy suffered severe damage during the Second World War. The agricultural sector
was least affected, and first to recover; it became the foundation for Taiwan's development in the
early post-war years. During this period, the government was actively promoting agricultural and
industrial construction and the reconstruction of the transportation network, whilst also implementing
land reform. Priority was given to the development of the textile, fertiliser and electric power
industries, so as to increase agricultural and industrial production.
The Second Period - the 1950s: The Import Substitution Period
This stage in Taiwan's economic development was a period of import substitution based on labour-
intensive light industry. For the most part, the production technology used was relatively simple.
Measures adopted by the government included the Land to the Tiller campaign, the Medium-Term
Economic Construction Plan, the privatisation of state enterprises, the statute for encouraging
investment, tax incentives, the small private enterprise loan fund, etc. These measures helped to
increase agricultural production, thereby providing the raw materials required by the agricultural
processing industry. Through the exportation of agricultural products, both processed and
unprocessed, Taiwan was able to earn foreign exchange. Private enterprises were encouraged to
import raw materials, semi-finished products and machinery to produce consumer goods which could
replace imports in the domestic market, establishing a firm foundation for the development of those
industries producing everyday necessities. The development of SMEs speeded up; enterprises with
ten or fewer employees came to account for over 90 per cent of all enterprises in Taiwan. Most of
these enterprises were producing for the domestic market.
The Third Period the 1960s: A Period of Rapid Export Growth
This period saw rapid growth in Taiwan's exports. With the implementation of the stature for
encouraging investment and the promulgation of the regulations governing the establishment of
export processing zones, private enterprises began to display ever-increasing vitality. Initially, most
export-oriented firms were in the food and textiles industries. Later on, it was enterprises in the
electro-mechanical, electrical appliance and plastics industries that had the highest production value
and export growth. Large enterprises played a key role; their growth stimulated the growth of SMEs
producing components for the larger firms. The flexibility of Taiwan's SMEs coupled with an
abundant supply of cheap labour, made Taiwan's SMEs very competitive in international terms. The
percentage of enterprises accounted for by enterprises with ten or fewer employees fell to under 70
per cent, while the percentage accounted for by medium-sized enterprises rose to over 25 per cent.
Large enterprises accounted for around five per cent of the total.
The Fourth Period the 1970s: The Second Import Substitution Period
During this period, the growth rate in labour-intensive light industry rose to new heights, and the
economy as a whole continued to grow. Taiwan began to develop a trade surplus. The government
formulated the Ten Major Construction Projects and Twelve Major Construction Projects plans,
promoting the development of capital-intensive basic industries such as iron and steel,
petrochemicals, textiles, machinery manufacturing, auto manufacturing etc. The government also
worked to improve Taiwan's infrastructure. This period saw the establishment of the Industrial
Technology Research Institute, and later the Hsinchu Science-based industrial park. Two oil crises
occurred during the 1970s, and Taiwan's exporters had to face the threat posed by protectionist
trade policies in other countries. Taiwan's SMEs weathered the oil crises, and the percentage of total
production value, employment and capitalisation, which they accounted for, grew significantly. The
sub-contracting system, which grew up amongst SMEs, acted as a stabilising mechanism for the
economy as a whole, helping to soften the impact of the business cycle.

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 The Fifth Period - the 1980s: The Emergence of Taiwan's Hi-tech Industries
The business environment in Taiwan changed as wages rose and the New Taiwan Dollar
appreciated against the US Dollar. Workers were hard to find, and real estate prices rose
dramatically, making it difficult to find land for industrial use. At the same time, people in Taiwan were
becoming more environmentally aware. The government promoted the development of strategic
industries, which had a high level of technology, high added value and low energy consumption. The
Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park had been established to facilitate the development of hi-tech
industries. Enterprises were encouraged to step up their R&D activities, improve productivity and
quality, and enhance their international competitiveness. Taiwanese enterprises began to transform
and upgrade themselves, and to invest overseas; in particular, more and more SMEs in labour-
intensive industries began to invest overseas. While the importance of SMEs to the economy as a
whole continued to increase, a structural transformation was taking place in the production and sales
mechanism. A new breed of SMEs in technology-intensive industries began to emerge.
The Sixth Period - the 1990s: A Period of Changing Industrial Structure
During this period, global and regional organisations became increasingly important. At the same
time, Taiwan's government was working hard to improve the investment environment and attract
foreign investment and foreign technology, so as to help in the upgrading of domestic industry.
Taiwan gradually lost its competitive advantage in labour-intensive products with low added value.
The government promulgated the Statute for Small and Medium Enterprise Development, along with
the Statute for Upgrading Industries and the Six-year National Development Plan. In 1997, the
SME Protection Clause was incorporated into the constitution, and the government began to pay
more attention to the survival and development of SMEs. Public construction was stepped up, and
tax incentives were used to stimulate R&D, manpower training, and the automation of production and
pollution prevention. SMEs gradually upgraded or transformed themselves to knowledge-intensive,
technology-intensive, innovation-intensive industry and service sectors.
The Seventh Period - from the 2000s to the Present: A Period of Innovation and R&D.
The arrival of knowledge-based economy era, added by the application of the Internet, e-commerce
and IT, has provided SMEs with new operating models and elevated business operation speed and
efficiency. Since January 2002, Taiwan joined the WTO, the economic environment has become
more liberalised, making Taiwan a part of the global industrialised system. The government has
published the blueprint of Building Taiwan a Green Silicone Island, revealing the vision of national
development in the new century, continuation of promoting Global Logistic Development Plan,
Proposal of Knowledge-based Economy Development, Stimulation of Conventional Industries,
Concrete Action Plan for Implementation of Resolutions reached at National Economic
Development Conference and the Challenge of 2008: Focal Plan for National Development. The
2008 Challenge includes promotion of innovation-oriented industrial policy, creation of R&D centres
in Taiwan by foreign corporations, set up in Taiwan of local innovation and incubation centres for
SMEs, establishment of Nankang Software Incubation Centre, and Southern Science Incubation
Centre. The ultimate objective of all these projects is intended to lead SMEs in marching toward a
high value-added industrial era featured by innovation, invention, and R&D.

Source: www.moeasmea.gov.tw/Eng/about_smea/a02.asp

5. Oxfams strategy on engaging with the private sector

According to Oxfam GBs 2006 Strategic Plan for Engaging with the Private Sector, the private sectors
direct contributions towards poverty alleviation are greatest when: 35
Poor people are able to participate within it as entrepreneurs, producers, workers or consumers in
ways that enable them to partake successfully in markets, equitably capture the value and wealth
created, and consequently lift themselves out of poverty;
Businesses operate in a socially and environmentally responsible manner so that all the benefits
that they bring by offering goods and services, jobs and incomes, access to markets, and tax

35
See Propositional Statement on The Role of Business in Poverty Reduction: OGBs view

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 contributions are not undermined by operations and behaviours that abuse human rights, cause
environmental degradation or perpetuate corruption and bad governance;
Businesses apply their core business skills and competencies in ways that help meet the challenge
of lifting people out of poverty.
Governments effectively organise and regulate private sector activities so that value and wealth
created is distributed equitably and that social and environmental harm resulting from these
activities is minimised.

The propensity for businesses to operate and behave in a way that maximises these contributions
however is vastly affected by different factors. For Oxfam to be successful in affecting the business
model implemented by companies, we need to engage not only with the company directly, but we
also need to be able to understand which actors influence company behaviour, how this influence is
effected, what Oxfams leverage is over these actors and how we use it. For example, one of Oxfams
prime concerns is that the growth generated through economic development is not being distributed
equitably: in many developing countries there is growth but the poor are not getting richer and, at
worst, are getting poorer. Oxfam needs to address what the private sector in itself can do, as key
creators of wealth, to ensure a more fair capture of value. We also need to address the role of
governments in regulating the private sector to ensure more equitable distribution of wealth - as part
of their duties towards their citizens.

Figure 2 identifies the array of actors that influence company behaviour and consequently the
companys interaction with poor people as entrepreneurs, producers, workers, consumers and
citizens.

6. QUESTIONS FOR THINKERS

If the Oxfam Poverty Report is written for the next generation of thinkers coming into leadership
positions, what are the most important questions they should be thinking about with respect to
making change happen in the private sector?

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 On the nature of the private sector

If corporations are pathological, The current form of corporation (unlimited life, unlimited
how should they be tamed? capital, unlimited owners, pursuit of maximum profit) is
increasingly understood as pathological and anti-social. So
how should corporations be reformed? What should be the
limits on their structure and purpose?
How can shareholders take the What mechanisms could help shift fund managers attention
long view? away from quarterly profit reports and on to long-term
prospects?

How can laws without borders be MNCs have global operations but strategically gain from the
created? fragmentation of national laws. What would be the best
framework for holding them accountable on a global scale,
and checking monopolistic trends?

On corporate social responsibility:

How do you make The socially responsible investment movement works within the current
immaterial risk material? system to increase attention paid to social and environmental concerns,
by presenting them as material risks to the company. But what happens
when these concerns cannot be credibly described as material risks,
when there is not a business case for action. The easy answer is create
a material risk but is that always possible and sustainable? Is regulation
part of the answer? Or is turning all issues into material risk too narrow
an approach?

What makes the first bird Within industries, companies get set on a juggernaut of a path, even
turn? though they all may know that that path leads to an unsustainable or
destructive future. Like a flock of birds, what can make that first bird
turn?

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Oxfam International June 2008

This paper was written by Kate Raworth, Sumi Dhanarajan and Liam Wren-Lewis in
April 2006. It is one of a series written to inform the development of the Oxfam
International publication From Poverty to Power: How Active Citizens and Effective
States Can Change the World, Oxfam International 2008.

Kate Raworth is a Senior Researcher at Oxfam GB; Sumi Dhanarajan is a Senior

Policy Adviser on the Private Sector at Oxfam GB; Liam Wren-Lewis is a PhD
student at the Department of Economics, University of Oxford.

The paper may be used free of charge for the purposes of education and research,
provided that the source is acknowledged in full. The copyright holder requests that
all such use be registered with them for impact assessment purposes. For copying
in other circumstances, or for re-use in other publications, or for translation or
adaptation, permission must be secured. Email [email protected]

For further information on the issues raised in this paper, please email
[email protected]

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From Poverty to Power www.fp2p.org