That wasn't the first piece of red tape Madonna had to get past in order to open her newest gym. (Photo: Henry Romero/Reuters)
Last week, my work at CIPE unexpectedly coincided with Madonna’s.
On November 29 it was all smiles for the opening of Madonna’s new gym, Hard Candy Fitness, in Mexico City. By December 1, a web of confusing requirements and regulations had ensnared the Material Girl’s entrepreneurial venture. Just before the first of the franchise was scheduled to open, Mexico City authorities informed Madonna that she lacked the proper permits and had yet to show that there was sufficient parking on site for patrons. A series of intense negotiations soon put an end to this issue and the gym was finally granted permission to open its doors while waiting to obtain the proper permits. Madonna’s experience is unfortunately a striking reflection of the challenges that many other entrepreneurs in Mexico face every day. Read the rest of this entry »
Iraq classically had a centrally driven economy, run by the government and fueled by oil revenues that contributed upwards of 90 percent of Iraq’s GDP. The legacy of this command economy, where business was state owned and competition was repressed, decimated the ability of entrepreneurs in Iraq to develop and grow new businesses. The costs were too high and the risks too great.
Since 2003, as democracy has taken root in Iraq, the ability of entrepreneurs to develop and thrive in Iraq has become a reality in large part due to private sector advocacy efforts to change hostile legal and regulatory barriers for entrepreneurs. Read the rest of this entry »
There are two things you always come across when talking to people about corruption. Everyone thinks their country is unique, that corruption has certain cultural underpinnings. Yet you can also see that corruption is quite similar across the world, whether you are in Asia, Africa, Middle East, Eurasia, or Latin America.
In fact, people may not speak the same language, but they speak the language of corruption – in talking about it, sometimes, no words are needed.
In 2002, the Code of Corporate Governance was implemented in Pakistan through the listing regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP). At that time, fearing transparency and disclosures, a number of companies opted for delisting. Nevertheless, over time, companies started realizing the importance of good governance and the Pakistan Institute of Corporate Governance (PICG) played an important role in promoting the cause. Early this year, PICG established a taskforce to re-visit the Code and suggest improvements based on current international best practices. CIPE, PICG and IFC partnered in this initiative. Read the rest of this entry »
This year’s results of the Corruption Perception Index, released a few weeks ago, stirred strong emotions in Pakistan. The country received a low score of 2.3 on a 10 point scale (10=very clean, 0=highly corrupt) and was rated lower than the year before. In response, Federal Minister for Information Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira issued a statement on 26th October saying that the report on corruption in Pakistan is not based on facts and the mechanism and methodology adopted by Transparency International in compiling the report is faulty and does not present a true picture. On November 16, however, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, in his speech at the plenary session of the Pakistan Development Forum, accepted that “unfortunately Pakistan like many other developing countries lacks good governance and due to which corruption is blooming” and promised reforms. Read the rest of this entry »
With all the buzz on corporate social responsibility, or corporate citizenship, it’s easy to lose track of the real world examples of companies engaging in responsible business practices in their everyday activities. Even as companies pledge their adherence to such principles by signing agreements such as the United Nations Global Compact (UNCG), good corporate citizenship extends beyond statements and declarations. It requires firms to make their commitment to social responsibility an integral part of corporate strategy.
This Economic Reform Feature Service article shows how six firms of different sizes and from different sectors use one tool, the SA8000 global social accountability standard for decent working conditions, in applying corporate citizenship principles to their everyday practices. Read the rest of this entry »
Entrepreneurs protest against the new tax code. Photo: mediastar.net.ua
The link between business and democracy – the link that underlies much of what we do here at CIPE - is not always clear. There are those who argue that business does not need democracy; that it can thrive in any political system. There are those who say that business can do better in corrupt countries, where bribes “grease the wheels of commerce.”
The events that are taking place in Ukraine, a country where there have been notable democratic drawbacks in the recent years according to the Freedom House index, serve as a reminder that business does indeed need democracy. More importantly, its a reminder that business can do its part in creating a more open, democratic, and transparent system. Read the rest of this entry »
Observers around the world are tuning into Egyptian politics this week, ahead of the country’s November 28 parliamentary elections. Amid the necessary yet saturated discussion on election monitoring, candidate registration, and local media coverage, a refreshing point of view focusing on Egypt’s shifting economy aired yesterday on NPR.
As the radio piece explains, President Hosni Mubarak has come to champion market-oriented reforms and has led efforts to privatize an estimated 85% of the Egyptian economy. This ideological change and ensuing policy reforms are reaping higher rates of foreign investment and engendering growth in key sectors, such as construction and tourism. Read the rest of this entry »
Russia's president has admitted that the fight against corruption will be a major challenge (Image: RIA Novosti)
In Lewis Carroll’s poem “The Walrus and the Carpenter” the Walrus laments the “great quantities of sand” to be found on the beach, and that even “seven maids with seven mops” would not be able to sweep it clean. Those following corruption in Russia most likely share in the character’s pessimistic assessment of the task of cleaning up Russia’s political and economic system. Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev has declared fighting corruption to be a primary focus of his administration, and compared his anti-corruption campaign to Martin Luther King’s struggle against racial segregation in the US. Read the rest of this entry »
Yet, as the experience of IKEA in Russia shows – compliance is not enough. Ikea had a zero tolerance policy against bribery and a rather strong compliance program, but the corrupt environment proved too difficult to overcome. Operating in highly corrupt countries (i.e. many of emerging and developing markets according to TI’s corruption perceptions index) presents a unique set of risks and challenges that can’t be addressed only by saying no to corruption.
So what can be done to complement strong compliance programs? John Sullivan and I look at some solutions – collective action against corruption and the role of business associations – in this article published in the Ethisphere magazine.
With the percentage of unemployed youth rising across the world and the popularity of private enterprise solutions to development increasing daily, youth entrepreneurship has emerged as solution to create jobs and foster growth. Talk of an international youth bulge abounds and development agencies and local governments alike have responded with a wide array of business training and credit programs that target everyone from recent graduates to the most vulnerable. As we have learned most recently with the housing crisis, however, when resources pour too quickly into one area it can create a bubble. Read the rest of this entry »
In the spirit of Global Entrepreneurship Week, today CIPE published three winning essays from the 2010 International Youth Essay Contest as Economic Reform Feature Service articles. These essays in the category of entrepreneurship and society show how youth are thinking creatively about barriers to starting businesses and what they can do to overcome those challenges. CIPE also interviewed all the winning authors on why they participated in the contest, what actions they’ve taken in their home countries to create more opportunities for youth, and what they believe to be the biggest challenges to democracy and a new generation of leaders. Please enjoy their thoughtful responses below! Read the rest of this entry »
Entrepreneurship is an ancient, universal phenomenon, and yet takes on new meaning and vitality this week. This week, the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) joins millions of innovators, dreamers, and leaders across the world in celebrating Global Entrepreneurship Week and recognizing the contributions of entrepreneurs to development and freedom. CIPE is proud to be an official partner of this global event, founded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and Enterprise UK. Read the rest of this entry »
As Iraqi citizens celebrate the formation of a government eight months after elections, broader government stability remains largely untested. There is more at stake than which party will be in control or which faction will have the most power. With electricity and gas prices still costing most people up to half their monthly salaries, the ability of the government to deliver basic services in an affordable manner is still in serious doubt, with serious repercussions for long-term stability. For the new government to mend this damaged relationship, it should privatize those services it can no longer efficiently or affordably deliver, providing space for innovate and cost-effective private sector solutions. Read the rest of this entry »
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There is a growing interest in what the private sector can do to fight corruption. In part, it is driven by the
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