Corporate Speaking & Consulting
As a result of my interest in institutions such as the World Bank and how global civil society influences them, I’ve become engrossed by the world of business. My experience comes from primary research, business consulting, and extensive board service in organizations that work directly on issues of corporate-community engagement.
Corporate Social Responsibility
Non-state actors have played a pivotal role in pressing corporations to adopt certain norms for how they interact with the environment and various social groups. These issues are especially contentious in communities where extractive industries and large-scale infrastructure are present. Dams, mining pits, oil drilling, and similar projects are often located in communities of indigenous and ethnic minorities.
How should companies interact with these communities and their NGO representatives? How do they engage them culturally and corporately? How should communities relate to these companies? Is there a way around the contentious protests and mistrust that often characterize interactions between these groups? What about NGOs? Do they always legitimately represent the interests of grassroots communities? What are the range of issues around accountability for both businesses and NGOs?
These questions are critical for several reasons. First, such projects are becoming increasingly common in these communities, as are protests and resistance by these communities. Second, it is high time for scholars and students to rethink what development really is. In this era of the return of the state, the relative decline (in some ways) of NGOs, the power of markets and the need for natural resources, we need to break through the divide between corporations on the one hand and southern communities on the other. This is where we need fresh thinking on development, corporate social responsibility, and related issues.
The Next Billion – Latin America
Recently, some scholars and corporations have discovered the existence of the so-called “next billion.” These are consumers of corporate products and services who have been largely untapped because of their socioeconomic profile. They are not at the top of the economic pyramid. However, the data clearly show that these people are ready and willing to be integrated into global markets and need the goods and services that corporations have to offer. In places such as India, China and Brazil, the Next Billion is receiving more attention by scholars and businesses.
I have lived and worked on Brazil for more than a decade and have business experience with this emerging market (marketing research for a small telecommunications company).
For businesses to be successful in reaching Brazil’s Next Billion, they will need to have some understanding of the culture of the country’s lower-middle-class – how they think, what they need, how goods and services from the global marketplace are incorporated and experienced by them. I provide companies with an understanding of the country’s history, culture, politics, and profile that can assist in more effective matching of goods and markets. This is important, given the size and diversity of Brazil.
I am available to lecture on these subjects for foundations, businesses, NGOs, and community groups. I can also assist in the development of corporate-community engagement plans.