Empires of Profit: Commerce, Conquest and Corporate Responsibility [Paperback]

Daniel Litvin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 17, 2004

Empires of Profit tells a series of dramatic stories to illustrate the greed, benevolence, and ignorance of western business in the developing world. The stories - which are at times a shocking reminder of the origins of the present-day anti-capitalist movement - illustrate the extremely delicate and volatile nature of western involvement in the developing world. The message that emerges is clear: unless the lessons of the past are heeded - and corporate social responsibility taken seriously - the current wave of investment will be far less secure than most corporations believe.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In recent years, multinational corporations have been blamed for everything from the theft of domestic jobs to economic imperialism to exploiting child workers in Asia. Litvin, a consultant and former correspondent for the Economist, offers a thoughtful and balanced view of these "inherently clumsy, partially sighted giants," including their interactions with host countries and the ways they face the social and political problems that confront them. Litvin begins with histories of the great, early multinationals: the British East India Company, the British South Africa Company, the South Manchurian Railway Company and the United Fruit Company. These firms-arrogant, imperialistic, and corrupt-were often malevolent forces in their host countries: they arranged assassinations, waged wars and exploited native workers. But not all of a multinational's impact on a host country is negative, Litvin argues. The United Fruit Company assisted in a coup that deposed the popularly elected president of Guatemala, Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, in 1954, but it also cultivated land and built houses, railroads and hospitals. Indeed, even a recent transgressor, Nike, has been shown to have given child workers a means of escaping worse alternatives, such as scavenging, street hawking or harsh physical labor. Also, foreign investment by multinationals is frequently the only means by which Third World countries can hope to improve their standard of living. What Litvin illustrates is the cultural complexity corporations confront abroad. Even firms that intend to limit their activities strictly to business often find themselves drawn inadvertently into local politics. But Litvin (who previously drafted human rights guidelines for a multinational) leaves open the question of whether tougher regulations of these giants should be instituted, smartly leaving readers to come to their own conclusions.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Daniel Litvin's probing history of multinationals.....is refreshing precisely because of its balanced view….Thousands of sensitive men and woman ...would gain from reading Empires of Profit.

This fascinating account of the multinationals of the past illuminates today's attitudes to global corporations. Anybody who wants to understand the modern world of business should explore the territory Daniel Litvin covers here.

Happily no amount of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) can spoil a good story and Empires of Profit is just that: hair-raising accounts of greed, megalomania, conspiracy, coups and armed robbery played out by godlike forces.

Empires of Profit addresses one of the major questions of our time: whether multinational corporations have too much power, and the ends to which that power is put. Daniel Litvin's vivid stories of corporate empire, past and present, show us the trend lines that are defining the future. This is the right book at the right time.

Litvin has achieved an improbable feat. He has found a fresh perspective on the subject, and a revealing one too…Engagingly written as well as original in approach, 'Empires of Profit' is warmly recommended.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 340 pages
• Publisher: Texere; 1 edition (November 17, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587991926
• ISBN-13: 978-1587991929
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #429,464 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent analysis of a very important topic, October 12, 2004

By 

B.Sudhakar Shenoy (India) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Empires of Profit: Commerce, Conquest and Corporate Responsibility (Hardcover)

If globalization is an inescapable means to prosperity in the twenty first century, so are the multinationals - the merchants and ambassadors of commerce and industry across borders. But this is not the first time in history that mankind is experiencing the flow of goods and services across oceans and continents. Multinationals have lessons to learn from the past if they are to succeed in the future. This book is a crisp experience summary of some typical multinationals spanning four centuries, several industries and across continents. The scope is however restricted to companies originating in developed countries and their operations in developing countries.

Growth rates having hit their plateaus in the developed world, the scene is now shifting to countries like China and India, the most populous nations with the highest growth potential and market size for most industries. Multinationals traditionally have focussed on marketing and manufacturing as their core competencies and looked upon social interactions and politics in host nations as peripheral activities supported through public relations. This book demonstrates the importance of understanding intricate social and political issues in local societies and that multinationals in the past have failed to anticipate, let alone shape the outcomes that can have severe impact on their business, image and survival. Backed by a impressive list of references, the book discusses the hypothesis of the role and complexity of interactions of multinationals with host societies and governments and the failure of these corporates to handle situations arising out of making simplistic assumptions. The results can be devastating in countries with low political stability.

The author's grasp of the ground realities in various countries, the impartial analysis of events and the logical linkage to the hypothesis is superb. The book is not a complete coverage of business history of multinationals operating in developing countries, but an attempt to highlight the importance of and the means to achieve sustainable co-existence with local cultures and politics. The case studies are just the right samples to derive meaningful inferences.

Most multinationals today require their managers and employees to be sensitive to and respect local cultures and adapt rather than attempt to modify them. The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility has suddenly become a key word for corporate governance. On the other hand, forces of anti-globalization target multinationals to gain global attention.

The maps and pictures add to the flavor of the ideal coffee table reading. A must on the bookshelf of all those who appreciate a very important dimension of managing across borders.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating Exploration of Multinational Power, December 6, 2003

By 

Paul Carterson - See all my reviews

This review is from: Empires of Profit: Commerce, Conquest and Corporate Responsibility (Hardcover)

This intelligent and engrossing book goes beyond the surface and slogans of the debate on multinationals to reveal a complex reality. Daniel Litvin takes us on a tour , ranging not just across the controversies of modern multinationals such as Nike,Shell and Murdoch's Star TV but also back to the 'business giants' of imperial times (such as the British East India Company)and ,among others, troubled US multinationals in the period of decolonisation. The resulting stories of corporate might,entanglement and mishap -clearly intensively researched - make for a gripping and dramatic read.

However at a deeper level what is fascinating is the way the book grapples with the serious moral issues arising from corporate power -for example allegations of exploitation in developing world factories or collusion with foreign dictatorships. The thoughtful way these issues are approached is likely to challenge the kind of entrenched postions taken on both sides of the multinational/globalisation debate. Daniel Litvin is humane in his understanding of developing countries' problems and often very critical of multinationals but he does not rush to simplistically demonize the companies. He shows that the environment in which they operate is often morally complicated. What is built up is a balanced but vivid picture of the foreign interactions of these flawed business giants.

The historical perspective of the book is unique but powerfully illuminates the deep roots of today's unhappy, fraught relationship between the West and the rest of the world. With such varied elements, 'Empires of Profit' is far more than a mere business book.

6 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A travesty! Softens and erases corporate crimes, December 1, 2003

By 

Quickhappy "quickhappy" (Big city, big country) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Empires of Profit: Commerce, Conquest and Corporate Responsibility (Hardcover)

This book held such promise in my hands: a quick historical examination of key corporate empires in the last few hundred years. It might have been perfect for my Geography students. But alas, the book is a sorry escapade into myth-making and historical amnesia.

_Empires of Profit_ manages to listen sympathetically to the views of corporations and colonizers (East India Company, Cecil Rhodes, Nike, United Fruit, Shell Oil, etc.), without hearing the voices of the dead and impoverished. Read _Dying for Growth_, _The Divine Right of Capital_, or _People Before Profit_ for more balanced and careful examinations of capitalism.

Can you imagine a book which tells the story of the East India Company without telling of violence, theft, famine, and racism? If so, then you can imagine Litvin's book. (See Mike Davis' _Late Victorian Holocausts_ for insight into British rule!) And can you imagine telling about Shell Oil in Nigeria, as if Shell was a gentle, but somewhat misguided bystander? If so, welcome to Litvin's world, where corporations have an almost passive role in colonialism, neo-colonialism, politics, and militarism.

This book is historically inaccurate, deaf to voices from abroad, and forgetful of horrifying encounters between multi-xillion dollar corporations and the poor countries they encounter.