Why Corruption Still Matters in the BRICs
Foreign Policy magazine has an excellent review of a new memoir detailing the sordid history of Ikea’s battles with Russian corruption in its attempts to expand into one of the “big 4″ emerging markets. It’s a sobering reminder of just how seriously corruption and abusive government regulation can negatively impact investment opportunities abroad, even in [...]
The Impact of the Financial Reform Bill on Extractive Industries
One of the biggest implications of the recntly-passed Financial Reform Bill will be the requirement that all U.S. publicly-traded companies disclose tax and royalty payments to foreign governments. This new mandate follows several years of lobbying by human rights groups and adds additional momentum to the Publish What You Pay and Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative [...]
WSJ: “Corruption Risks Abound For ‘Frontier Market’ Investors”
Foglamp’s work helping investors navigate the high-risk/high-reward universe of frontier markets is featured in this Dow Jones/Wall Street Journal online piece. Our favorite passage:
Gregg Wolper, a senior fund analyst at Chicago-based Morningstar Inc. said “investors in frontier markets know that the regulations will be less stringent in some of them…That doesn’t mean companies [...]
Economist: Corruption Bad for Business in Emerging Markets
The Economist magazine provides a succint overview of why corruption and bribery are actually counter productive to doing business in emerging markets. The magazine quotes our colleague Dani Kaufmann (now at the Brookings Institution) in laying out the case for why bribery is bad for business, not just bad ethics:
In a paper published by the [...]
Burmese Privatization: Fuel for Corruption?
Terrific analysis of the dark side of privatizations in frontier markets by the Jotman blog. Original story in The New York Times is here.
Global Integrity Releases New National Anti-Corruption Assessments
Our friends at Global Integrity have published new national anti-corruption assessments for 35 countries covering 2009.
This year’s assessments have been receiving significant media coverage, including from the Wall Street Journal and The Hill. Among the report’s key findings:
Despite a change of administration in the United States in 2009, significant progress has not been achieved [...]
Corruption Issues Lead Companies to Abandon Expansion Initiatives
Dow Jones released an intriguing survey yesterday based on responses from more than 180 companies that operate or have considered investing in emerging markets. The findings validate much of what Foglamp is designed to do: help investors and managers assess opportunity- and deal-specific corruption and regulatory challenges in emerging and frontier markets.
As Dow Jones [...]
Survey: Corruption Major Barrier to Entrepreneuship in India
More new research is out showing the impact of corruption and government regulation on business opportunities in a key emerging market.
Our friends at the Legatum Institute have put together an impressive survey of more than 2,500 entrepreneurs in India, asking them about their motivation, aspirations, and the challenges they face in launching new ventures.
To quote [...]
The Impact of Corruption & Transparent Regulations on Investment Outcomes
A new Foglamp whitepaper explores the impact of corruption and transparent regulations on specific investment outcomes. Authored by Global Integrity Managing Director Nathaniel Heller, the paper examines the role of corruption and information transparency in emerging and frontier markets.
Among the key findings:
(1) Half of the total risks in emerging and frontier markets may be [...]