Suchergebnisse

Disappointed with the development performance of most Third-World countries during the past two decades, many scholars and public officials have looked for a more effective strategy. They are concerned not merely with the extent of growth, but where it has occurred, with evidence that relatively little of the benefits of increased productivity has 'trickled down' to the poorer half of the populations of these lands. Capital-intensive methods have raised expectations in both the urban and the rural areas without generating adequate employment opportunities or distributing the benefits of growth equitably. As a consequence, the many poor remain as desperately disadvantaged as they ever were, making a re-evaluation of development priorities, within as well as outside of Africa, of the utmost importance at this juncture.

The activities of multi-national companies provide primary sources of economic contact between African countries and the industrialised world. The companies' operations in both resource and product markets are often influenced by impositions made, or not made, by host governments in Africa. Such impositions result from bargaining between governments and companies in which each negotiating agent is intent upon obtaining the most preferred conditions—and these are affected by variables that occupy the central focus of our analysis. First, we outline what we believe are crucial variables that affect bargaining outcomes: i.e. particular patterns of benefits and costs arising from the ways that companies manage their businesses in developing lands. Second, we note particular instances where the critical variables appear to be influential, and explore how closer concentration on these might lead to more preferential outcomes from the viewpoint of African governments.