Fighting Poverty Together: Rethinking Strategies for Business, Governments, and Civil Society to Reduce Poverty

ISBN-13: 9780230105874 / Angielski / Twarda / 2011 / 304 str.

Aneel Karnani

Opis

Despite the tremendous economic growth around the world in the last thirty years, the number of people living in poverty has gone up. While economic growth is necessary for poverty reduction, it is obviously not enough. Prosperity has not "trickled down" to the poor. Policies and actions directed at reducing poverty have not been effective. Developing effective strategies requires analysis of current strategies and new ideas. Aneel Karnani does just that using concepts drawing broadly from the fields of business, economics, and development. In this hard-hitting polemic, Karnani first demonstrates what is wrong with today's approaches to reducing poverty. He then proposes an eclectic approach to poverty reduction in which business, government, and civil society all have an important role, arguing for a paradigm shift to focus on the poor as producers. The primary emphasis must be on creating employment opportunities for the poor and increasing their productive capacities by ensuring basic public services. The fight against poverty relies on raising income through job creation and providing basic public services for all people of the world. Business should provide truly beneficial products and services to the poor at prices they can afford, and governments should regulate markets to protect vulnerable consumers, especially the poor.

Recenzje

"Fighting Poverty Together is a clear-headed, pragmatic and ultimately hopeful look at real solutions to the moral affront that is global poverty. This is a great book! " - Bruce McNamer, CEO, TechnoServe

"Rejecting the market libertarian approach - including the microcredit and 'bottom of the pyramid' marketing fads - Aneel Karnani urges job creation, government social provisioning, and civil society advocates and watchdogs to reduce poverty. Instead of romanticizing the poor, the market, and business, his pragmatism deserves attention in an age when capitalism is the 'only show in town.'" - Jomo Kwame Sundaram, United Nations Assistant Secretary General for Economic Development

"Aneel Karnani wields a scythe through the fuzzy thinking and well-meaning but ineffective anti-poverty programs that continue to divert valuable time and money. His new book is must reading for anyone trying to create solutions to global poverty that actually work." - Eric Nee, managing editor, Stanford Social Innovation Review

"A provocative, sober, and balanced assessment of the formidable challenges of improving the life-chances of the world's poorest people. Karnani has made a major contribution to our understanding of both the sources of global poverty and the roles that business, government, and civil society realistically can play in ameliorating it." - David Vogel, Haas School of Business, Department of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley>

Spis treści

Chapter 1: Fighting Poverty PART I: FAILURE OF THE LIBERTARIAN APPROACH Microcredit Misses its Mark Mirage at the Base of the Pyramid Romanticizing the Poor PART II: FIGHTING POVERTY Selling Beneficial Goods to the Poor Employment is the Solution More Government, Please Social Entrepreneurship: Beyond the Hype

O autorze

ANEEL KARNANI Associate Professor of Strategy with the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, USA.