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January 16, 2006 -- The Global Direct Investment Forum (GDI
Forum) is being developed and launched in 2006 as the next step in a
strategic plan to leverage the positive impact of corporate direct
investment projects as a powerful tool to uplift the world. It's a
lever for progress toward sustainable prosperity through action-oriented B2B
networking with both corporate development and social economic development
objectives. It can improve many communities which recognize and value
the potential benefits of capital investment projects and sustainable growth
to prosperity in a globally competitive business environment over time.
Companies invest billions of dollars every year in thousands of capital
investment projects which create hundreds of thousands of new productive
jobs for individuals.
The mission is to overcome great challenges to such economic development.
Global business can drive economic growth to achieve sustainable prosperity
worldwide.
Our goal isn't to "make poverty history" or to work at governmental or
multilateral agency direction to meet their declared development goals.
Frankly, such goals and their funding priorities typically reflect incremental
progress through gradual and limited consensus or symbolic political commitments
to invest in the actual achievement of challenging objectives. Non-profits
are typically organized to perpetuate themselves, like government agencies, as
if all challenges were inevitable and insoluble. It is not our goal to
solve all of the economic and social problems of the world. Our goal is to
focus on what can be achieved, and to find innovative ways to achieve more.
Free people can make their own poverty history by finding news
ways to work together to achieve greater goals than just solving that urgent
problem. They may obviously need help to escape their predicament, but the
focus is to help those who are motivated and ready to work together to change
their communities. It is not possible to help everyone, so it is necessary
to choose priorities and demonstrate what is possible, and then build on that
progress by innovative work elsewhere.
The goal also isn't "sustainable development" in the sense of
simply doing somewhat less harm to our environment than in the past. It is
to make our world better in some way every day, rather than to just slow down
the pace at which we are rapidly making a bad problem worse.
Do more of what demonstrably works. Do less of what doesn't.
That's the performance discipline of business metrics - not government.
The objective isn't to be less poor or less harmful to our world. It is
to uplift our world as a network of communities with a common
interest in achieving a dramatically better future for us all, regardless of how
each community and individual defines a "better" future, or the different
starting points at which we find ourselves today. It is also worth noting,
as in financial statements, that past success need not be indicative of future
results. In a fast-changing and very competitive world, nobody can
guarantee what the relative outcomes will be. It is not, however, a zero
sum game of winners and losers. A networked world offers great potential
for everyone in it, and that has little to do with all the talk about a "digital
divide" or the old North-South debate about the social obligations of the
"haves" to help the "have nots". It is good business to help create
efficient and prosperous markets full of talented, successful people and then
continuously find new ways to work together to mutual advantage.
The objective is to make sustainable prosperity a global legacy
which can be achieved by this generation of business leaders worldwide by
working together across traditional political-economic borders. Global
businesses already find common interests and mobilize their cross-border
resources efficiently to succeed. They have organized networks of hundreds
of thousands of people around the world to achieve things which a generation or
two ago would have been considered impossible.
The same can be done for the great social economic development challenges of
our time as a "second legacy" of such entrepreneurial leaders and
the people who keep such organizations competitive through constant innovation
and efficient, high-quality processes to deliver high value products and
services to their customers.
The "boomer" generation in the United States is not unique. Similar
patterns exist in Europe and other countries. Unfortunately, the opposite
is true in some places such as Africa, where pandemics, genocide, wars, and
chronic failures of governance have ripped apart societies which were already
struggling just to survive. It is fairly easy to believe that failure is
inevitable in the face of such great challenges. It is tempting to think
that realistic policy choices and even great charity cannot possibly reverse the
situation. That is easy and tempting, but wrong.
Businesses can dramatically transform local economies within a short span of
years as has been proven repeatedly all over the world. By contrast,
governments rarely drive rapid transformation of their economies, although they
can help to support rather than obstruct progress.
Although governments tend to talk about apparently insoluble social risks
related to an aging population, unfunded pension liabilities, Social Security
challenges, and rising health costs as people live longer, there is a tendency
to overlook the enormous potential value of large numbers of very talented,
experienced people in their "second half" of life. Instead
of dying soon after retirement as in past decades, at the height of their chosen
careers and experience, many will now live much longer and be highly motivated
to "give back" to society in innovative and very practical, effective ways,
whether through social initiatives (philanthropy, charity, etc.) or continued
leadership of their families and social initiatives of importance to their own
communities or the issues which motivate them to get actively involved.
Governments fail to recognize the power of business investment as well as
large networks of motivated, experienced entrepreneurs as leaders who can
potentially change the world within a short span of time by organizing the
talented teams and resources necessary to achieve what others regard as
impossible.
It recalls the spirit of Thomas Edison, who could proudly say without
hesitation that he had successfully proven thousands of ways in which you could
not possibly make a light bulb - before he finally figured out how to do it.
Other innovators and entrepreneurs have achieved breakthroughs with similar
persistence and focus on what works. We already know what doesn't work.
We need to do less of that, focus on what works, and innovate for potential
breakthroughs to achieve rapid progress.
The great social and economic challenges we face are the potential
breakthroughs of our time that are still waiting to happen - not insoluble
problems. It isn't just the young innovators and entrepreneurs who have
much to contribute. Elderly leaders also have great experience, networks,
and power to transform communities. Even the poorest people on earth have
dreams and try to pursue them, no matter how limited or different their current
dreams may seem to others. They are motivated to achieve progress in their
lives for the benefit of themselves and their families, however they define such
progress. That is the foundation on which to build prosperity.
The innovators and entrepreneurs of our time have been changing the world at
a breathtaking pace. Governments don't drive such changes.
Businesses do - not because business is inherently good or led by more capable
and socially responsible people, but because business is how diverse individuals
work together to achieve their great goals in creative, productive ways.
Governments are expected to avoid risks and change slowly. Businesses are
expected to take risks, innovate, and grow rapidly if they succeed, or adapt
quickly or disappear if they fail.
Breakthrough innovation and progress to achieve great social and individual
goals in communities worldwide will be driven by local business leaders, not
government. Government is very important to the social environment and
market conditions in which business and individuals pursue their interests, but
business drives progress. It is now possible to network local business
leaders on a global basis to achieve cross-border progress and prosperity at the
exponential growth pace which is required to not only "make poverty history",
but to make sustainable prosperity our shared future legacy through the
investment choices and global collaboration in our time.
Cross-border investment activity - such as new or expanded offices,
factories, distribution centers, or other types of business investment projects
- is not limited to "foreign" direct investment flows, such as across national
political borders. Most business is not defined or constrained by
geopolitical boundaries, nor is the objective to achieve better national
economic statistics (GDP, balance of trade or payments, etc.).
Countless businesses have crossed borders successfully to collaborate for
mutual benefit for centuries. It is truly remarkable when two governments
achieve this, and rare when multiple governments collaborate to more than the
minimal degree which circumstances require.
Instead of finding common ground for working together, it is more common for
self-perpetuating government bureaucracies to develop rigid "policies" through
which they persistently butt heads with similar bureaucracies elsewhere who feel
that their "position" is superior or equally justifiable. The problem
isn't that government leaders are unwise, stubborn, or ill-informed or
insensitive to different points of view by others. The problem is that
political systems are organized to relentless pursue and defend self-interests,
and develop adversarial bureaucracies designed explicitly for that ethnocentric
and egotistical purpose.
By contrast, business only succeeds by consistently reaching mutually
beneficial deals with others, and by respecting their different capabilities and
interests to achieve progress together. That is why business drives great
social and economic progress over time, rather than governmental or multilateral
assistance programs.
"Global Direct Investment" can flow between countries or between neighboring
communities. It is the free flow of private capital investment and other
resources to sustain business activity in more than one local or "home" market.
As companies grow, they typically seek new markets where their products or
services will be valued, whether nearby or far away. As they become more
global in nature, their national origin doesn't define their "home". Their
home is in many communities, with different functions deployed in different
places according to local capabilities to contribute productively to the
achievement of both local and global goals.
There are well-established financial markets to raise and invest capital to
support government services, business growth, and personal investment
objectives.
There is no efficient global marketplace to assist executives as their
companies invest directly in expansion of their own operations, rather than in
financial markets or in growth by merger and acquisition deals or business
alliances and partnerships. This "organic growth" market required, by
definition, multiple specialties because a business has to get all aspects of
the business "right" in the new location to achieve the desired objectives.
Unfortunately, companies must constantly "reinvent the wheel", learning for
themselves or with the help of a variety of separate specialists or limited
networks of contacts how to achieve their objectives in growing markets.
The GDI Forum is a new approach to that challenge. The Forum isn't to
bring top executives and professionals together as another "talking shop" or
passive B2B networking organization such as a trade or professional association,
chamber of commerce, or event organizer. Instead, the goal is to achieve
proactive networking for a common purpose with demonstrable results both for
companies and for the communities in which they choose to do business.
The Forum is intended to define clear objectives and goals for innovation and
results in economic development. The active work together to drive
innovation and "social entrepreneur ventures" in this market should help
companies to grow faster and better in places which may present complex
challenges and opportunities, such as communities in economic transition or
emerging markets.
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