Theme 9: Where do we go from here

[Peace Through Commerce]

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A discussion moderated by Jeff Klein, Executive Director & Chief Activation Officer, FLOW Inc. Visit Biographies for more about presenters

Where do we go from here?
Where next? This session not only invites participants to propose where the peace through commerce movement might best head next, it also provides some conceptual frameworks for thinking about those steps.

Presentations:
Peace Through Commerce: Where we go from here
Watch the videos and join the discussion with presenters below.

	John Forrer, Administrative Director, George Washington University Institute for Corporate Responsibility "Locating Peace Through Commerce in Good Global Governance"(4:06)			Marc Lavine, Doctoral Candidate and Instructor, Boston College Department of Organization Studies "Peace Through Commerce and Creating Social Movements"(7:14)

	Jorge Rivera, Associate Professor of Strategic Management and Public Policy, George Washington University "The Protective Policy Process and Business Responses in the U.S. and Developing Countries"(12:03)		Papers Locating Peace Through Commerce in Good Global Governance John Forrer George Washington University Institute for Corporate Responsibility From Scholarly Dialogue to Social Movement: Considerations and Implications for Peace through Commerce (PTC) Marc Lavine Department of Organization Studies Boston College

Discussion: Peace Through Commerce: Where do we go from here?
Questions
1. How can we catalyze and facilitate multi-sector collaboration to advance Peace Through Commerce projects on-the-ground and to advance the idea of Peace Through Commerce in general?
2. a) If we believe that peace is a process, and requires ongoing attention and cultivation, and if we understand that economic opportunity is an essential ingredient for sustainable peace, what are the elements of a Peace Through Commerce system that need to be addressed to establish and sustain peace? b) What is the relationship between these elements - in time and over time? (for example, what is the sequence of events or elements that need to be addressed, and what is the ongoing relationship between these elements?)
3. What are the pre-conditions and factors for establishing economic opportunity?

[flowidealism]

Hi Susan,

Thanks for pointing us to the BTI, which is very interesting. It certainly seems to provide a sophisticated framework for measuring governance issues.

On the other hand, it is complex, subjective, and relatively opaque, though most of its judgments in the end seem fairly reasonable.

Do you know of research showing correlations between BTI measures and other outcomes, be they HDI, conflict, economic growth, or other outcomes?

Thanks,

Michael

[Solomon Brayant Mpapale]

Dear All,

1.These collaborations can be catalyzed through a number of initiatives:including Corporate Social Responsibility schemes,peace drives, establishment of peace funds,events like concerts,runs or races,collaborations, researches and also education.

2. a).Anumber of elements of peace through commerce to be addressed would be:Responsible business practices,Accountability,Investment in peace drives or businesses that carry the minimal risk of generating conflicts,taxing busineses that invest in ventures that promote conflicts and research and Development.

b).These elements relate in that,one chain leads to another.A purely profit oriented pursuit of business that does not priorize peace of reckless corporate practices say hiring practises or even compensatary schemes can carry the risk of sparking conflicts.That is why it is essential that before any business invests anywhere,it should hire professional risk assessors to carry out a realistic risk audit complete with worst case and best case scenarios and with such solid information only can decisions be made as to where to invest.

3.The pre-conditions for establishing economic opportunities are:An assesment of the presence of factors of production,mechanisms of investment,comparative advantage, possibilities of enjoying the economies of scale and most important, the risk factors.As argued before, if the risks outweigh the benefits, then that consideration should trump profits because that is how conflicts are manufactured and fester.

Bye every body,

Solomon

[John Forrer]

This is a great conversation about the imperative of multi-sector collaboration, models of governance that reflect successful collaboration, and criteria we might use to judge the success of the efforts looking at measures of outcomes and measures of the collaboration itself. Of course, there is not one set of variables, as the judgment of what constitutes success will vary by group and interests. So the starting point of what would be considered as successful outcome and a successful collaboration must be the result of negotiation and accommodation of the parties involved. Of course, we would all see that one size doesn't fit al, but we do't have to reinvent all elements of wheel either. There are great opportunities fo rtechnology transfer AND local adaption of gneralized models and practices.

But I bring this all back to Mark's observation that our efforts should be directed not only at a specific goal or objectives that are of interest to business or other players, but to advancing what we might call the "post-conflict to peace process" that entails sequences of actions that advance peace in the area. So success is not only understood as accomplishing specific goals, but in making sure the goals we are working on fit well into a sequence of "post-conflict to peace" actions.

[Jeff Klein]

Thank you for this John,

As you suggest, if we take a stakeholder orientation (that is, recognize all the the stakeholders in the system - local communities, and other local stakeholders, investors, businesses, NGO community, etc. – and cultivate a shared purpose and explicitly agreed upon desired outcomes (through negotiation and accommodation), and act to fulfill this purpose and achieve the outcomes, in ways that respect the stakeholder interests, working to harmoinze them, we may head towards new levels of success.

And recognizing that post-conflict to peace is a process that requires an integrated system of actions, some sequential, some simultaneous, many ongoing, is essential.

[Marc Lavine]

John, you were asking about good examples of post-conflict transition and I thought of a good and bad example involving the same company. I thought this might be useful because thinking about large businesses more like governments in the sense that they can simultaneously do things we find laudable and lackluster (or worse) is often the case.

Several years ago I worked in a consulting capacity for the CSR team at Chiquita Brands Interational. Here are some links to info about a project Chiquita helped realize in the Mindanao region of the Phillipines that helped bring greater calm and prosperity to a conflict region and helped foster interaction among different cultural groups. Here's an WSJ article about it and a PDF of a case study written about it.

http://www.swlearning.com/economics/mankiw/principles2e/instructor/...

http://www.worldvolunteerweb.org/fileadmin/docs/old/pdf/2003/031201...

The case study sites the following values as key to success: Results-focus, Countryside Development Orientation, Cross-Cultural Consciousness, Customer Focus, Existence of Organisational Pride, High Regard on Cultural Dimensions, Change Orientation

It seems like having an overt hyper-goal of peace and having a clear idea champion who had strong social capital were also important factors.

Then, conversely there is the situation of Chiquita paying fines last year for its payment of protection money paramilitary groups in Colombia (the AUC, ELN, and FARC). While the company contends that it needed to do so to ensure the safety of its workers there (and there is credible evidence that this was common practice in the region) and Chiquita voluntarily disclosed the payments to the justice department after the AUC was classified as a terrorist organization post 9-11, it's clear that the payments significantly fueled conflict in the region. While this is a complex situation it's clear that it's an example of a way that commerce can undermine peace (having a multinational pay for its own protection force rather than make payments to militant groups seems preferable though not without complexities). Here's an LA Times article about the settlement:

http://articles.latimes.com/2007/mar/15/world/fg-chiquita15

[Jeff Klein]

Thank you Marc. This is very relevant and illustrative case (or two). Congratulations for whatever role you played in the Minanao program.

[Martin Felipe Wohlgemuth]

Answers to: 1. The cardinal point is to develop replicable income generating models with traceable stories where vulnerable populations and ordinary, very low educated people and their families develop a business that helps them to improve their life standards. 2.a) The elements should be: vulnerable population is considered as a subject of commerce itself by developing business from their point of view with the collaboration of experts and the development of the communities where these families live. b) This relationship brings wellbeing that can be monitored for a period of time and success stories can be monitored, positive leaders should be able to help others. 3) Pre conditions are education and competences, a life plan where a family can structure from their point of view, how they envision their life and by which means.

[John Forrer]

Thanks Martin. Very interesting way to conceive a PTC "policy." In the spirit of the conversation regarding sequencing and integration, I wonder if there are conditions (e.g. facilities, networks, institutions, social and/or political environment, etc.) that you know to be critical support systems to the success of your approach, or even could be considered as prerequisites for success.

[Efe Sevin]

The discussions revolve around the importance of multi-sectoral approaches and the encouragement of stakeholder involvement in PTC. I find Dr. Forrer's argument about the framework for good global citizenship to be extremely important. However, I have doubts over how to (or whether it is possible to) aggregate the individual attempts. How can we connect the understanding of good global citizenship with corporate social responsibility and Peace through Commerce attempts?

[John Forrer]

Efe -

This is a great area of future work. A shorthand perspective could see firms embracing CSR strategies that are designed to meet PTC objectives. The choice of these strategies would be based on the contribution a firm could make to advancing PTC goals. And the identification of these actions would be borne out of a collaborative process involving many global governance players ( NGOs, governments, international agencies, local civil society, etc.) who share a vision of what is wanted and what should work. In this formulation, a shift is made form justifying CSR policies because og the effect on a firm's stakeholders to a justification of a demonstrable contribution to building fostering peace. Of course, benefit to stakeholders is not eliminated and you would expect that advancing peace owuld in facy benefit manty stakeholders, but the justification for choosing one action over another is guided first by the contribution to peace. Finally, many of these actions by firms do not have to be dramatic but can be grounded in day-to-day business operations or even new business opportunities.