Daily Times

The retailer Amazon, claiming to hold the earth’s largest collection, has started doing business with a few select manufacturers in Pakistan, to test the waters. This has opened new doors of freelancing opportunities for Pakistanis, many of whom are working as virtual assistants on Amazon, who service sellers. Certain small retailers are making back door entries into Amazon, by using foreign partners as the front. Amazon is one retailer that has created a paradigm shift in the world of business. If Pakistanis are able to enter the Amazon marketplace, like the Indians and the Chinese, it can bolster our economy by creating a multiplier effect.

Pakistani business schools should be at the forefront of understanding and guiding this phenomenon, but Pakistani business schools and social sciences academia have never been strong. Social media comments clearly establish that the teachers of the online business model are Youtubers who sometimes teach underhanded means as shortcuts to success.

Joe Zammit-Lucia’s The New Political Capitalism published this year should be read by all those doing business internationally. This book can fill the gaps for Pakistanis, to gain the perspective that their industry and academia cannot provide.

Zammit-Lucia has a deep understanding of how politics and the constant contestation of political ideas work. He explains how to embed these understandings into the core of the business model.

Social media comments clearly establish that the teachers of the online business model are Youtubers who sometimes teach underhanded means as shortcuts to success.

The average consumer in the western world is now socially and environmentally conscious. Customers wish to be ethical and humane when it comes to their consumption. This has led to big changes in the manufacturing, sourcing and marketing practices of businesses and it continues to drive business. A purchase is not a simple mindless activity. It is often a political act.

Zammit-Lucia describes the model political company by giving the example of Patagonia, a clothing company. Founded by US rock climber and environmentalist Yvon Chouinard in 1973, its global supply chain is designed to minimize its environmental footprint. It also enhances the longevity of its products by offering free repairs, while retail giants like Walmart make disposable products to increase sales through repeat purchases.

Tony’s Chocolonely is another model political company, which Zammit-Lucia terms a “purely political brand.” The chocolate-making business has an unglamorous underbelly where it employs child labour and the working conditions are horrendous for Ghanaian cocoa farmers. The company was founded in 2005 by documentary filmmakers who wanted to be ethical chocolatiers. As filmmakers, they made a hard-hitting documentary, but when it had little social impact, they started their own 100% child labour-free chocolate company.

To understand the trajectory of global business, we have to understand the effects of the deregulated world created by US President Reagan and British Prime Minister Thatcher in the 1980s, which led to the era of financial capitalism and the unhealthy relationship between lawmakers and business elites. It created a world where corporations wielded tremendous power, subverting state power and regulation. This is best summed up by Milton Friedman’s infamous words, “The business of business is business.” Investigative journalism, social activism, documentary film-making and social media have fortunately clamped down on the frightening power of corporations. Global threats, from climate change to armed conflict, and purchasing patterns as well as actions of powerful multifaceted stakeholders have made big businesses reconsider sourcing, manufacturing and marketing decisions.

CEOs today are faced with real political decisions such as whether to do business with Russia because of the war or to buy cotton from Xinjiang province in China because of the treatment of Uighur Muslims. These decisions matter because the media relays them to the public, who in turn withheld their purchases based on their political stance.

Zammit-Lucia makes three key points. First, accept that business is political; second, business leaders must understand the effect of the company on the world; and third, business executives need to think as global citizens and be conscious of their customers and everyone else they do business with.

Pakistani sellers thus need to be taught the working of the political economy, the global information loop and the best way to capitalize on the opportunities offered by a globalized world.

Honesty, integrity, and environmental and social consciousness are the keys that can open the doors of business in capitalistic societies for Pakistanis.

The unethical and unscrupulous ways of marketing being practised and taught by self-proclaimed international business gurus on Youtube can only lead to disastrous consequences. The pursuit of instant gains with paid reviews and followers bought by money is not compatible with ethical business practices. Pakistanis need to learn that inculcating ethics is the only way to survive and thrive in the global business model. There is no shortcut to success and no unscrupulous business can thrive for long.

Pakistani business school academia is not in line with the current trends and practices in the western led world. Those who wish to succeed, need to make an effort to get up to speed. They need to read the right books, right magazines and the right newspapers to make sense of what is happening in an increasingly interconnected world. Only then can they understand the global challenges and opportunities to be able to appropriately respond to them.

The writer is an independent researcher, author and columnist. She can be reached at aliya1924@gmail.com