ViV Magazine Volume 4 (April - May 2014) ViV Magazine Volume 4 (April - May 2014) | Page 61

Business in Haiti:
The Case for New Foreign Entrants
Sandbox Rules: Who are
the new kids on the block

Surviving Haiti’s
changing economy

What value do foreign companies bring, and why are they not
detrimental to local industries and the overall economy? These
are questions that must be asked in order to support Haiti’s
strategic integration into global markets - and hopefully create
the incentive it needs to lessen its political and economic volatility,
and by default encourage investments. But how must we achieve
this without having to sacrifice our culture and fierce nationalism?

The eternal divide will remain: politicians fight on the international
arena to protect their nationalism, while economists strive towards
global integration. With constantly progressing technology in
transport and communications, trade is easier than ever - and in
least developed countries, necessary - if done consciously. The
collapse of communism, movement towards free trade and the
rise of trading blocs all made this integration possible. But this
new growth nurtured a richer global north, and restricted poorer
countries’ access to markets, and a greater polarisation of the core
and periphery.

Economic shifts will occur and global exchange will require the
destruction and emergence of many elements that currently
make up Haiti’s business landscape. The key to surviving these
transformations is vision: looking beyond profit. Thriving
enterprises will have to anchor their activities on sustainability,
social impact and development. Market deregulation will thus
have to create parameters that favour brands that positively
contribute to the local population and state. This is a message
to budding entrepreneurs - effective partnerships meshing
international resources and Haiti’s creativity to both make a
profit and consciously meet local needs.

Thinking broadly, trade occurs in terms of products, goods but also
services. If we accept that economic power influences shifts in the
international political economy, and that the concept of power
alone highlights an asymmetrical relationship between two or
more entities, pre-existing differences in terms of resources make
for an uneven playing field when trading and competing with
foreign entrants. Local companies simply cannot compete with
global brands, and monopolies quickly grab hold of the market.
Global powerhouse companies are mobile, resourceful and skillladen - acting as assets for whichever country they choose to install
themselves in. They create employment, train the population, and
boost the country’s productivity and competitiveness.
The flaw remains, upon the entrant of these companies often
centred around primary and secondary industries - being allured
by the ready availability of cheap labour - smaller local companies
begin supporting the new entrant’s activities by creating and
supplying products lower down the latter’s value chain. This
means that progressively, the economy moulds itself around the
demands of these industries and first world countries. They are
now vulnerable to ch