OECD Network Asks Management Professor To Join Talks on Latin American Development
Professor Francisco Polidoro sees untapped opportunities in the region
The Emerging Markets Network (EMnet) recently invited Francisco Polidoro, a professor of management at the McCombs School of Business, to join a daylong conference on how the private sector can help accelerate sustainable growth in Latin American and the Caribbean. EMnet is the business-led platform of the Development Center under the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The network brings together high-level public officials, senior executives from multinational corporations, and OECD experts.
Participants gathered in Paris during the end of May for a meeting titled “Unlocking Latin America’s Sustainable Development.” Polidoro, who is an expert on strategy and innovation, said this was his first invitation to an EMnet business meeting.
The discussions addressed three main topics: investment possibilities and financing needs, international partnerships for better trade and investment, and the transformation of labor markets in Latin America. The talks then turned to the challenges and opportunities for Brazil and Mexico, the countries with the two largest economies in the region.
To allow for free discussions among participants, EMnet events are closed to the public and operate under the Chatham House rule, meaning speakers and their organizations are not revealed by the participants or the OECD.
Polidoro said his experience in the automotive industry before he joined academia helped him relate to the difficulties faced by senior executives of multinational corporations in the region. He worked as a project manager in Germany for Mercedes-Benz, which was going to build a manufacturing plant in his native Brazil. He also worked for a sales strategy unit of DaimlerChrysler Latin America.
The region remains a top destination for foreign direct investment as a percentage of GDP, Polidoro said, but total investment remains low compared with other regions. “On the bright side, this evidence suggests that there are untapped opportunities to foster innovation and entrepreneurship to fuel economic growth in the region.”
He praised the OECD for its dedication to compiling and analyzing data on economic development for countries in Africa and Asia, as well as Latin America, in a way that supports evidence-driven discussions. The network also maintains working groups that explore the green economy and the digital transformation, in addition to sustainability.
Polidoro was also in Paris for a conference of the Consortium for Research in Strategy, which includes a select group of leading tenured strategy scholars. In a related development, he was recently named a co-chair of the Strategy Research Foundation, which advances the mission of the Strategic Management Society (SMS). He was in Seoul, South Korea, in early July for an SMS paper development workshop.
Story by Mark Barron
