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Abstract

In the developing countries, one can find extremely high-performing companies. What is their secret ? Do they faithfully replicate best practices that have proved their worth in the most advanced economies ? Or do they adopt creative approaches to management by leveraging the cultural resources offered by their environment ?

Four companies located in Argentina, Cameroon, Morocco and Mexico reveal the alchemy of their success. These organisations have relied on a modern reinterpretation of traditional forms of co-operation present in their surrounding society but normally absent from the sphere of business. Thus, in Mexico, a singular management approach gave rise to a kind of family of brothers that constantly exchange mutual aid and support, while in Morocco, there emerged a form of religious brotherhood united by a shared moral ideal and headed by a holy man.

What the research into these firms reveals is that promoting development is not a matter of trying to change cultures that are allegedly incompatible with progress. What is needed are ways of organising companies and economies in tune with the forms of good co-operation specific to each culture.