Business in Post-War Iraq: Risky Business

International donors meet this month to decide how they might help reconstruct Iraq. Business is already debating the complexity of companies playing a part. To succeed, firms need legitimacy, which can be earned by proving to local partners that they have inclusive, transparent and accountable policies. In Iraq the wrong approach – perhaps even association with the interim administration – could wreck reputations and prospects.

The World Today
6 minute READ

Legitimacy has long been considered essential to an organisation’s continued existence. Though intangible, like a brand, it amounts to a de facto licence to operate conferred on a firm by those it comes into contact with. Legitimacy is earned when there is satisfaction about how companies are governed in terms of inclusivity, transparency and accountability. It is not a static resource, but is built or eroded over time.

Iraq presents firms with unique legitimacy challenges, not least in terms of identifying those who can confer it in a country where civil society has been repressed for decades.

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