The bottom of the pyramid countries, MNCS, and human rights: What lies beyond the washington consensus

The Washington Consensus refers to the global economic ideology, based primarily on free markets and neoclassical economic thinking that has dominated the United States Government and international organizations such as the World Bank and the IMF. The global financial crisis of 2007-2009 and various government interventions to overcome the global financial crisis have very much challenged the relevance of this model and introduce the Chinese concept as the rival model to the Washington Consensus. This chapter provides a conceptual analysis of how governments provide various institutional infrastructures and examines the two models. The author argues that governments in partnership with multinational corporations (MNCs) can help to deal with three key aspects of institutional infrastructure: financial, physical and human rights infrastructure to cope with financial crisis. The chapter addresses the importance of institutional infrastructures, and how multinational corporations and governments can help create the institutional infrastructures that can integrate the MNCs’ sphere of influence and responsibility. This chapter also develops further the role of public policy and the role of the state in international business research.