Maximizing Development of Local Content across Industry Sectors in Emerging Markets

May 18, 2012

While the promise is still far greater than the reality, strategies and programs built on the positive impact on development from private-sector initiatives in frontier and emerging markets are gaining acceptance and driving change in corporate boardrooms and NGO projects. This report examines why and how the private sector, nongovernmental development actors, and the U.S. government, particularly USAID, can employ policies and practices to expand local content in order to drive economic development and create economic opportunities. The authors highlight the development benefits of a local-content strategy while recognizing the commercial benefits of such a strategy accruing to large participating companies. They use case studies from three very different business sectors—extraction (oil and gas), tourism, and agriculture—to identify existing successes and challenges. And finally they provide recommendations for those businesses and government agencies as well as host governments working on local-content development.