Title: Private municipal governance and the company town: applications past, present and future

Authors: Brian M. Studniberg

Addresses: Couzin Taylor LLP, 222 Bay Street, P.O. Box 143, Toronto, Ontario M5K 1H1, Canada

Abstract: Under private municipal governance, the firm contributes to the provision of public goods to the local population in conjunction with the host state|s government and in cooperation with non-governmental organisations. The concept is put forward as a platform from which the multinational firm strives to develop a longer-term and mutually beneficial orientation to its sojourn in the developing country. The paper concludes that private municipal governance stands to work most effectively when it allows an array of actors from the first, second, and third sectors to do what they do best; in other words, partnerships in governance can allow for the developing country (and with it the firm) to benefit the most from specialisation.

Keywords: private municipal governance; non-state entities; multinational corporations; MNCs; developing countries; Ivanhoe Mines; Mongolia; Oyu Tolgoi; Hudson|s Bay Company; Canada; Celebration; Florida; Walt Disney Company; USA; United States; corporate social responsibility; CSR; company towns; public goods; state government; non-governmental organisations; NGOs; mutually beneficial orientations; partnerships; business governance; business ethics.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBGE.2010.033347

International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics, 2010 Vol.5 No.3, pp.214 - 240

Published online: 01 Jun 2010 *

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