DOES POPULISM CHANGE THE RULES OF THE GAME IN BUSINESS?
a. INTRODUCTION
As a starting point it can be mentioned that the rise of so-called populism in the 21st century is a phenomenon that concerns both developing and developed countries non excluding emerging economies (Left and right populism in the US; course notes). It is so from the Academy have realized various analyzes about their causes and among others, cites the citizen perception that globalization has brought a greater integration but has not improved the quality of life of people which is reflected in low real wages, low average labor productivity, over-indebtedness and lack of adequate access to education, health and housing. This perception could be seen more clearly in the developing countries, but analyzing the income inequality in United States or the United Kingdom i. e., we can verify that discontent has been extended and is one of the reasons to people seek new forms of governance.
This discontent is evidenced in three particular events, the 2008 financial crisis, the election of Trump and the Brexit. In emerging countries like Brazil, the recent triumph of Jair Bolsonaro (waiting for the second round) displaces a left-wing political party with an anti-globalization and "class" discourse present in more than 10 years. But the discourse of Bolsonaro also has brought in tune popular discontent for the lack of employment, rise of organized crime and delegitimization of public institutions.
In this context, the business community has some challenges that must be addressed as the susceptibility of regulatory changes by governments that fall within the populist approach (Defining populism; course notes) and how these affect the entrepreneurial exercise. To this is added how to develop business strategies with a focus on Sustainability in the long term.
b. DOES POPULISM CHANGE THE RULES OF GAME IN BUSINESS?
We can start by describing the generating sectors of wealth of a country summarized in trade, manufacturing, services and agriculture and then distinguish its productive engines whether national companies or Multinationals. In this context, each country has clear advantages and strengths in certain sectors and capacities and deficiencies to sustain its local market. This basic structure can be affected by several ways but let us mention some: 1. Changes in fiscal and monetary policy that affect the formation of prices on sectors with high impact on local economy. 2. Regulatory changes that present additional pressures on the production of goods or services and redistribution of the average income of citizens.
These factors are a real measure of how the economy is moving and based on these real changes is evident if a discourse framed in the populist approach is in fact radical. Many governments began a similar discourse but not in practice. The former president of Brazil, Henrique Cardoso, told to "Lula" da Silva years after Lula won the presidency that he (Cardoso) had been as liberal as Lula, socialist. In this context, the productive challenges are focused on those who do not have better skills in business management, technological and financial capabilities. Here comes the role of multinationals (The growing power of multinational corporations (MNCs); Naomi Klein) and how they have progressed in local market participation, production of goods and services and to managing certain export sectors and even in services.
c. CONCLUSION
In practice, the so-called populist governments have not made radical changes in relation to the internal or external market, with few exceptions, although in practice, there is evidence that investments in developing countries are held back by a lack of legal security. Nevertheless by the moment it is too early to say that populism is radically changing the rules of the game in business but the signs are visible mainly through the Trump and Brexit effect.
