Western Enterprise in the Far East

The transference of initiative from individuals to governments has affected international economic relations no less than the internal economic structures. This applies with especially great force to the export of technical knowledge, capital, and entrepreneurship from the advanced countries of the West to the economically and technically backward countries of Asia and Africa. The role of the private Western firm in those regions is still important, but in the development of ‘underdeveloped’ countries—or at any rate in the plans for the development of such countries—the private firm is being overshadowed by governments and international agencies. Moreover, the propaganda against Western private capitalism (which has destroyed much of its self-confidence) has been most effective in those overseas countries where it enjoyed some of its greatest triumphs. In certain regions socialistic and nationalistic sentiments now combine to discredit it. Private enterprise has shown its traditional skill in accommodating itself to these new conditions, but in many of the Asian countries it now receives only a grudging welcome.