ABSTRACT
The context for relations between multinational corporations and nation-states in Latin America is shifting rapidly as the region adopts dramatic political and economic reforms. Business-supported organizations have certainly played an influential role in shaping discussions on the critical issues and policy options for US society as a whole. Acting through such organizations, and also as individual citizens, business leaders have helped prepare US society for change in many areas, including economic policy, foreign affairs, labor legislation, health care, and education. Committee for economic development was to become a major organization in the United States (US) after World War II, but it arose from three smaller groups formed by business leaders, each for different motives. The Council of the Americas today is the largest US business-supported organization concerned exclusively with Latin America. The Mexico–US Business Council offers an attractive model that could be applied in other Latin American countries.
