SEIF HARBOR:

Harvard Guru to Help Libya: Michael Porter wants to revamp Qaddafi's creaky economy. But will privatization and "mini-MBAs" prevail over statism and red tape? (Stanley Reed, 2/20/07, Business Week)

Can Harvard Business School competitiveness guru Michael Porter fix the Libyan economy? Since meeting one of Muammar al-Qaddafi's sons at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in 2004, Porter and a group of Western consultants have become deeply engaged in overhauling the Mediterranean petro-state.

Qaddafi's son, Seif al Islam (Sword of God), is making a career of trying to reform what is by many measures one of the world's most backward economies. Now, thanks to his relationship with Porter and Monitor Group, a consulting firm with which Porter is affiliated, a roadmap for restructuring is emerging.

Monitor has pored over the Libyan economy and mapped out a strategy for the next decade or so, focusing on energy, tourism, trade, and construction. Now the more difficult work begins--making real changes that free up the private sector and improve the business environment.

If only Gamal Mubarak were as wise.

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 22, 2007 12:00 AM