Question:

Marie, in your short span in Central America do you see any of the, let’s say, influence of larger firms in the sense of their contributing to the life and vitality of communities?

Answer: 

Very much so. And I mean that really is the issue in changing a culture. It’s hard to fight a friend or fight someone you know. I mean it’s the communications element that does that.  I mean I can say, I think a couple of examples that I see daily: John Deer, and Caterpillar machinery, I mean, it’s been a long time, I will say, since I’ve spent the night in a car on the side of the road because bridges wash out there, it’s rainy season, there was a tropical storm, but the machinery that been provided by U.S. based organizations to help that, or the aid that has been provided and is provided by a local division of a global company that is headquartered in the U.S. it’s like, it’s valued, it’s respected and yes, I mean, there is…I want Ivory Soap that is 99% pure.

Comment: 

No No, 99, 44, 100

(laughs)

Continuing answer:

And so that’s where the impact matters and as we change the lives there, adopting schools, I mean, it’s things that we know as good corporate citizenship and they perceive as special treatment for them.  That’s what you do, that’s how you change.

Comment:

From my perspective, to throw in a personal thing here, it’s tragic how much publicity and visibility the Enron’s got and the kinds of stories that can be told based on your own personal experiences of what your companies do is largely unnoticed to the general public.  That’s not a commonly perceived kind of behavior.  Most people see it purely as you’re there to make money, which obviously you have to do to survive, but the larger influence and larger influence on development as well as purely raising economic standards I think is a story that needs to be told much better than it has been.