Shadow Trades

Amos Owen Thomas was a docent/reader in international business at Stockholm University until his recent retirement and remains associated with the Emerging Markets Research Group of its Stockholm Business School. For almost 30 years he served at eight universities in Australia, the Netherlands, the UK, Namibia, Singapore and Papua New Guinea. In that time, he also taught and researched for short periodsin about 30 countries in East Asia, Central Asia, Middle East, Western Europe and South America. Prior to academia, Amos was employed or consulted for 15 years in business, government and non-profit sectors in a few countries around the Asia-Pacific region.

Chapter 1: Charting the Borderless Chapter 2: Darkness Enlightened Chapter 3: Irregular Migration & Labour Exploitation Chapter 4: Transplant Tourism & Organs Acquisition Chapter 5: Resource Pilferage & Environment Degradation Chapter 6: Waste Transhipment & Hazardous Recycling Chapter 7: Arms Conveyance & Military Contracting Chapter 8: Financial Sleight & Money Laundering Chapter 9: Tracking Cross-Currents Chapter 10: Imperative of Engagement

International business texts typically focus upon everyday corporate activities and the various political, legal, and cultural environments to which they must adapt. These books do consider illicit practices, such as counterfeiting, that threaten companies, as well as some ethical, social responsibility, and sustainability issues, but generally tilt toward the sunny side of global commerce. In Shadow Trades: The Dark Side of Global Business, author Amos Owen Thomas introduces readers to a wide range of much more controversial, often despicable, business conduct that flourishes on a worldwide scale. Topics include exploitation of migrants and laborers, human organ trafficking, hazardous waste transhipment, the global arms trade, money laundering, and much more. Thomas' writing is engaging, and his chapters end with a variety of sources - research works, executive books, informational websites, and documentary videos - for further study. Shadow Trades will make a nice supplement for international business, management, and marketing classes. -- Terrence H. Witkowski, Professor of Marketing and Director, International Business Program, College of Business, California State University, USA Shadow Trades takes on the existence and growth of illegal markets from a business perspective. Labour exploitation, organ transplant tourism, environmental crimes, waste transhipment, arms trafficking, money laundering, and related dark markets are examined, using available data and careful analysis of the relationships among legal and illicit markets, businesses, and government activity in alternately ignoring or facilitating this largely hidden activity. The consequences of this situation for legitimate business and broader economic development are discussed, as are the actions that might be taken to improve the contemporary situation globally. Good insights into some bad behavior, and the reasons why it continues to thrive. -- Jay S. Albanese, Professor and Criminologist, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, USA The legitimate global capitalist financial and business world lives in creative co-existence with its dark alter ego. As this book demonstrates, these shadow trades haunt capitalism and complicit government as viruses. These co-inhabit spaces with hosts such that management, healthcare and environmentalism have their converse in exploited labour, organ harvesting and waste dumping. Amos Owen Thomas is bold enough to take a fierce analytical torch to this murky admixture in a book that will become a mainstream source for business and business educators -- David Weir, Professor, York Business School, York St John University, UK This book makes a great addition to the literature on CSR and Business Ethics, filling one of the gaps that have existed in management knowledge. I believe that there are still no credible books in this area for education and training purposes on the market. Dr Thomas' book will certainly be a welcome addition to what we have now at business schools around the globe. -- Samuel O Idowu, Deputy CEO, Global Corporate Governance Institute, UK This is a very important book on a subject typically ignored in management education. The author's unique perspectives and insights make for a vital contribution to our knowledge. It is important for students and the general public to understand these challenges, so I hope the book gets some traction in academia and beyond. -- Laurence Chalip, Professor, Director, School of Sport, Recreation, and Tourism Management George Mason University, Virginia, USA Compelling and original, Shadow Trades exposes the criminogenic nature of international capitalism. The spectres of fraud, violence and coercion lurk on every page. Essential reading for all scholars of critical globalization studies. -- Leo McCann, Professor of Management, University of York, UK Driving directly to the heart of crime, greed and desperation, the author explains the interactions between leading world countries and companies profiting from illegal activities to economically disadvantaged countries mired in political conflict and military rule. Shadow Trades describes how UN, laws, international conventions and interventions are circumvented by ingenious yet, corrupt means to the detriment of every living creature on this planet. -- Colleen Clarke, Professor Emeritus, Minnesota State University, Mankato, USA Author, Stealing History Amos Owen Thomas addresses a fascinating collection of cross border business activities that provide a rich source of material for discussing business ethics and corporate social responsibility. By highlighting these examples of cross border activity that are either illegal or at the margins of social acceptance, the book provides a unique source for reflecting on contemporary international economic value creation with a dark side. -- Johan Lindeque, Assistant Professor of Strategy, University of Amsterdam Business School, Netherlands Professor Amos Owen Thomas's book on dark trade makes a tremendous contribution to uncovering an important phenomenon of economy that has been little known. -- Tony Fang, Professor, Stockholm Business School, Stockholm University, Sweden A very interesting and novel book on the illegitimate aspects of international trade. Arguably, economic globalization has accelerated the growth in international trade globally in recent decades. But, it is assumed that globalisation fosters only legitimate trade. Hence, there is not much consideration in the international business literature about the dark side of international trade. This timely book sheds a much needed light on issues such as human trafficking, money laundering, waste management and arms trade. It provides an excellent critique of the push and pull migration theories underlying these shadow trades and illuminates our understanding of the global human resource implications of these unsavoury/disreputable trades. A must read for academics, practitioners, government official, policy makers and social activists. -- Yaw Debrah, Professor, School of Management, Swansea University, UK Shadow Trades makes fascinating reading. We know the dark side of international business exists but perhaps understandably it is rarely examined objectively and analytically by academics or taught as part of university degree programmes. Dr. Thomas should be congratulated, therefore, not just for a clearly written, compelling text, but for the way he has researched and addressed this much neglected topic. The text contains a the wealth of information that will be of interest to practitioners, policy makers and all those concerned with social responsibility, as well as academics and students of international business. -- David A. Kirby, Holder of The Queen's Award for Enterprise Promotion, UK. Former Vice President (Enterprise and Community Service), The British University in Egypt. Honorary Professor, Almaty Universi This book, Shadow Trades is unlike any other book on business ethics. It belongs to class of its own in several ways. First it covers several ethical topics ranging from business, medicine, human trafficking, environment, hazardous recycling, military contracting and money laundering; all in the global landscape. Second, and perhaps even more important, the writing style and easy-to-follow narrative ensures that the book will engage students and the various audiences. Third, it is an intelligent, quietly provocative book touching upon, though tangentially, on controversial social-economic issues such as imperialism, capitalism and Marxian philosophy. Fourth and finally, the skilful use of language makes the book even more appealing to serious as well as leisure readers. -- Edward E. Marandu, Professor of Marketing, Faculty of Business University of Botswana Shadow Trades is a must-read for all who are interested in gaining insights into the power and influence that access to finite, valuable resources benefits those who achieve it by any means available. Moreover, this book provides well-documented cases, including from recent Middle East history, of how various players, often foreign, take advantage of the woes that afflict developing countries to threaten lives and disrupt whole regions. -- Nabil Sultan, Visiting Professor at SERVUS, Free University of Amsterdam. Formerly Dean, College of Business Administration, A'Sharqiyah University, Oman. Shadow Trades could not come at a more opportune time - as we're flooded with news of social and racial disparities brought to light by the pandemic, Mexico's shelters overwhelmed by migrants hoping to cross the US border, mass school kidnappings in northern Nigeria, Indian farmers demonstrating against the new agriculture laws leaving them unprotected from the greedy private sector. Shadow Trades goes a step further to reveal many dire causes and effects of neo-colonialism and call out for action. Eye-opening, informative, a must-read for anyone who chooses not to remain ignorant, "Shadow Trades" is looking to convince us to get involved, and to persuade the government and corporations to take meaningful action and place the protection of human rights above profit. It is unfortunate that we still need this training in our humanity, and while this level of clarity can be shocking, it is perhaps necessary. -- Maria Yannakea, Stockholm Business School; Marketing Operations Manager, CBS Interactive, USA Despite an increased focus on CSR and business ethics, shadow trades are thriving underneath the legitimate surface of global business. Human trafficking, resource pilfering and money laundering co-exist alongside seemingly legitimate trades, often benefiting from a symbiotic relationship. Dr Thomas' book examines the business models of shadow trades and the complex ways in which illicit activities underpin the global economy. The murky aspects of capitalism are rarely discussed in business ethics classes, which is why Shadow Trades is an important and timely contribution to management literature. Calling for transparency and action, Shadow Trades is an invitation to scholars, practitioners and consumers to disarm the dark side of international trade. -- Robyn Belak, Stockholm Business School; Digital Marketing Manager, Stora Enso, Sweden What a fantastic page turner! Whether you are an academic looking for sources about the topic or whether you are passionate about ethical business I highly recommend this book. If you are a business leader I especially recommend this read, it will challenge your company's values and culture and start some healthy boardroom conversations. I loved how Dr Thomas always had this ability of taking complex, multi-faceted topics and making them so simple and relatable to an academic, an executive keen on making a difference or an average consumer wanting to make informed, ethical choices. I particularly liked how this book emphasises the role of investigative journalism to drive accountability to businesses, governments and help consumers make informed choices. -- Maya Rigg, Maastricht School of Management; Chief Executive Officer, Elite Havens, Singapore This book provides a great overview on illegal practices and issues of the current business environment, which are a result of the products and services we use in our everyday life. Topics such as labour exploitation, environment degradation and money laundering (and many more) are analysed and permit to gain critical knowledge on today's business practices. I can recommend this book to everyone who is linked to the business world (students, lecturers, managers...) as it enables you to become critical towards common business practices and to recognise and understand the shadow trades behind those. Moreover, it can be a source of inspiration for further research in this mostly undiscussed area of today's business world. -- Jonathan Ribeiro, Copenhagen Business School; Demand Activation Assistant, Mars, Germany