(Many of the country s top businessmen faced prosecution in subsequent years.)

Initially, his government contained nine groups of big businessmen, but that number has fallen gradually, and even top businessmen have been marginalized by his core loyalists, who are widely rumored to be enriching themselves at the expense of both the state and private business.

Some big businesses in privileged positions would make a fortune from exploiting this rather rigged market.

According to a study by LUISS University, half of the country s top business leaders and political officials are 60 or older.

But this time, as business leaders shared their experiences, one could almost feel the clouds darkening. The spirit was captured by one participant who suggested that we had gone from boom and bust to boom and Armageddon.

In a speech delivered before an audience of Indian business leaders in Bangalore, he accused Pakistan of being on both sides of the Afghan equation.

Heads of state tripped over one another to meet business leaders in Mumbai, hoping to pave the way for a significant expansion of trade and investment.

Ending the insurrection will also require better government, whatever the low expectations of business leaders.

They urge America s president elect Barack Obama to pursue a green revolution with big investments in renewable energy, arguing that this could create millions of new green collar jobs and open huge new markets.

As long as stock prices are buoyant, business leaders are not scared of future taxes or of policy uncertainty.

In Thailand, the rage stems from the perceived neglect of the rural poor by the ruling class, backed by big business, the army, and the king.

Similarly, the tycoons advocate restored cooperation with the International Monetary Fund, because they want access to credit at reasonable interest rates.

The Ukrainian tycoons are no fools.

Following the crisis, this problem has become widely recognized, including by business leaders such as Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein.

Crony businesses from the US and Europe, which are utterly unfamiliar with local conditions, squander time, aid funds, and opportunities.

In Tibet, where for the last 30 years major Tibetan businessmen had been seen as natural allies of the state, such developments are unprecedented.

Indeed, African business leaders often cite finding people with the right skills as a major challenge to their operations, especially in high tech industries.

Business elites were not any less politically powerful back then. But they used their influence to advance an agenda that was broadly in the national interest.

CAMBRIDGE Last year, the leaders of all five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council visited India, accompanied by delegations of business leaders.

When the Cabinet Office called upon 60 business leaders, academics, and economists (including me) to perform such an evaluation, more than 70 favored the hike.

Last January, Lula visited the island with a string of leading Brazilian businessmen and signed trade and investment deals worth 1 billion.

Leading British business figures, too, have cautioned Cameron that he risks destabilizing the UK economy inadvertently if he seeks a wholesale renegotiation of EU membership.

The Group brings together top UN officials and business executives, including from Edison International, Statoil, Suntech Holdings, and Vattenfall.

I urge every world leader, as well as my fellow business leaders, to embrace this opportunity to act in our own enlightened self interest and to work together in the spirit of real partnership.

that entrepreneurs provide benefits to society.

In their research, Quy Huy and Andrew Shipilov of INSEAD have shown that business leaders who use social media build so called emotional capital within their employees.

Rather than sit with Ugandan rather than sit with Ugandan entrepreneurs, Ghanaian businessmen, South African enterprising leaders, our governments find it more productive to talk to the IMF and the World Bank.

This theme of apparent Pakistani duplicity was picked up by Cameron. In a speech delivered before an audience of Indian business leaders in Bangalore, he accused Pakistan of being on both sides of the Afghan equation.

The annual meetings of the World Economic Forum in Davos bring together top international business and political leaders from Switzerland and foreign countries to discuss important issues facing the world, including health and the environment.

Business leaders are pushing hard to change this system

Business leaders, long afraid to participate in such a polarized debate, have finally entered the fray, arguing forcefully that immigration is critical to American competitiveness.

Moreover, unlike Poland when communism collapsed, Burma already has powerful business tycoons flourishing under the existing system and they mean to maintain and develop their privileges.

Closer regulatory cooperation may also help the US and the EU to confront what business leaders view as increasingly unfair competition from China both at home and abroad.

My audience included business leaders who hope to profit from cap and trade policies and from subsidies for renewable energy and green jobs.

Enlightened self interest should send business leaders to the development table, to be co architects of development strategies, to join in public private partnerships and, as appropriate, to engage in philanthropy.

Beyond that, a feedback mechanism appears to be in place cities with more entrepreneurs tend to beget still more entrepreneurs.

As a senior Asian statesman told me recently, Deng would never have made this mistake.

The impact of kidnapping may also be broader, discouraging investment (in particular when business leaders or their families are targeted) and, when widespread, leaving lasting psychological scars on many sectors of society.

I kind of think this is a kind of a business class morality.

A survey shows that many businessmen skip lunch.

The Asia Society recently co presented a new education study that showed American 15 year olds science proficiency ranked 25th out of 30 countries tested, and lagged far behind their peers in Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong. Meanwhile, US colleges and universities are struggling to attract the best and brightest minds from abroad, because those students and their professors are increasingly being denied US visas or subjected to harrowing entry delays when they arrive.

Outside China, the prevalent view among business leaders is that President Xi Jinping s new administration has consolidated its power and acquired enough authority to push through far reaching economic reforms.

Education and values will drive local innovation, alter lifestyles, and shift social norms. They will also affect business behavior via choices by customers and employees, including business leaders.

Among the company s other senior leaders are more ex KGB men, including Sergei Ushakov and Konstantin Chuichenko.

The euro s depreciation has been greeted with delight by Europe s business leaders. But in the US, where the dollar s gains are threatening to choke off economic recovery, officials at the Federal Reserve are expressing signs of concern.