Who knows if it is a coincidence, or by some grand design hidden from general stock market view? You have countries with double-digit growth, and there are others which send you to prison for insider trading. Oh for a stock market with growth and governance all in one place!

This is not a utopian dream, but a stock market reality to be found if you know where to look. Anyone can have the best of both worlds by investing in companies listed on first world Exchanges, and with substantial presences in emerging nations. India and China top the charts, but Brazil, Russia, and some parts of Africa are not far behind.

Pharmaceuticals, fast moving consumer goods, and electronic hardware, are the 3 most attractive sectors to benefit from the dual benefits of ownership in a well regulated stock market, and business in rapidly expanding demand areas. Even chronically ill US automobile manufacturers have profitable operations in countries such as India.

The stock market world owes the World Bank for suggesting private capital as a means of funding development to third world countries. Many of them have dropped ideological opposition to the structure of foreign equity control, and now allow companies from abroad to do business feely in their territories.

The best way for international companies to do business in countries other than their own ones, from the perspective of the home country stock market, is through fully owned subsidiaries. Listing on a local stock market means conforming to additional local regulations, without matching benefits. Associations with local entities are inevitable, but they can be on principal to principal bases. Boeing is perhaps the best known member from the US stock market world, which does great business in countries such as India, through such arrangements.

There is always a downside. The Dow Chemical Company is an example that has to follow strict regulatory standards of governance, while having to conform to local conditions in foreign countries through controlled subsidiaries. It has been cited and fined for corrupt practices by US standards, which are almost a norm elsewhere.