Returning to the Jhaveri family, Chapter 5 explores the climax of full-blown antagonism between key financial agents and sources of Mughal authority in what I am calling a phase of expedient extortion. I focus on the life and activities of Khushalchand (1680–1748), a third generation Jhaveri brought into the whirlwind of financing gubernatorial rivalries to the point of being violently extorted and forced into exile. In contrast to his forefathers, whose personal security was safeguarded and whose loans were repaid, Khushalchand experienced grotesque violence at the hands of Mughal officials. As a reaction and response, he sought protection by gambling capital on political futures. Given that multiple groups were vying for power as the Mughal state atrophied, Khushalchand reoriented his business towards raising finance for political elites, and brokered deals between armed groups who aspired control of Ahmedabad and its environs. In the process, he faced both criticism and praise from local residents and members of the business fraternity.

South Africa is arguably the leading African economy, and its multinational corporations are increasingly expanding into wider Africa. We examine firms from the financial services sector (Standard Bank and Nedbank) and from agro-processing (Tiger Brands and Clover). We complement archival research with interviews with executives in South Africa and subsidiaries across the continent. A core capability was business acumen – both foundational and evolving. Firms seemed to struggle with novel, underdeveloped host contexts and it was important to remember “business basics,” given that the world in which they were doing business was evolving and the “basics” of business were changing fast. The other key capabilities both had to do with embedding. Multinationals did well when they were able to ensure embedding not only between the parent and the subsidiary, but especially between subsidiaries (which often faced similar challenges). Local embedding in the host country was critical, whether it involved regulators, suppliers, or customers.