How to Succeed in Business in Pakistan

Muhammad Azhar Ali, factory manager for National Foods in Karachi, Pakistan, has a set work routine. At dawn he calls his production managers, who live in different parts of this sprawling city of 18 million on the Arabian Sea, to find out whether outbreaks of violence have rendered any areas dangerous.

If conditions seem especially risky, Ali slips two wallets into his pocket—one real and the other filled with expired credit cards and loose change, ready to hand over if bandits hold him up. He’s been held up once. He checks to make sure he isn’t riding in the same car as the day before, usually shunning his company-provided Toyota Corolla (a favorite vehicle for Pakistan’s upper-middle class) for his own less conspicuous Suzuki Cultus hatchback.