Businesses are essential to a nation's development because:

1. They offer job opportunities to the citizens of that nation. This in turn helps the people to generate incomes and improve their living standards.
2. Businesses offer an opportunity to governments to generate revenues in order to run the country and administrative operations through the taxes they pay. This directly fosters development as these funds are channeled towards improving aspects such as security and infrastructure.
3. Businesses help different countries to foster cordial relations as seen through import and export business. Countries rely on each other for particular goods and this translates to improved relations.
4. Business is essential in national growth because it helps the countries to focus on improving the quality of their products and services. This benefits both the population in terms of superior offerings and the government in terms of improved revenues.

Business can play many roles, both good and bad, in national development.  Let us look at two ways in which this is so.

One aspect of development is economic development.  In this area, business can be both good and bad.  Businesses are needed in order to make a country's economy grow.  However, if individual businesses use their power to take too much control of the economy, the nation's economic development can be stunted as the companies do what is best for them and not for the nation.

Another aspect of development is political development.  It is generally agreed that development involves moving towards more democracy and openness.  Business can help with this if businesses push for less bureaucracy and fewer rules that give government excessive power.  But businesses can also push for cosy relations with government.  In such cases, businesses harm political development because they support undemocratic governments in return for policies that favor them.

In these ways, businesses can have a variety of impacts on the process of national development.