When Professor Michael Porter, the Harvard management guru involved in promoting Libya's integration into the global economy, began tackling sensitive political issues at a conference in Tripoli on Thursday, some delegates responded with a sharp gasp.

Speaking in a phone interview on the Libyan leadership's efforts to remodel the country's economy, the former adviser to Ronald Reagan said he had been blunt about the need for political change if economic reforms are to succeed. This, it seems, took some in the handpicked audience of more than 1,000 Libyan officials and businessmen by surprise.