It seems, in hindsight, that after 1912 the path of imperialism split into two paths. In 1911, Italy finally got its North African possession by staging an incident with the Ottoman Empire, then invading Libya; France won control of Morocco the following year, after two complex diplomatic crises (1, 2). Thereafter, colonialism would occur under a multinational figleaf. The League of Nations Mandates (list), the UN Trust Territories, and other enterprises would ply to international comity.

The other path was imperialism as a sort of opportunistic disease, like the exotic cancers that attack sufferers of AIDS. This consisted of petty, if lucrative, shakings-down of subjugated countries. Here was an egregious example: on 28 July 1915, US marines landed in Haiti the day after its President was lynched. They occupied the country for what seemed at the time self-evident security reasons (which may well have been genuine), but certain well-placed US nationals availed themselves of an opportunity:

Mr. Roger L. Farnham, vice-president of the National City Bank, was effectively instrumental in bringing about American intervention in Haiti. With the administration at Washington, the word of Mr. Farnham supersedes that of anybody else on the island. While Mr. Bailly-Blanchard, with the title of minister, is its representative in name, Mr. Farnham is its representative in fact. His goings and comings are aboard vessels of the United States Navy. His bank, the National City, has been in charge of the Banque Nationale d'Haiti throughout the Occupation. Only a few weeks ago he was appointed receiver of the National Railroad of Haiti, controlling practically the entire railway system in the island with valuable territorial concessions in all parts. [...] Now, of all the various responsibilities, expressed, implied, or assumed by the United States in Haiti, it would naturally be supposed that the financial obligation would be foremost. Indeed, the sister republic of Santo Domingo was taken over by the United States Navy for no other reason than failure to pay its internal debt. But Haiti for over one hundred years scrupulously paid its external and internal debt - a fact worth remembering when one hears of "anarchy and disorder" in that land - until five years ago when under the financial guardianship of the United States interest on both the internal and, with one exception, external debt was defaulted [...]. The hardship on individuals has been great. For [...] the interior debt is held almost entirely by Haitian citizens. Haitian Government bonds have long been the recognized substantial investment [...]

What has happened to these bonds? They are being sold for a song, for the little cash they will bring. Individuals closely connected with the National Bank of Haiti are ready purchasers. When the new Haitian loan is floated it will, of course, contain ample provisions for redeeming these old bonds at par. The profits will be more than handsome. Not that the National Bank has not already made hay in the sunshine of American Occupation. From the beginning it has been sole depositary of all revenues collected in the name of the Haitian Government by the American Occupation, receiving in addition to the interest rate a commission on all funds deposited. The bank is the sole agent in the transmission of these funds. It has also the exclusive note-issuing privilege in the republic.
James W Johnson, "Self-Determining Haiti III," 1920; emphasis added-JRM

Apologies for the lengthy quote, but this passage captures a century of Washington's knee-jerk responses toward the nation of Haiti. Haiti had not defaulted on its debts since the time of Dessalines and Christophe; now, five years into US occupation, the provisional government was defaulting. The future CitiGroup, Inc. had bought up the presumably worthless bonds against the day when the Haitian treasury was able honor them (a day it was helping to arrange). The first president of Haiti under US occupation was sacked after refusing to approve a loan package; his successor suspended the leigislature for several years because even a body hand-picked from the business class would not rubberstamp the National City Bank's demands. This pattern of rebuking Haiti's leaders for failing to achieve the impossible, then sacking them and replacing them with puppet-regimes that failed more abjectly, was repeated in the 90's when Aristide was ousted by a cabal involving Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC), the CIA, and an organization later known as FRAPH, then later (2004) by the State Department-abetted "Cannibal Army" (HC).

Nor may the reader suppose that this was confined to the occupation of Haiti. In the enclaves of Ruanda-Urundi, while the administrative cruelty is discussed here, the main order of business for Belgian administrators was turning the subsistence farming culture into a land of coffee and tea growers. Essentially, the League of Nations, still dewy with the most ravishingly idealistic sentiments of the day, proceeded to hand over two more countries to Belgium as a source of slave labor (along with the land beneath their feet).

This sort of opportunism, however, could not last very long before it was overtaken by far more ruthless and efficient methods. Imperialism remained the preserve of strategically-minded powers, but there were ample opportunities for powerful business enterprise to take the initiative.