This link has been bookmarked by 1 people . It was first bookmarked on 12 Jun 2006, by Yule Heibel.
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12 Jun 06
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- ecological integrity,
- effective decision-making, and
- social cohesion.
Q. The MAI seems to be based on the assumption that increasing
and institutionalising deregulation will make the world more predictable and
better for business.
I believe that those who accept this conclusion are deluding themselves.
I do not believe that a world run entirely on economic priorities can be stable
or serve the interests of business. In Reworking Success I state that there are
three requirements for a viable twenty-first century:
These preconditions will not be achieved on the basis of economic
dynamics alone. -
focus on social responsibility
and business ethics and to mobilise the groundswell of support which already
exists. This latter route is quite possible and is where long-term profits will
be found. Cultural directions are constantly challenging negative behaviours. - 6 more annotations...
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Business and the financial sector need to understand that they are
necessarily involved in a massive choice process. Tom Atlee, a close colleague,
argues that "the world is getting better and better and worse and worse faster
and faster." There are two mutually exclusive futures. Continued exclusive
concentration on purely economic issues will lead to a "race to the bottom." -
so long as the stock market rewards
short-term financial profits corporations will be driven in perverse
directions. Given that we are indeed moving into a knowledge economy, it is the
people that corporations can attract and hold which are their most important
product. Accounting practices must change to reflect this new reality. -
Recent developments in such corporations as Shell show
that they now recognise that they have been blind-sided by failing to look at
human rights questions.
Q. Do you then see corporations as part of the societal learning
process which is currently taking place?
I continue to be surprised by the failure of those in the social change
movement to recognise that corporations have moved further in shifting their
organisational styles than academia, media, non-profits and political systems.
I believe that business has many lessons to teach the rest of society. -
MAI dramatically limits the opportunity for
communities and nation-states to preserve their own priorities and places
commercial interests above community and cultural desires. -
- social cohesion,
- predictability, often premised on law but really based on the
prevalence of a set of cultural norms, - a basically level playing field without excessive bribery or
bureaucratic interference.
Ever since Adam Smith we have known that business requires:
Up to the present time business has assumed that these are basically
"free goods." Trends throughout the world suggest that they are all under
challenge. It is in the narrow self-interest of business to become involved in
maintaining the cultural and political pre-conditions for its activities. -
The main message appears to
be that maximum economic growth coupled with all the steps necessary to achieve
international competitiveness provides a desirable route into the future. The
problem is that this strategy has either resulted in a huge increase in
inequality or unemployment throughout the developed world.
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