Recasting Multilateralism and Reforming Capitalism

Published August 2020

Bruno Roche has co-authored an article published by the World Economic Forum and Project Syndicate, which makes the case for recasting multilateralism and reforming capitalism on the basis of mutuality and reciprocity. An extract has been reproduced below. Click the button to read the full piece.

“In meeting the COVID-19 crisis, many companies are preparing to contribute to a reform agenda by adopting new models of corporate governance and innovation, with an eye toward purpose-led value creation. The business community is recognizing that addressing stakeholder problems is a better approach than maximizing shareholder returns without considering the consequences.

Stakeholder capitalism is no longer just an aspiration. Business leaders and investors are launching and joining encouraging real-world initiatives that will elevate the place of long-neglected participants in the corporate calculus. Most important, promising new schools of economic thought are being tested and applied to transform value-creation models across business and finance. For example, the Economics of Mutuality, a course co-created by scholars at the University of Oxford and Catalyst, Mars Inc.’s in-house think tank, is now being taught at leading universities, including Oxford, Sciences Po, and the China Europe International Business School. And there is growing enthusiasm for Harvard Business School’s Impact-Weighted Accounts Project, the Impact Management Project, and other initiatives.

Among business leaders, investors, and educators, support for these new approaches has been growing, because they can empower businesses to solve key social and environmental challenges in the ecosystems in which they operate without sacrificing performance. More industry leaders are acknowledging that the purpose of business is not to earn profits at the expense of people and the planet, but rather to develop profitable solutions to shared problems.”

Co-authors:

• Bertrand Badré, Chief Executive Officer, Blue like an Orange Capital

• Sir Ronald Cohen, Global Steering Group for Impact Investment

• Bruno Roche, Founder & Executive Director, Economics of Mutuality

• Ludovic Subran, Chief Economist, Allianz

• Antonio Weiss, Harvard Kennedy School’s Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government