[Global HR Forum 2011] Future Capitalism and Coexistence

Future Capitalism and Coexistence

 

‘Coexistence’ is currently one of the hottest topics among Korean conglomerates. There has been lively debate with some Korean companies claiming that the government's regulatory policy puts them under too much pressure and decreases the efficiency of their business management.

 

 

 

In a special session titled ‘Future Capitalism and Coexistence,’ Paul Norte, a professor at the Free University of Berlin, talked about an alternative model for regional and global development. He explained the dilemmas and challenges facing the Old West, referring to the eurozone countries, and the United States. He urged the Old West to clean up its economic mess, review capitalism in a ‘friendly’ way and to de-center a western view of the world. Norte suggested an alternative model, a more focused growth that is feasible through stabilizing failing states and societies and by promoting regional leaders and regional networks rather than global dependencies.

 

 

 

Also during the session, Rajendra Sisodia, a professor at Bentley University, touched on the positive effect capitalism has on poverty. “The percentage of people living on less than one dollar per day has dropped from 85% in 1820 to 20% today. Current trends indicate that world poverty will be less than 1% by the end of the 21st century.” While Professor Sisodia praised capitalism, he also pointed out peoples’ lack of trust in companies. “Only two percent of investors believe that CEOs are very trustworthy, while 72 percent believe that wrongdoing is commonplace at companies,” he said. Why is this so? Professor Sisodia claimed it is because people have evolved, yet businesses have not kept up.

 

As for a solution to the problem, he pointed out that a “‘conscious capitalism’ toward shared and sustainable growth is urgently needed.” He defined conscious capitalism by its four tenets: a higher purpose, conscious leadership, conscious culture and aligning all the stakeholders around the same sense of higher purpose.