Panel Organizers
Ann-Kristin Bergquist (Umeå University) ann-kristin.bergquist@umu.se and Geoffrey Jones (Harvard Business School) gjones@hbs.edu
Papers
Ann-Kristin Bergquist, Umeå University, “Business, Institutions and Climate Change.”
Valeria Giacomin, Bocconi University,”Environmentalism and Sustainability in the Southeast Asian Plantation Industry.”
Geoffrey Jones, Harvard Business School, “Deeply Responsible Business Leaders in History,”
Discussant. Sabine Pitteloud, University of Geneva
A wide range of critics has asserted that the problems of capitalism are systems-wide and pose major threats to society, the natural environment and democracy. At the same time, there have been prominent calls for business to re-invent itself as more “responsible.” In 2019, 181 chief executives from the Business Roundtable, an association of leaders of the largest U.S. corporations, signed a statement pledging to run their companies “for the benefit of all stakeholders—customers, employees, suppliers, communities, and shareholders.” What such corporate responsibility means in practice is unclear, as is whether it can really make any difference in a world beset by major ecological and social challenges.
This panel will explore the historical evidence on business responsibility and irresponsibility from different perspectives. It will explore what a responsible business serving a social purpose has looked like in the past, and what distinguishes such businesses from their competitors? If responsible businesses have existed in the past, why have they never become the norm? Why has irresponsibility been more prevalent? How has for-profit business worked well when it has taken responsibility for a phenomenon such as climate change? Does business that is more responsible and sustainable always, or ever, translate into good profits? Is business acting beyond its specific domain beneficial to society? Does history show that meaningful change on inequality or climate change only can come from governments?