In his lecture ‘Reimagining Capitalism- A new exciting agenda for business leaders’, on CRB Founding Day, Professor Dirk Matten, Hewlett-Packard Chair, Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto, said, “We have to think of alternative ways of doing capitalism, as the current mode is not working. The critique of capitalism is normally looked at as a leftist argument. Crisis has always been something capitalism has suffered from, over cyclical periods. Historically capitalism has proven to be quite resilient. We see a lot climate change happening, and global disorder. We see different forms of democracy rising that are happily compatible with authoritarian regimes. He concluded, “There are three main areas of action- Fighting short-termism in business, correcting the focus on shareholders, and introducing an ownership mind-set. There is no single ‘blueprint’ for capitalism. There have always been varieties of capitalism. The implications from a CSR angle, business might be an economic actor, but it also has a social and political role. Hoffman said- If we are to maintain our free capitalistic economy, enlightened businessmen must intensify their activities as crusaders for the general public interest”.

In his presentation – “The theory of philosophical concepts and the reality of business practice” Professor Klaus Leisinger, University of Basel, Switzerland, President, Global Values Alliance and UN Special Advisor on the Post-2015 Agenda; said, “We have a much vital challenge at the moment, which is transforming the world through the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Companies’ responsibility for sustainable development is one of the main pillars here. Immanuel Kant said you act in a way which is right because it is right thing to do, not because there is a business case to it. Moral autonomy is central to humanity. Every one of us has the opportunity, if not the duty to think about what is the impact of my business, what I ought to do. In the long-run you have to successful, and that’s what sustainable development is about.”

He also added, “Corporate management should reflect on the available knowledge and use moral imagination to find strategies that allow for an optimal profit with the least negative internal and external impact on society, environment and future generations. Increasing consensus on basic elements of a good society, on a fair societal distribution of responsibility and on strategic and behavioural commandments with regard to the creation of more options of future generations”. Lesinger concluded by saying, “There is a need to disaggregate, contextualize and specify. Yes, we can learn a lot from philosophical wisdom, but we have to contextualize and apply it in a situation ethics way.”

Co-Director of Aston India Centre for Applied Research, University of Birmingham & Board Member, CRB, Professor Pawan Budhwar, chaired this special event while Chairperson of CRB and  Faculty at Aston Business School, Birmingham, Dr Bimal Arora, opened the series of lectures.