Capitalism at the Crossroads: The Unlimited Business Opportunities in Solving the World's Most Difficult Problems - Hardcover

Hart, Stuart L.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0131439871 ISBN 13: 9780131439870

Publisher: Financial Times/ Prentice Hall, 2005

Synopsis

Capitalism is indeed at a crossroads, facing international terrorism, worldwide environmental change, and an accelerating backlash against globalization. Companies are at crossroads, too: finding new strategies for profitable growth is now more challenging. Both sets of problems are intimately linked. Learn how to identify sustainable products and technologies that can drive new growth while also helping to solve today's most crucial social and environmental problems. Hart shows how to become truly indigenous to all markets -- and avoid the pitfalls of traditional 'greening' and 'sustainability' strategies. This book doesn't just point the way to a capitalism that is more inclusive and more welcome: it offers specific techniques to recharge innovation, growth, and profitability.

About this title

Review:

http://www.socialfunds.com/news/article.cgi/article1596.html

 

Book Review--Capitalism at the Crossroads: The Unlimited Business Opportunities in Solving the World's Most Difficult Problems
    by William Baue

According to author Stuart Hart, sustainable global enterprise holds the key to reducing poverty, reversing environmental destruction, and even counteracting terrorism.

SocialFunds.com -- Cornell and University of North Carolina Business Professor Stuart Hart's Capitalism at the Crossroads perfectly complements University of Michigan Business Professor C. K. Prahalad's The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, perhaps even surpassing it in significance. The two professors collaborated from 1998 through 2002 on the seminal article that gave birth to the "bottom of the pyramid" (BOP) concept that Prof. Prahalad explains so eloquently in his book (see related book review). The BOP market theory holds that multinational corporations (MNCs) can simultaneously profit and help reduce global poverty by serving a market they have largely ignored until recently: the 4 billion people in the world living on less than $2 a day.

As good as Prof. Prahalad's book is, however, it leaves unanswered the question of how the BOP theory fits into the larger context of sustainability, particularly environmental sustainability. Prof. Hart's book not only answers this question, but also presents a comprehensive and compelling argument that capitalism cannot afford to ignore sustainability--indeed, that capitalism will thrive by embracing sustainability (and vice versa).

"This book takes the contrarian's view that business--more than either government or civil society--is uniquely equipped, at this point in history, to lead us toward a sustainable world in the years ahead," writes Prof. Hart. "Properly focused, the profit motive can accelerate (not inhibit) the transformation toward global sustainability, with nonprofits, governments, and multilateral agencies all playing crucial roles as collaborators."

Prof. Hart introduces the book describing how the shift in the relationship between capitalism and environmentalism from antagonistic to (sometimes) complementary forces mirrored his own shift from distrusting capitalism to respecting its power to leverage positive social change. The "greening" revolution of the 1980s demonstrated that companies could profit by employing more environmentally benign processes, such as recycling or waste reduction.

However laudable the greening approach is, it became apparent in the 1990s that reducing the environmental impact of existing business models would prove insufficient to address the imminent environmental and social crises, according to Prof. Hart. He was among those who at that time promoted moving "beyond greening" through "creative destruction" of environmentally and economically wasteful processes, replacing them with environmentally (and economically) beneficial processes.

"Unlike greening, which works through the existing supply chain to effect continuous improvement in the current business system, 'beyond greening' strategies focus on emerging technologies, new markets, and unconventional partners and stakeholders," writes Prof. Hart. "Such strategies are thus disruptive to current industry structure and raise the possibility of significant repositioning, enabling new players to establish leading positions as the process of creative destruction unfolds."

The primary business strategy that promises to arise from the ashes of creative destruction is the BOP approach of serving the needs of the poor in ways that are culturally appropriate,

From the Back Cover:

Global capitalism stands at a crossroads—facing international terrorism, worldwide environmental change, and an accelerating backlash against globalization. Today's global companies are at a crossroads, too- finding new strategies for profitable growth has never been more challenging. Both sets of problems are intimately linked, says Stuart L. Hart—and so are the solutions.
In Capitalism at the Crossroads, Hart shows companies how to identify sustainable products that can drive new growth as they also help solve today's most crucial social problems. Drawing on his experience consulting with top companies and NGOs worldwide, Hart shows how to integrate new technology to deliver profitable solutions that reduce poverty and protect the environment at the same time. Along the way, you'll learn how to become truly indigenous to all your markets—and avoid the pitfalls of traditional "greening" and "sustainability" strategies.
This book transcends yesterday's stale debates about globalization, pointing the way toward a capitalism that's more inclusive, more welcome, and far more successful. But great ideas aren't enough. Hart presents on-the-ground techniques for transforming them into reality, helping leaders re-ignite innovation, growth, and profitability in their ownbusinesses, starting today.
Beyond yesterday's sterile globalization battles
A revolutionary synthesis that makes global capitalism work for everyone
Catalyzing a revolution in sustainable development...and profiting from it
Why business is singularly equipped to lead the movement towards global sustainability
Reigniting corporate growth- A strategic framework for serving four billion new customers
Build your bottom line by helping them build a better life
Not just "sustainability"- becoming truly indigenous
Overcoming the limits of first-generation sustainability initiatives
Powerful case studies from more than 20 top companies worldwide
Making it work- from DuPont to Unilever, S.C. Johnson to Grameen Telecom
© Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Financial Times/ Prentice Hall
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0131439871
• ISBN 13: 9780131439870
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288