Business Unusual: Corporate Responsibility in a 2.0 World

No Thumbnail Available
File version
Author(s)
Waddock, Sandra
McIntosh, Malcolm
Griffith University Author(s)
Primary Supervisor
Other Supervisors
Editor(s)
Date
2011
Size
File type(s)
Location
License
Abstract

The imperatives of a growing consensus on human-induced causes of climate change, an increasing gap between rich and poor, and the misguided incentives in the economic, business, and financial models that dominated the last quarter of the twentieth century and first decade of the twenty-first century along with the emergence of Web 2.0's transparency have highlighted the need for a new approach to capitalism. Looking around the world, we can witness the emergence of numerous new forms of enterprise that are part of a broader movement that we are calling change to a sustainable enterprise economy (SEE Change). This article details the broad outlines of the emerging shift, highlighting the new types of enterprise that constitute the SEE. First, we set the context in which business unusual is evolving, a context of "wicked problems"uncertainty, and sustainability problems. Then we provide an overview of new types of enterprises that are already emerging to cope with these changes, enterprises of the cloud (interlinked, web-based enterprises that rely on the "cloud" of computers that store data such as social media, eBay, and Google). Next, we outline how such enterprises are permitting processes of dematerialization and "servicization" (the shift from product to services) to create new forms of enterprise that are less dependent on physical resources. From here, we explore what we term enterprise unusual, corporations that incorporate pro-social goals into their very essence, for example, for-benefit corporations, the B Corporation, and conscious capitalism companies, along with a few entities that are shaping their product development along the lines of biomimicry. All of this change, we argue, has created a blurring of sector boundaries evidenced in the rapid emergence of social enterprise, of which explore a variety of types, and what is being called the fourth sector, where business purpose and pro-social activity are combined.

Journal Title

Business and Society Review

Conference Title
Book Title
Edition
Volume

116

Issue

3

Thesis Type
Degree Program
School
Publisher link
Patent number
Funder(s)
Grant identifier(s)
Rights Statement
Rights Statement
Item Access Status
Note
Access the data
Related item(s)
Subject

Business and Management not elsewhere classified

Business and Management

Persistent link to this record
Citation
Collections