There is growing consensus that shareholder primacy has been a source of disconnect between the objectives of most businesses and the common good. Moreover, with pervasive tax evasion and growing concentration in most markets, the power of corporations and of corporate leaders is seen as a threat to sound governance and social cohesion, contributing to voters’ widespread feeling of disenfranchisement that pushes them toward populist demagogues. Many corporations now recognize the need to reaffirm their responsibility to workers, communities and the environment. New statements of purpose, as well as new corporate forms, emerge to address this crisis. This panel gathers pioneers from the business world and civil society to discuss what businesses are already doing to foster the recoupling of business practice and the common good, and how new forms of cooperation between businesses and civil society can help to scale-up and mainstream this recoupling.
