Inclusive Capitalism Research Articles

A Sustainable and Inclusive Capitalist’s Epoch: A Modern Economic and Investment Theory for the Benefit of Our Common Future?

Re-allocation of capital in the economy is important to align the attention of the economic and investment environment from short-term profit generation at the cost of sustainable development to long-term value creation amidst the greatest social and environmental changes of our time. This article is set in the context of the growing awareness amongst economic actors, such as institutional investors who play an important role in the allocation of capital in the economy in the first place, on the need to encourage sustainable and inclusive capitalism using an Environmental, Social and Governance centric (ESG) investing approach to help achieve the goals of sustainable development. Nevertheless, a majority of institutional investors across the world consider ESG investing as a sheer moral obligation, which often creates a conflict with their fiduciary duties. This article seeks to analyse the conflict between the fiduciary duty (before and according to law) of loyalty and care owed to beneficiaries and a correlative duty (beyond and besides the law) of loyalty and care to promote sustainable development owed to future generations. An investor’s palpable dilemma: How does one draw a line between this duty and that duty? This article argues for application of the casuistry theory, an antiquated and uncredited art of moral reasoning, to reinterpret the modern prudent investor rule and bring the duty to promote sustainable development within the framework of the legally binding fiduciary duty owed to beneficiaries. This article will further scan the evolving legal jurisdiction of India, an important player in achieving the goals of sustainable development, on the adequacy of disclosures of ESG risks and performance indicators in the Indian capital markets compared to the developments in the UK, EU and USA, so as to disentangle the blurred lines between the causation and correlation of ESG performance with the financial performance of a company. environmental, social and governance centric investing approach (ESG investing), sustainable development, fiduciary duty of loyalty and care, correlative duty of loyalty and care, casuistry theory

Systemic Interaction of Center and Regions in Ukraine (basics of national-civilizational security)

The article poses and solves the problem of achieving coordinated interaction between the Center and the Regions as a single, organic and dynamic system of a sovereign independent state. Modern approaches of liberal and planned principles of overcoming bureaucratic and corrupt arbitrariness and urgent resuscitation with intensive revival of economic and vital activity of Ukraine, which is purposefully destroyed under external influence, are considered. The main provisions of the report of the President of France Emmanuel Macron in August 2019 on the Great Fracture in European and world civilization processes are revealed. The main ideas and directions of the Plan of the Great Reset and implementation of the fourth industrial revolution of June 2020 of the Davos World Economic Forum are presented. A meaningful chronology of the formation of the organizational mechanism for the introduction of inclusive capitalism and its management and staffing is given. The equivalence of the principles of homeostasis of economic and biological systems is considered by comparing the restoration of the viability of the global network economy and marine biological systems (on the example of a vampire octopus). Generalized signs of international and state terrorism in Ukraine. The necessity to change the Anglo-Saxon model of open market economy to socially oriented one using the doctrine of 3 "S": social forecasting, social planning and social management is substantiated. It is proposed to use the experience of the United States and Great Britain on social planning and the European financial model of people's capitalism. Based on the proposals of Emelyanov O.S. to enhance the role of the Center in cooperation with the Regions, it is recommended to develop National and Regional Human Development Programs. It is proposed to develop a Planning Code of Ukraine based on the provisions of the model of socially adequate management with encyclopedic criteria for their use at the national and regional levels of government.

Discursos paralelos, pero en sentido opuesto. Análisis de los populismos de Jair Bolsonaro y Andrés Manuel López Obrador

El presente artículo tiene como finalidad explicar por qué en las elecciones de 2018 en México y Brasil surgieron dos tipos diferentes de populismo si las dos naciones comparten un entorno político y económico semejante —corrupción, altos niveles de violencia, impunidad, desigualdad y pobreza—. El argumento central es que el discurso populista tuvo éxito en México y Brasil por cuatro factores: i) porque hubo una ruptura del orden social y los ciudadanos perdieron la confianza hacia las instituciones y en su capacidad para restaurarlo; ii) por el desprestigio que sufrió la clase política; iii) por las transformaciones que sufrieron los medios de comunicación masiva, los cuales facilitaron la difusión de mensajes populistas; y iv) por la parálisis de los partidos tradicionales. Sin embargo, en este artículo se sostiene que en México apareció un populismo de izquierda moderado y en Brasil uno de derecha radical debido a que el primer país mantenía un capitalismo excluyente y el segundo uno incluyente.

Universal Basic Income and Inclusive Capitalism: Consequences for Sustainability

Over the past forty years, income growth for the middle and lower classes has stagnated, while the economy (and with it, economic inequality) has grown significantly. Early automation, the decline of labor unions, changes in corporate taxation, the financialization and globalization of the economy, deindustrialization in the U.S. and many OECD countries, and trade have contributed to these trends. However, the transformative roles of more recent automation and digital technologies/artificial intelligence (AI) are now considered by many as additional and potentially more potent forces undermining the ability of workers to maintain their foothold in the economy. These drivers of change are intensifying the extent to which advancing technology imbedded in increasingly productive real capital is driving productivity. To compound the problem, many solutions presented by industrialized nations to environmental problems rely on hyper-efficient technologies, which if fully implemented, could further advance the displacement of well-paid job opportunities for many. While there are numerous ways to address economic inequality, there is growing interest in using some form of universal basic income (UBI) to enhance income and provide economic stability. However, these approaches rarely consider the potential environmental impact from the likely increase in aggregate demand for goods and services or consider ways to focus this demand on more sustainable forms of consumption. Based on the premise that the problems of income distribution and environmental sustainability must be addressed in an integrated and holistic way, this paper considers how a range of approaches to financing a UBI system, and a complementary market solution based on an ownership-broadening approach to inclusive capitalism, might advance or undermine strategies to improve environmental sustainability.

The future of globalisation: neo-fascism or the Green New Deal

Global capitalism is visibly showing up unacceptable inequalities and social contradictions. Three camps have emerged in the ruling class in response to over-accumulation, poverty, middle-class stagnation and environmental crisis: inclusive capitalism; militarised accumulation; the Green New Deal. All fractions adhere to neoliberal principles. Inclusive capitalism – neoliberalism with a nod to Keynesianism – means continued stagnation since it avoids the need for a social-democratic regulatory system. A turn to authoritarianism – the police state of twenty-first century neo-fascism, according to theorist William I. Robinson – is unlikely, though militarised accumulation is now an essential outlet for capital. Green capitalism, in which China is now the leading global investor, particularly with transnational public and private partners, neither breaks with neoliberalism, nor can potentially reverse environmental disaster. That would take social movements defining a Green New Deal for a sustainable capitalism to be an effective hegemonic bloc.

Answering economic inequality other than with populism and protectionism: the Danish formula of inclusive capitalism

EU politics have experienced vast changes since 2014 from the rise of anti-globalization populist right parties to Brexit. Similarly, populist and nationalist sentiments also appeared in some Southeast Asian democracies such as Taiwan and the Philippines. Despite their national and regional differences, one common characteristic of these developments was that it was those left-behind and economically disadvantaged voters who delivered such results. Trade protectionism and populist nationalism were their answers to ever-growing economic inequality. The growing economic inequality thus has become a common policy challenge to both European and Asian leadership. While political and business elites appealed to inclusive capitalism to address the economic inequality, no holistic, realistic policy combination was ever proposed. This paper is an attempt to translate inclusive capitalism from aspiration to systematic policy actions by employing an Inclusive Development Index (IDI) to the study of an indicative country—Denmark. It was found that those areas which Denmark has been performing well in were areas surrounding acquired equal opportunities: quality public education, health and active labor market policies for developing personal capability from childhood to adulthood, and uncorrupted public services and business-friendly legal and tax regimes for facilitating market competition from business creation to operation, especially for small businesses. Governance was a key to the functioning of this self-producing policy ecosystem, centrally staged as a big investor and enabler for both labor and capital. The distinctive thinking underpinning policy-making—treating economic policies as social policies and vice versa—reconciled economic growth and distributive justice simultaneously, resulting in inclusive capitalism in day-to-day realities. The Danish formula has shown that it was not capitalism that needed to reform, it was the prevailing liberalist orthodoxy that guided governance that was in desperate need of an overhaul.

Imperative for an Integrated Ideological Approach for Addressing the Wealth and Poverty Paradox at the Bottom of the Pyramid in Emerging Economies.

The BoP is an ideological paradox that has become a compelling and emerging area of research interest representing on one hand the unserved, unreached base of the population billion market and on the other hand a mammoth development conundrum. A preponderant number of studies have established the economic and commercial market potentials of the BoP emphasizing the critical role of multinational companies in addressing the poverty at the base of the pyramid primarily through inclusive capitalism. However, many other studies have equally focused on the humongous development needs of the BoP Segment, with particular reference to the role of state actors and policy instrument in addressing the development and poverty challenges of the BoP. Such studies frowned at the BoP mischaracterization as a compelling viable market rather than a social development project imperative. Consequently, studies conducted on the BoP have strongly reflected the ideological divergence of researchers in terms of their conceptual view of the BoP as a consumer market or a development imperative. The objective of this study is to deconstruct and highlight the critical points of difference between these ideological positions on the BoP and establish an imperative for research focus on more integrated approach that combines both the inclusive capitalism and social development approaches to examining and dealing with the BoP.

Speculative futures at the bottom of the pyramid

AbstractCelebrated as creative, flexible catalysts of inclusive capitalism, urban youth are central to bottom‐of‐the‐pyramid (BoP) models of development, which set out to repurpose the jobless as entrepreneurs in the making. We explore the multiple (at times conflicting) temporalities – the practices, technologies, and representations of time – which figure in a BoP initiative offering entrepreneurial opportunities to unemployed youth in Nairobi's slums: from the invocation of clock‐time discipline to the professional time of entrepreneurial subjectivities and the enchantments of the not‐yet. But the appeal of BoP, we suggest, does not turn either on the here‐and‐now of survival or on an impossible pipe dream of prosperity, but rather resides firmly in the medium term: a foreseeable future of modest desires, which nonetheless remain tantalizingly just out of reach for most. By examining how these temporal conflicts play out in attempts to fashion a cadre of self‐willed, aspiring entrepreneurs, we reveal the limits to entrepreneurial agency, and the contradictions inherent in the mission of (self‐)empowerment through enterprise upon which the ideology of inclusive markets is built.

Sustainability-oriented innovations: Can mindfulness make a difference?

The concepts of sustainability and innovation represent a fundamental conflict of objectives. This fact may help explain why the management literature has been ambiguous in its approach to sustainability-oriented innovation. The main purpose of this article is to develop an analytical framework to further study the influence of mindfulness. Mindfulness can support the development of the cognitive abilities, attitudes and behaviors of individuals who work within organizations. It can help them identify and utilize creative solutions that can lead to sustainability-oriented innovation. This paper presents a theoretical study that has been designed to support future research in sustainability-oriented innovation in the organizational context. A systematic literature review provides empirical evidence that mindfulness training can promote changes in individual cognition mechanisms that favor creativity and ecological concerns. As an isolated training technique, mindfulness can be used as a tool to reduce the stress that is caused by efficiency-driven business models. To help influence management actions in favor of sustainability-oriented innovation, this paper offers a research agenda that combines the following five fields of study: sufficiency-driven business models, inclusive capitalism, sustainability-oriented innovation capability, mindfulness in organizations and interdisciplinary and qualitative mindfulness.

Capitalizing on Informality: Varieties of Actually Existing Informal Economies in Africa

This paper explores the potential of the informal economy to contribute to economic development in contemporary Africa. New models of market development variously referred to as inclusive business or inclusive capitalism call for greater inclusion of informal economies in development processes, raising questions about the nature of African informality and its actual transformative potential. This paper takes up the task of deciphering the institutional character and potential contribution of the informal economy to economic development in various parts of Africa. Adopting a comparative perspective that explores the differences among informal economies in different regions of the continent, this paper examines how distinctive pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial histories have shaped distinctive paths of informal economic organization in East, West and Southern Africa. This has laid a foundation for varied responses to economic reform and globalization, triggering differential responses in terms of the size, entrepreneurial capacity, and labour composition within African informal economies. The paper will conclude with reflection on the varied potential of African informal economies to contribute to economic transformation, focusing on the institutional resources and political-economic tensions that shape distinctive institutional trajectories of economic resilience, vulnerability and dysfunction in various parts of the continent.

Financial Integrity and Inclusive Capitalism: Civilizing Globalization

Financial Integrity and Inclusive Capitalism: Civilizing Globalization

Fixing the fix: governance, culture, ethics and the extending perimeter of financial regulation

The bourgeoning investigation into the manipulation of key financial benchmarks, such as the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor), has seen the imposition of an escalating range of fines by regulatory and law enforcement agencies. While primarily focused in the United Kingdom and the United States, the misconduct spans the globe. It has also prompted the exit of a number of financial institutions from the setting of benchmark rates. This has posed a range of practical and conceptual problems, which apply at national, regional and global level. At a practical level, the credibility of the benchmarks, which are a public good, has been undermined, prompting an incremental but observable erosion of public confidence in market integrity. Exit has the effect of reducing pricing transparency and thus liquidity. Secondly, the investigation of collusion has brought the arrival of competition regulators into the arcane world of financial regulation. Their focus on breaking up cartels changes the dynamics, prompting a rapid expansion of the regulatory perimeter. It also facilitates a fundamental rethinking of capital market purpose. This paper evaluates how the confl uence of regulatory and criminal investigation offers a time-limited opportunity to transcend the incremental and flawed nature of technical reform. It assesses the conceptual coherence of attempts, driven by the United Kingdom, but with significant support from both the Financial Stability Board and the International Monetary Fund, to create “fair and effective” markets by articulating a new vision of “inclusive capitalism” and whether this addresses the observed institutional corruption.

Fixing the Fix: Governance, Culture, Ethics, and the Extending Perimeter of Financial Regulation

The bourgeoning investigation into the manipulation of key financial benchmarks, such as the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor), has seen the imposition of an escalating range of fines by regulatory and law enforcement agencies. While primarily focused in the United Kingdom and the United States, the misconduct spans the globe. It has also prompted the exit of a number of financial institutions from the setting of benchmark rates. This has posed a range of practical and conceptual problems, which apply at national, regional and global levels. At a practical level, the credibility of the benchmarks, which are a public good, has been undermined, prompting an incremental but observable erosion of public confidence in market integrity. Exit has the effect of reducing pricing transparency and thus liquidity. Secondly, the investigation of collusion has brought the arrival of competition regulators into the arcane world of financial regulation. Their focus on breaking up cartels changes the dynamics, prompting a rapid expansion of the regulatory perimeter. It also facilitates a fundamental rethinking of capital market purpose. This paper evaluates how the confluence of regulatory and criminal investigation offers a time-limited opportunity to transcend the incremental and flawed nature of technical reform. It assesses the conceptual coherence of attempts, driven by the United Kingdom, but with significant support from both the Financial Stability Board and the International Monetary Fund, to create “fair and effective” markets by articulating a new vision of “inclusive capitalism” and whether this addresses the observed institutional corruption.

The contribution of VSA and SDL perspectives to strategic thinking in emerging economies

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon strategic marketing in emerging economies (EEs). It tries to answer the research question: what new business models are enabled by the Viable Systems Approach (VSA) and Service-Dominant Logic (SDL) perspectives?Design/methodology/approach– The paper is developed by integrating two well-established perspectives – VSA and SDL – and applying them to inclusive businesses.Findings– The integration of these perspectives allows the authors to recognize a convergence toward business models that seem to be consistent with the principles of inclusive capitalism. The authors claim that by shifting between a reductionist/static and a holistic/dynamic view, these perspectives can be integrated, thus revealing an interesting contribution to the understanding of inclusive business. Specifically, they contribute by highlighting how the economic and social dimensions are intertwined and by highlighting that the management-thinking perspective, which has dominated in recent decades, should shift toward a more inclusive vision.Research limitations/implications– The paper represents an attempt to address an inclusive capitalism perspective in the context of marketing. Nevertheless, the conceptual reasoning developed in the paper should be further supported by empirical research carried out in the context of EEs.Practical implications– The paper has relevant managerial implications that suggest a rethinking of the business model to market with EEs.Originality/value– The paper contributes to the research on inclusive capitalism by linking it to well-grounded conceptual approaches to business that recapture a harmonious relationship between the economy and society.

A Case Study : Beyond Profits-Fabindia - a New System of Inclusive Capitalism

Fabindia is India's largest private platform for products made from traditional techniques, skills and hand-based processes. Fabindia's products are natural, craft based, contemporary, and affordable. This retail outlet promotes unique model of inclusive capitalism that procures through COC (community owned companies). Fabindia's model acts as the value adding intermediaries i.e. between the company and rural producers in India. It has established links with over 80,000 craft based rural products for modern urban markets. Thereby the company has been contributing to the process of creating a base for skilled and sustainable rural employment as well as preserving India's traditional handicrafts. These Rural Craft Companies connected to Fabindia are owned by the local communities of artisans; a minimum 26% shareholdings of these companies are that of craft persons. Fabindia has established its own social standard in India and abroad. Today Fabindia is a major player in the retail handloom sector in India due to the fact that the company has always believed in good business practices and never compromised on best quality. Fabindia believes that a delighted customer is their best Brand ambassador. Their USP in marketing lies in quality of fabric. The company heavily relies on the word of mouth marketing. They say 83% of customers go satisfied and 59% go highly satisfied as told by Bissel to Economic Times. This revolutionary organization is said to be the next big thing in societal betterment through its commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility, Value based Marketing and Exemplanery HR Practices.

Fostering Inclusive Capitalism for Spurring Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Growth: An Indian Perspective

Fostering Inclusive Capitalism for Spurring Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Growth: An Indian Perspective

The new face of development: The ‘bottom of the pyramid’ entrepreneurs (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate)

In recent years, ‘bottom of the pyramid’ (BoP) initiatives – from Grameen Phone Ladies and Solar Sister, to Women First and Living Goods – have captured increasing attention, not only in corporate boardrooms where the desire for untapped revenue streams looms large, but also in the arenas of development policy and practice, where entrepreneurship is celebrated as a way to repurpose ‘informal’ and/or ‘subsistence’ workers through new forms of private sector engagement. Based on fieldwork with BoP schemes in Bangladesh and South Africa, and cases drawn from other regions, this paper explores how development is outsourced through the figure of the BoP entrepreneur, the ‘poor’ woman who travels door‐to‐door delivering a range of branded manufactured goods across the ‘retail black spots’ of developing countries. These women are actively converted into entrepreneurial subjects through a set of ideological and material practices that aim to produce and hone the requisite traits of industry, market discipline and entrepreneurial distinction to succeed in global business; subject positions that can bring tangible rewards to those who successfully assume them. However, the process of outsourcing development to a reservoir of ‘informal labour’ unsettles BoP claims of ‘inclusive capitalism’, as an ethos of meritocracy and individual responsibility not only deflects the responsibility for development onto the poor themselves, but remakes their subjectivities in service to global brands.

Impact at the ‘Bottom of the Pyramid’: The Role of Social Capital in Capability Development and Community Empowerment

abstractRooted in the notion of inclusive capitalism, the Bottom‐of‐the‐Pyramid (BoP) approach argues for the simultaneous pursuit of profit and social welfare by creating markets for the poor. This idea has been both celebrated and criticized in the literature. We do neither in this paper. Instead, by leveraging insights from Amartya Sen's work on capability development and the literature on social capital, we offer a more socially embedded and community‐centric BoP approach. By redefining poverty not just as a lack of income, but also as a lack of ‘capabilities’ in Sen's sense that can be developed through leveraging social capital, we offer a systemic framework for understanding the societal impact of business‐driven ventures in the BoP and empowering BoP communities through these ventures. Specifically, we argue that any business initiative in the BoP ought to be evaluated on the basis of whether it advances capability transfer and retention by (a) enhancing the social capital between a particular community and other more resource rich networks, and (b) preserving the existing social capital in the community.

Impact at the 'Bottom of the Pyramid': The Role of Social Capital in Capability Development and Community Empowerment

Rooted in the notion of inclusive capitalism, the Bottom-of-the-Pyramid (BoP) approach argues for the simultaneous pursuit of profit and social welfare by creating markets for the poor. This idea has both been celebrated and criticized in the literature. We do neither in this paper. Instead, by leveraging insights from Amartya Sen’s work on capability development and the literature on social capital, we offer a more socially embedded and community-centric BoP approach. By redefining poverty not just as a lack of income, but also a lack of “capabilities” in Sen’s sense that can be developed through leveraging social capital, we offer a systemic framework for understanding the societal impact of business-driven ventures in the BoP and empowering BoP communities through these ventures. Specifically, we argue that any business initiative in the BoP ought to be evaluated on the basis of whether it advances capability transfer and retention by a) enhancing the social capital between a particular community and other more resource rich networks and b) preserving the existing social capital in the community.

Emergence of Human Economics and the Contour of Future HRD

Theories of material economics have ruled HRD for a quite long term. Till today, there are numerous researches, reviews on economics as a basis for HRD theories (i.e. under neo-classical economics) those generated models pertinent to HRD research. It is argued that institutional economics theories do not provide any foundation in furthering theories of future HRD. New economics such as humane economics, inclusive capitalism are in the path of evolution, and are demanding a fresh look over subjects such as micro, meso, macro HRD. The article addresses how emerging human economics and inclusive capitalism would have more implications to contemporary HRD theories, research, and practices that would restyle the future HRD.