The British Academy Future of the Corporation - Purpose Summit
Shared on behalf of The British Academy.
With the resilience of business and society tested to the limit by the COVID-19 pandemic, our assumptions around the roles of business, investors and government are shifting.
The British Academy’s Future of the Corporation review into the role of business in society brought to the fore a new definition of the purpose of business – “to profitably solve the problems of people and planet, and not profit from creating problems”. Eight principles supporting this vision were published in our November 2019 report, Principles for Purposeful Business, which outlined necessary reforms to company law, corporate governance, finance, measurement, and the role of regulators.
This definition and the associated principles now provide a robust framework for reshaping business policy and practice in response to the unprecedented challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic to public health, the economy and the well-being of our societies.
The Purpose Summit will provide a platform for policymakers, business leaders, investors and civil society to share ideas to transform business behaviour at this pivotal time. Our work, along with many others, has shown that there is a growing appetite in business for a purpose-driven approach. But what does this mean? And in times of crisis – whether the immediate COVID-19 pandemic, the related recession, or the climate crisis – how can purposeful business contribute to preventing, reacting to and rebuilding from crises?
The summit took place virtually from 22 to 24 June 2020.
- How is business adopting purpose around the world?
- What is the role of stakeholders in purposeful business?
- How can technological change serve society through purposeful business?
- How can investors and owners support purposeful business?
- What can we learn from crises, past and present, in solving the problems of people and planet?
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