Sustainable capitalism knowledge is often assumed for exclusive association with information about some forms of environmental crises. When we speak of sustainable and unsustainable, we speak of a systemic crisis of long-term dimension in the economy and business models, on all levels. We talk of local to global crisis, with detrimental effects on humans and the environment, as well as economic organizations, of various kinds, often forfeiting any economic, social, and environmental future. The long-term crisis is a crisis not only of long-term investment, but also of human and ecological capital.
The unsustainability of the present social and global environmental crises is placing the financial state of the world in jeopardy. Melting of polar ice caps is coinciding today with a worldwide rush toward protectionisms of various sorts. Global geostrategic tensions are coinciding with income inequalities and acidification of oceans. Desertification is spreading along with global terrorism threats. Issues related to global economics and social and environmental sustainability have become the biggest question for global business survival, as these nonconnected events are, in fact, very much connected. Issues such as environmental fairness or social justice resurface as elements of more sustainable capitalism and its subsequent business model. Again, global interconnectivity calls us toward discernment of new forms of collective responsibilities and toward sharing in the global chains in the sustainable manner and format of businesses.
In that sense, sustainable capitalism is not about the abolition of markets or financial gains, state of the technology, or modern digitalization of the world. The authors of this book argue that it is about finding new paths, more whole and broader routes for creating wealth and income while preserving and nurturing human beings and natural habitats.
The authors propose a new conceptual business model, polycentric at many levels. This research is an attempt to contribute to the global alliance for such sustainable capitalism in the making. In part, this is an ambitious undertaking, as the authors analyzed vital UN documents on sustainable development, as part of what they advocate as sustainable capitalism, as a systemic response to existing shortcomings of the present model. This text attempts to educate global stakeholders about the importance, rationale, and pathway to introduce sustainable capitalism into global economics and business models.
This book proposes a comprehensive theoretical subject analysis. It also advocates the potential for the introduction of sustainable capitalism into practices of various kinds. It examines the history and potential development of a new global sustainable business model while proposing a policy dialogue about it. Overall, this book attempts to better understand current, and future, prospects of sustainable capitalism in the making and its business models as a response to many of the present global geopolitical, economic, and environmental challenges.