Davos 2020 stakeholder capitalism: moving to a new framework of stakeholder-based business models

Global leaders attempt to redefine business as usual

What is the true goal of a business? Is it to create a high stock price? To accumulate maximum capital? To advance society? To meet shareholder expectations? Today in Davos, Switzerland, The World Economic Forum (WEF) has invited the world’s most influential people from presidents to bureaucrats and business leaders to discuss the most critical issues facing the global economy.

Earlier this year, the WEF published a new “Davos Manifesto” titled “The Universal Purpose of a Company in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.” They argue “the purpose of a company is to engage all its stakeholders in shared and sustained value creation. And, “in creating such value, a company serves not only its shareholders but its stakeholders- employees, customers, suppliers, local communities and society at large.”

The 50th anniversary for the WEF seemed a poignant time to update their guiding principles to better fit the current realities that we face from climate change to healthcare, as we move to a more people-centric version of capitalism.

World Economic Forum Executive Chairman and Founder Klaus Schwab argues that we should “seize this moment to ensure that stakeholder…