The Great Reset: What is it?

Who is proposing a Great Reset to the world?

The Great Reset is being proposed by The World Economic Forum (WEF). WEF was established in 1971 as a European nonprofit organization that holds an annual meeting of business leaders in January. Prior to its later name as the European Management Conference, discussions included how European leaders should imitate U.S. corporate practices, as reported on the website.

In 1987, the organization’s name was changed to the World Economic Forum, which today comprises senior figures from different business and political realms around the world. It holds its annual conference, known simply as “Davos,” in Davos, Switzerland.

While the global community is central to its development, the WEF remains largely driven by Klaus Schwab and his theories, which he spelled out in a manifesto in 1973. The paper implies that corporations should respect stakeholders rather than only owners, and that management should represent consumers, staff, investors, and society in addition to earning a profit necessary to ensure the business’s longevity.

According to unofficial figures, 670 U.S. residents were among the more than 3,000 attendees at the 2018 World Economic Summit in Davos, Switzerland, including President Donald Trump. Additionally, the WEF website also supports the opinions of American economists such as Milton Friedman and Brian Moynihan, who is deceased and currently CEO of Bank of America, respectfully.

Reimagining Business

According to “The Davos Manifesto 2020,” these philosophies have recently been refined into “a better kind of capitalism.” The WEF claims there is a fragility in the international system and thus a need to update our systems regarding global corporations. A business is something more than an economic entity that just generates wealth. It advances both individual and community interests as part of the larger social structure. Success should not only be judged on how beneficial it is for shareholders, but also on whether it helps businesses meet their financial, social, and governance goals.

In alignment to this manifesto, the German economist and engineer Klaus, suggested a world view that captures what the world would look like after the coronavirus pandemic has run its course. He claims that there will be no “getting back to normal” after the pandemic recedes, stating that the pandemic started in Copenhagen, Denmark. He clarified how the planet should convene to coordinate a “Great Reset,” a restructuring of social and economic global goals.

The Global Agenda

Recently, theme of the January 2021 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting “The Great Reset”, is an attempt to bind global leaders in Davos in person and through a global stakeholder network of 400 cities around the world. As one of the many notable speakers, Prince Charles gave a speech at the event launch for The Great Reset, listing areas for action, close to those included in his Sustainable Markets Plan, launched in January 2020.

The activities and policies discussed in this annual meeting includes: (1) revitalizing research, technology, and innovation; (2) carbon pricing, re-inventing longstanding incentive structures; (3) rebalancing investments to incorporate more renewable investments; and (4) promoting green public infrastructure programs.

There is a drive to re-image business structure based off the research of global resources. The WEF presented internal findings about the pandemic which supports the idea that there was a positive impact on improving the overall climate. This research was undertaken to establish whether there is a link between the proliferation of infectious diseases and the loss of biodiversity (amazon rain forest burning at outrageous rates). One example that they discussed in November 2020 is about 20 million people at risk of mosquito-borne illnesses and how that effects the ecosystem at large.

WEF pointed to the silver lining in our current situation stating that we, as a global community, have real agency in this matter. They proposed reducing the greenhouse gas emissions while striving to grow the economy and encouraging international investment and recruiting. The European Green Deal is an outstanding solution to this dilemma. The EU has vowed to become the first continent to be climate neutral by the year 2050. The European economy will create Europe as the central location for current economic growth. They are curious to see what the market will be like in the future. Considering that the Great Economic Reset would entail reducing greenhouse dioxide, maintaining the environment, producing materials, buying goods, the mechanisms of everyday life, eating, and transportation, we must strive for a coherent ecosystem. This solution will focus on the issues of climate change and endangered biodiversity.

As of this moment, other countries that are signed up are: China, South Africa, and South Korea (2050). The United States will sign the Paris Agreement under a Biden presidency in 2021, and California and New York will hit net-zero emissions by the middle of the century. However, it should be noted that due to China’s manufacturing economy and the grace that has been given to them with the Paris agreement, they still account for 30% of the total Carbon emissions globally.

Moving forward, the WEF explains that the pandemic highlighted the truth that innovation is what allows businesses to stay accessible in the post-industrial era. In order to try to pursue a different path forward, the world will have to remain on the same track and, as a result, new tactics will be needed to lead this new direction forward. These current initiatives are all about records, security, regulatory, infrastructure, and taxation. The businesses that are at the forefront of new technologies would precipitate the Big Reset.

Considerations to the Agenda:

First, the question of restructuring capitalism as we know it. Davos has been a consistent supporter of “stakeholder capitalism” which takes an approach that is based on the good of all stakeholders, not just profit driven.

Second, Davos put the concern of the rising climate crisis at the center of his agenda. Skeptics about man-made climate change have been forced out of control in Washington, D.C., and U.S. President Joe Biden has returned the country to the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

Third, the global partnership Davos is promoting to proving has become more difficult as time progresses with the roll out of this plan. This era of great power harmony that accompanied the liberalization of the global economy at the turn of the 1990s has given way to intense confrontation. The disagreement has not only political but also economic and technical aspects.

Mckenzie Hall is an integral part of Navancio as the international business development consultant. Her studies in Educational Psychology as a Ph.D. graduate student affords her with the insight required to help clients increase their value, develop business strategies, build dynamic network teams, create corporate structures and capital structuring. Ms. Hall also serves as president to Halo Payment Solutions, an innovative full-service agency reshaping the payment landscape in the FinTech industry.