Linda O’Riordan – författare

Never before has there been such a period of intense change at every level of our society. Almost everything that we took for granted is now open to debate, whether that be the relationship that Britain has with the rest of the world or, at a more personal level, how the company we work for adapts to an increasingly competitive marketplace, and how that will affect our jobs. Everything is up for debate. What we are all searching for is clarity, insights and a reminder of the lessons of history that are in danger of being forgotten.Fortunately, there is someone who has the answers, or at the very least, some insightful questions that should be asked. Capitalism in Crisis is the combined insights of three of the world’s top analytical brains who have been guiding businesses and governments in their quest to find answers and shape strategy. In this two-volume work, they have laid out the problems and shown the solutions in a highly accessible way using illustrations as well as text. They have proved that a picture is indeed worth much more than a thousand words.

There are two volumes to Capitalism in Crisis. Volume 1 investigates what has gone wrong. Volume 2 responds to the challenge laid down in Volume 1. In Volume 1, we argued that shareholders and the financial sector of the economy had become severed from stakeholders within companies who do the work and create the wealth we all enjoy. This has led to gross inequality with declining rewards for those working in the real economy on productive tasks. In turn, this has reduced wages and diverted funds from the most important contributors. We are less productive and innovative as a consequence. In this volume, we will address the subject of values. We will argue that values have scientific and verifiable meanings and it is possible to determine with great accuracy the kind of valuing that contributes to our integrity and the values that tear us apart. We criticise the contention of positivists that values are entirely subjective, have no testable meaning and are mere matters of taste, like the taste buds on tongues. We believe this doctrine has betrayed generations of students and must come to an end. Once we have restored values to their proper place, we will see who in our society creates wealth and value and who does not, who threatens democracy and who supports it. All values are really differences, and we need to reconcile these differences to remain civilized and in dialogue with one another.

This book examines corporate approaches to responsible management by investigating the stakeholder relationships between business and society. Though concepts of responsible management continue to evolve, its key objective is to explore the opportunities and dilemmas which business decision-makers face when attempting to reconcile their organisation’s interests with those of other stakeholder groups. In this intensely debated field, it focuses on the power of entrepreneurial purpose and the opportunities which emerge when corporate choices and actions are driven by connected stakeholder interests. A case study of the pharmaceutical industry in the UK and Germany is presented to reveal how decision-makers in this particular sector are responding to their context-specific management challenges. The research findings are subsequently employed to examine and revise a pre-specified stakeholder management framework which was previously developed by the author. The proposed updated framework is the book’s main conceptual contribution. By depicting a set of inclusive, integrated, and inter-related steps, it is intended to provide an innovative, comprehensive, practical toolkit for stakeholder management. As such, it is designed to help decision-makers to attain the greatest possible outcome from the resources they invest by consciously basing their choices not merely on the impacts for their shareholders, but also and more holistically for a broader range of stakeholders. Ultimately, the book demonstrates how optimally harmonised stakeholder management can serve as a powerful catalyst for unlocking viable business opportunities which serve the interests of business and society.

This book examines corporate approaches to responsible management by investigating the stakeholder relationships between business and society. Though concepts of responsible management continue to evolve, its key objective is to explore the opportunities and dilemmas which business decision-makers face when attempting to reconcile their organisation’s interests with those of other stakeholder groups. In this intensely debated field, it focuses on the power of entrepreneurial purpose and the opportunities which emerge when corporate choices and actions are driven by connected stakeholder interests. A case study of the pharmaceutical industry in the UK and Germany is presented to reveal how decision-makers in this particular sector are responding to their context-specific management challenges.

The research findings are subsequently employed to examine and revise a pre-specified stakeholder management framework which was previously developed by the author. The proposed updated framework is the book’s main conceptual contribution. By depicting a set of inclusive, integrated, and inter-related steps, it is intended to provide an innovative, comprehensive, practical toolkit for stakeholder management. As such, it is designed to help decision-makers to attain the greatest possible outcome from the resources they invest by consciously basing their choices not merely on the impacts for their shareholders, but also and more holistically for a broader range of stakeholders. Ultimately, the book demonstrates how optimally harmonised stakeholder management can serve as a powerful catalyst for unlocking viable business opportunities which serve the interests of business and society.

This book examines corporate approaches to responsible management by investigating the stakeholder relationships between business and society. Though concepts of responsible management continue to evolve, its key objective is to explore the opportunities and dilemmas which business decision-makers face when attempting to reconcile their organisation’s interests with those of other stakeholder groups. In this intensely debated field, it focuses on the power of entrepreneurial purpose and the opportunities which emerge when corporate choices and actions are driven by connected stakeholder interests. A case study of the pharmaceutical industry in the UK and Germany is presented to reveal how decision-makers in this particular sector are responding to their context-specific management challenges. The research findings are subsequently employed to examine and revise a pre-specified stakeholder management framework which was previously developed by the author. The proposed updated framework is the book’s main conceptual contribution. By depicting a set of inclusive, integrated, and inter-related steps, it is intended to provide an innovative, comprehensive, practical toolkit for stakeholder management. As such, it is designed to help decision-makers to attain the greatest possible outcome from the resources they invest by consciously basing their choices not merely on the impacts for their shareholders, but also and more holistically for a broader range of stakeholders. Ultimately, the book demonstrates how optimally harmonised stakeholder management can serve as a powerful catalyst for unlocking viable business opportunities which serve the interests of business and society.

Providing a timely contribution to the ongoing questions surrounding topics which are by definition subject to varying stakeholder interpretations, this book addresses “the missing link” between theoretical CSR concepts and everyday management practice. It acts as a guide to awaken managers to the advantages of adopting a CSR “mindset” when developing sustainable business strategies. The book consists of three parts: 1) A theoretical realm which establishes the key concepts and rationale for the adoption of a sustainable CSR approach, 2) A practical realm which addresses putting CSR and sustainability into business practice, 3) An educational realm which proposes how to incorporate the concepts into teaching and training.