The Role of Business in the Modern World: Progress, Pressures and Prospects for the Market Economy
Henderson Book on the Role of Business
Foreward, acknowledgments, and executive summary available in PDF
It is now a widely held view that a new era has dawned in which businesses must adopt a new conception of their mission, purpose and conduct, by endorsing and implementing corporate social responsibility. In The Role of Business in the Modern World, Prof. David Henderson argues that now, as in the past, the primary role of business is to act as a vehicle for economic progress. This role depends upon business enterprises operating within the framework of a competitive market economy. If we ask businesses to achieve broader social goals, we risk undermining the very system in which business activity leads to opportunity and prosperity.
Henderson describes the unprecedented material progress that has occurred in the last century as a result of the wide-ranging entrepreneurial opportunities and competitive pressures that exist within a market economy. The material prosperity created by the activities of business is threatened by the “global salvationist consensus” that has arisen in recent years and which seeks to change the role of business via the doctrine of corporate social responsibility. Henderson shows that this consensus is based upon a set of fallacious beliefs about the nature of capitalism, profiteering, and business enterprise.
Foreword by Steve Forbes
Preface
Chapter 1: Setting the Scene
Chapter 2: Economic progress and the role of business
Chapter 3: Globalization, “civil society” and “global governance”
Chapter 4: Global salvationism and consensus pressures
Chapter 5: Profits, welfare and virtue
Chapter 6: Reinforcing the primary role
Chapter 7: Capitalism, collectivism and business: a 60-year prospective