Capitalism at Risk: Rethinking the Role of Business

Joseph L. Bower · Herman B. Leonard · Lynn S. Paine

09/2011 · Harvard Business Press

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The spread of capitalism worldwide has made people wealthier than ever before. But capitalism’s future is far from assured. The global financial meltdown of 2008 nearly produced a great depression. Economies in Europe are still teetering. Income inequality, resource depletion, mass migrations from poor to rich countries, religious fundamentalism—these are just a few of the threats to continuing prosperity.

How can capitalism be sustained? And who should spearhead the effort? Critics turn to government. In Capitalism at Risk, Harvard Business School professors Joseph Bower, Herman Leonard, and Lynn Paine argue that while governments must play a role, businesses should take the lead. For enterprising companies—whether large multinationals, established regional players, or small start-ups—the current threats to market capitalism present important opportunities.

Capitalism at Risk draws on discussions with business leaders around the world to identify ten potential disruptors of the global market system. Presenting examples of companies already making a difference, the authors explain how business must serve both as innovator and activist—developing corporate strategies that effect change at the community, national, and international levels.

Filled with rich insights, Capitalism at Risk presents a compelling and constructive vision for the future of market capitalism.

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Joseph L. Bower is the Baker Foundation Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Herman B. Leonard is the Eliot I. Snider and Family Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and the George F. Baker, Jr. Professor of Public Sector Management at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Lynn Paine is the John G. McLean Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.