Business Frontiers

Business operates at the frontiers of society - seeking out new territories to explore and exploit, imagining fresh new ways to meet age old needs, innovating the artefacts that become the legacy of civilizations, reinventing the rituals which shape acceptable social behaviour, and changing the way we spend our precious time. But what happens when the landscape itself changes? As the world globalises, power is shifting - from the plush boardrooms to dusty streets, from the financial market casino to the internet connected community, from the annual general meetings to the mass activist campaigns, from the office towers of the North to the crowded pavements of the South. Business faces its greatest challenge yet. Confronted with the triple imperatives of social responsibility, environmental sustainability and economic justice, business will need to adapt or die. Those companies that manage to discard the obsolete business models from the last century and embrace the new paradigm will survive and thrive. Those who fail to register or admit that the climate has irrevocably changed will join the dinosaurs in the museum of business history. ContentsPROLOGUE - Reflecting on ResponsibilityINTRODUCTION - Feeling the TensionBUSINESS PARADIGMSTransforming Business: The Power of PerceptionCommunity Business: Embracing True ServiceHolistic Business: In Search of SynergyLessons of Nature: Productivity through InterdependenceAfrocentric Business: A Southern PerspectiveECONOMIC JUSTICEBeyond Growth: Measures of ProgressEthical Investment: Money With ValuesCommunity Economics: Local EmpowermentSustainable Economics: Beyond the Predatory EconomyEcological Economics: Grassroots Reform in South AfricaSUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENTSustainability Gaps: Challenges that RemainBeyond Greed: From Accounting to AccountabilitySustainable Companies: Shapeshifting BusinessGreening Business: A Post-Apartheid ScorecardCorporate Sustainability: A Ten Year South African ReviewCORPORATE RESPONSIBILITYHearts and Minds: The Corporate BattleDeveloping Countries: Exploding the MythsWork and Social Responsibility: Quest for MeaningCSR in Africa: A Unique Definition?Corporate Citizenship: Is South Africa World Class?FUTURE VISIONSFuture Images: Beyond the Information AgeCorporate Sustainability: Scenarios for the FutureCorporate Social Responsibility: An Agenda for the FutureSustainable Business Futures: Ten PredictionsUbuntu Capitalism: A South African VisionPERSONAL INSPIRATIONHuman Ecology: A Scottish OdysseyConnecting Earth and Sky: Remarkable StoriesPara-Ecology and Ecokinesis: Frontiers of Environmental Science?Tree of Life: Roots, Shoots and FruitsQuest for Gold: A ParableEPILOGUE - The Poetry of BusinessAuthor Profile