Table Of ContentGovernance and Business Models
for Sustainable Capitalism
Governance and Business Models for Sustainable Capitalism touches upon
many of the central themes of today’s debate on business and society. In
particular, it brings attention to a recurrent tension between efficiency,
innovation, and productivity on the one hand, and fairness, equity, and
sustainability on the other.
The book argues that we need radical rethinking of business models and
economic governance, beyond the classical doctrine, which sees social and
ecological responsibility as lying with public-policy regulation of purely profit-
seeking firms. In spite of the popular CSR agenda, business – as we know it
today – is both too transient and too limited in its motivation to carry the
regulatory burden. We need to adopt a much wider concept of ‘partnered
governance’, where advanced states and pioneering companies work together to
raise the social and environmental bar. The book suggests that civil engagements
based on moral rather than formal rights, and amplified through the media, may
provide a healthy challenge both to autocratic planning and to solely profit-
centered commercialization. The book also proposes a triple cycle theory of
innovation for sustainability: a novel framing of the efficacy of green and prosocial
entrepreneurship as intertwined with political visions and supportive institutions.
In addition, the book offers reflections on the ways in which further digital
robotizaton may enable transition to an ‘Agora Economy’ where productive
efficiency is combined with expanded civic freedoms.
Aimed primarily at researchers, academics, and students in the fields of political
economy, business and society, corporate governance, business ethics, corporate
social responsibility, and sustainability, the book will additionally be of value to
practitioners, supplying them with information regarding the challenges associated
with the shaping of sustainable or ‘civilized’ market capitalism for a better world.
Atle Midttun is Professor in the Department of Law and Governance at BI
Norwegian Business School, Norway. He has until recently been co-director of
two of the School’s research centres: the Centre for Energy and the Centre for
Corporate Responsibility. His teaching and research interests include economic
regulation, innovation, energy and sustainability, corporate governance, and CSR.
Routledge Studies in Management, Organizations,
and Society
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Governance and Business Models for Sustainable Capitalism
Atle Midttun
Governance and Business
Models for Sustainable
Capitalism
Atle Midttun
First published 2022
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an
informa business
© 2022 Taylor & Francis
The right of Atle Midttun to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
The Open Access version of this book, available at www.
taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative
Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0
license.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be
trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Names: Midttun, Atle, 1952- author.
Title: Governance and business models for sustainable capitalism /
Atle Midttun.
Description: New York, NY : Routledge, 2022. |
Series: Routledge studies in management, organizations and
society | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021032598 | ISBN 9781138210592 (hbk) |
ISBN 9780367770440 (pbk) | ISBN 9781315454931 (ebk)
Subjects: LCSH: Capitalism. | Sustainability. | Social responsibility
of business.
Classification: LCC HB501 .M6347 2022 | DDC 330.12/2–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021032598
ISBN: 978-1-138-21059-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-77044-0 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-45493-1 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781315454931
Typeset in Sabon
by MPS Limited, Dehradun
Contents
List of Figures vii
List of Tables ix
Preface x
Introduction 1
SECTION I
Historical Roots and Past Experience 17
1 The ‘Terrible Beauty’ of Early
Industrial Capitalism 19
2 Re-Embedding Capitalism Under
Social Democracy 34
SECTION II
21st Century Challenges 47
3 Technological Challenges 49
4 Financial Challenges 63
5 Ecological Challenges 77
vi Contents
SECTION III
Governance Approaches 87
6 Neoliberal Deregulation 89
7 Can Business Govern Itself? 101
8 Re-Chartering the Firm 124
9 Civic Governance 140
10 Bringing the State Back In 159
11 Governing Transitions 175
12 Polycentric Governance in a Bipolar World 189
Index 196
Figures
0.1 Allegory of Good Government 13
0.2 Allegory of Bad Government 14
1.1 Estimates of GDP per Capita 20
2.1 GDP per Capita and Equality 39
2.2 Income Inequality, Nordic Welfare States
Benchmarked Against US and UK 41
2.3 Three Measures of the Electoral Performance of Social
Democratic Parties 43
3.1 The Adjusted Labour Income Share in Selected G20
Countries and Spain Estimated by AMECO 53
3.2 The Triangular Relationships of the Gig Economy 54
3.3 Uber’s Business Model 55
4.1 Finance as a Share of the Economy 64
4.2 Average Statutory Corporate Income Tax Rates by
Region Excluding Zero-Rate Jurisdictions 70
4.3 Global Crisis 74
5.1 GDP per Capita 78
5.2 The Planetary Boundary Model 79
5.3 Energy Consumption in the United States
(1776–2014) 80
5.4 World Primary Energy Demand by Fuel and Related
CO Emissions by Scenario 82
2
6.1 S&P 500 Index – 90 Year Historical Chart 90
6.2 Growth Rrates for Selected Western Economies 91
6.3 The Geographical Shift of Wealth (Share of World’s
GDP %) 97
7.1 Growth in global Sustainability Reporting Rates 103
7.2 Median Total Returns of Sustainable and Traditional
Funds 2004–2018 115
7.3 Prosociality & Sustainability Engagement and Value
Creation 117
9.1 Trajectories of Governance 155
10.1 Public Social Spending as Share of GDP 160
viii Figures
10.2 Minimum Wagers Selected Countries (2012/2013
Values) 166
10.3 Gini Index of Selected OECD Countries with and
without Public Transfers 168
10.4 Effects of Extraordinary Monetary Policy on S&P 500
and Nasdaq 100 170
10.5 Total Assets on the Fed’s and European Central Bank’s
Balance Sheet 171
11.1 The Visionary, Product and Institutional Cycles 176
11.2 The Shift from Carbon- to Eco-Modernity 178
11.3 Top 1% National Income 182
11.4 Public Transfers through an Individual’s Life with and
without Sabbaticals 185
12.1 Novel Governance Horizons 190
12.2 Democratic and Authoritarian Governance Horizons 193
Tables
5.1 World Primary Energy Demand by Fuel (Mtoe) 81
6.1 Comparing Two Models of Governance 89
