ABSTRACT

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses a strong argument that laissez faire capitalism undermines the very values on which open and democratic societies depend. While national capitalism was socially constrained and politically regulated, present day global capitalism is basically unconstrained and unregulated. Global capitalism does need counter-veiling forces. Stakeholder capitalism is determined by principles that allow the possibility that business becomes a fully human institution that asks managers to create value for all stakeholders. The book shows that three structural features can characterize capitalism as an economic order, namely, private property of the means of production, profit and utility maximization as basic motivation for economic action, and co-ordination of economic activities by the market and price mechanism. In the context of contemporary global capitalism a new form of ethical and social justification of profit making is certainly needed.