ABSTRACT
The benefits of globalization to business—open markets, global labor supply, lower communication and transportation costs, and decreased regulations—have offered the world rising standards of living, given consumers lower prices and a greater variety of goods and services, and provided access to technology to ease their life and work burdens. Business leaders operate in a complex ecosystem of diverse expectations where critical social and environmental issues can affect the entire increasingly interconnected planet. Amid all of this, boundaries between government, business and civil society are shifting dramatically across the globe with heightened expectations that multinational corporations should ‘step up’ and contribute their talents and treasure to the sustainability of society. Business leaders are being urged to apply their business acumen to fast-paced changes in the world around them and, in particular, to come to grips with the social, moral, and environmental impact of their organizations. The author had an opportunity to educate managers beyond borders with Unilever Asia.
