Few would argue that human endeavors in the sphere of business have contributed greatly to the development of modern society in both positive and negative ways. The exchange of goods and services is a powerful engine for innovation and growth that has led to amazing advancements and opportunities for human life and livelihood.
And yet, the explosion of global-scale industry combined with population growth has led us to the brink of environmental catastrophe, including an alarming loss of biodiversity, pollution, deforestation, collapse of fisheries and aquifers, and dangerous climate change.
Many of us are beginning to see the primacy of profit as detrimental to the long-term health of human society. To achieve a sustainable economy, it is essential that we no longer think of the natural world as an unlimited “resource”. Instead, we must align our economy and business models with the natural carrying capacity of the Earth’s systems, and consider the health of future generations of all species.
In this sphere, we will seek to illuminate paths by which business can evolve to advance a harmonious and sustainable human civilization.
The goal of consciously evolving a major sector of human society is a complex undertaking. These sectors, or spheres, are complex systems that involve nuanced relationships between many parts and also with the environment. These relationships give rise to collective outcomes and behaviors that are difficult to see as a whole. In addition, people who participate in and are affected by these systems come from different backgrounds with different belief systems, and therefore tend to draw different conclusions about the best way to solve them.
Within this dynamic, strategies for solving problems are put forth that address various aspects of the system, and reflect different beliefs and perspectives. Even strategies that have historically failed are often championed again because different people have different interpretations of history, and therefore draw different conclusions about what works and what doesn’t.
With this in mind, the intent of this page is simply to illuminate, in general terms, various strategies within the collective mind that aim to close the gap between today’s reality and the future potential of this sphere of human activity. The strategies are not meant to be comprehensive solutions, but general approaches or paths forward.
Signatories of The Fuji Declaration are invited to rank the strategies by clicking the up or down arrows to indicate your opinion regarding the relative importance or priority of each strategy. Over time, this information will assist research teams in developing new reports for publication.
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Please suggest your strategy using the form below. All submissions will be reviewed by our research team for approval and will not be immediately displayed to the website.
When available, new reports relating to this research sphere will be posted for the public to download. Please subscribe to announcements at the bottom of this page to be notified when new reports are published.
A Research Study on Behalf of the Goi Peace Foundation
By:
Lori D. Kendall, USA Ignacio Pavez, Chile Lili Bao, China
Research Study for the Goi Peace Foundation
in conjunction with the Fowler Center for Sustainable Value
at the Weatherhead School of Management
Advisor: Chris Laszlo, Ph.D.
CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY
Cleveland, Ohio: United States of America
December 7, 2014
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