A retrospective on globalization and sustainable development: The business challenge of systems organization and systems integration
Roome (+), Nigel
Roome (+), Nigel
Citations
Altmetric:
Publication Type
Journal article
Editor
Supervisor
Publication Year
2011
Journal
Journal of business and professional ethics
Book
Publication Volume
30
Publication Issue
3&4
Publication Begin page
193
Publication End page
228
Publication NUmber of pages
Collections
Abstract
The 2008 ‘credit crisis’ brought to attention that business and finance operate in open-complex systems. In contrast, the period leading up to the crisis was dominated by narrower thinking developed from the idea that business was about economics and that management concerned agency. This paper revisits ideas first developed in the late 1990s that arose from the observation that business was confronting interacting ‘systems.’ The main systems were around (sustainable) development, the internationalization of business and a set of social and cultural concerns resulting from globalization. The paper anticipated the collapse of parts of the economic system as a result of hyper-competition. It points to the growing significance of ‘identity’ and its potential to create a ‘clash of values.’ It concludes by suggesting that as we enter this ‘systems age’ our models and assumptions around the boundaries of companies and the idea of companies and stakeholders would be severely challenged.
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Keywords
Strategy