The Public Role of Private Enterprise

Business leaders in almost every industry sector face a complex and challenging set of economic pressures, political uncertainties and growing, often contradictory, stakeholder expectations.

Despite an improvement in economic conditions, severe constraints remain on costs and prices, increased ‘off-shoring’ of jobs is a concern in a number of major economies, and trade tensions are challenging global growth prospects. Geopolitical uncertainty shows few signs of abating and non-traditional business risks, from international terrorism to global climate change, health concerns and the impact of aging populations, continue to grow in both quantity and complexity. New skills and approaches are needed by business to manage and mitigate these risks, and to achieve what Booz Allen Hamilton has termed ‘enterprise resilience’ – the ability and capacity to withstand systemic discontinuities and adjust to new risk environments.

At the same time, failures in corporate governance and ethics continue to dominate the headlines, and trust in business and its leaders remains low, both in the United States and globally. The World Economic Forum, for example, released a global public opinion survey in 2003 that asked 34,000 people across 46 countries to assess the trustworthiness of different institutions, including global companies and large domestic companies, ‘to operate in the best interests of our society.’ 3 The survey found that not only are companies among the least trusted of any of the 17 institutions tested, but there has been a significant and widespread decline in trust in almost all the countries where tracking is available.