In 2023, Questions of Survival in Business and Politics
That’s the issue facing many enterprises as well as the Tory regime in the UK. Plus a selection of the writer’s favorite columns
Sunset in Southampton, UK.
Photographer: Mary Turner/BloombergWhat to expect in 2023
In global business, the coming year will be all about back to basics. Over the past decade, businesspeople have allowed themselves to dream big dramas about solving society’s most pressing concerns. “The problems that are tearing at the fabric of American society require all of us — governments, business and civil society — to work together with a common purpose,” Jamie Dimon, chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co, argued, in his 2021 letter to shareholders. In the coming year, they will forget about those dreams as the job of simply keeping the show on the road becomes harder.
These dreams took the form of two acronyms and an abstract noun. The acronyms were ESG for environment, social and governance and DEI for diversity, equity and inclusion. The abstract noun was “purpose” — which companies had to pursue ahead of just profit. Publications such as the Harvard Business Review focus obsessively on these subjects. Young academics fixate on them. The Business Roundtable, which represents America’s biggest enterprises, proclaims it a duty to pursue the good of all stakeholders rather than just shareholders.