The World Economic Forum (WEF) is one of the world's most prominent gatherings of business leaders, politicians and academics and calls its mission to improve the state of the world. Fulfilling this mission is a task that clearly calls for action to follow the words that were articulated so eloquently in Davos, an alpine town in Switzerland, in January 2012.
During the WEF Credit Suisse is traditionally hosting a series of events on their own premises, and during one such event around 60 guests gathered to see the launch of Investing for impact. At a lunch meeting to launch this publication on impact investing by the Credit Suisse Research Institute and the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, to which we have contributed, a panel discussion and Q&A was looking at how social enterprises redefine the meaning of return. The Humanistic Management Center found confirmation at this event that the intellectual groundwork, engagement in higher education and executive training and application support for the paradigm change towards a humanistic economic model is indeed a job that needs doing. In this spirit inspiring discussions were had not about whether, but about how we want to rethink the role of business in society and induce transformative processes towards a human centered economic paradigm.
Whilst our views on some of the issues the WEF deals with may differ from the views held by many of its participants, there was a clear consensus that business as usual is no longer an option we have.
Please follow this link to find out more about the World Economic Forum or this link to find out more about the Credit Suisse Research Institute. You can also download the full publication in our Knowledge Center.