Corporation 20/20

Corporation 20/20 (www.corporation 2020.org) is a movement started by longtime business ethics/corporate social responsibility advocates Allen White and Marjorie Kelly. The basic concept is to redesign the corporation to better respond to the social, economic, and environmental perils and promises created by globalization. They created six principles of Corporate Redesign, posted below:

Principles of Corporate Redesign

1. The purpose of the corporation is to harness private interests to serve the public interest.

2. Corporations shall accrue fair returns for shareholders, but not at the expense of the legitimate interests of other stakeholders.

3. Corporations shall operate sustainably, meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

4. Corporations shall distribute their wealth equitably among those who contribute to its creation.

5. Corporations shall be governed in a manner that is participatory, transparent, ethical, and accountable.

6. Corporations shall not infringe on the right of natural persons to govern themselves, nor infringe on other universal human rights.


Some of you may feel like this doesn't go far enough in addressing the many problems corporations pose. However, what I like about Corporation 2020 is that they are fairly realistic. Mr. White and Ms. Kelly have a lot of experience, and they realize that getting businesses to buy into the new model is essential to making it effective. The principles address major concerns, but keep things civil enough so that it is concievable that Wal-mart or other major corporations might actually abide by them. I'm not sure how much interest they've managed to generate so far, but at least it's a start.
-pst