Nexus between government, business and society

The university course I am teaching - Business, Government and Society - is like a tracery. These institutions are engaged in a cosmic dance that is impossible to stop because doing it will spoil the party. Because humans lie at the heart of the above constructs their agendas are driven by whatever agitates their constituents' minds at a particular moment. Chameleon-like, the same person wears different hats. It is as if society, being antediluvian, presides amusingly over its two children playing cat and mouse. Government affords legitimacy to business but, in a strange twist of fate, is sometimes beholden to the latter.

I view a community as an extended family and, in turn, society as a large community shaped by shared climatic conditions, historical forces and nature's bounties within a specific geographic area. This is not to deny other characteristics that define and shape societies and contribute to their cohesiveness.

In much of the developing world, unfortunately, governments are cast in the colonial mould. Business, in contrast, is a child of the modern era, restless and eager to catch up to the first world. Governments sometimes have difficulty understanding, appreciating and reacting to, the ever-evolving nuances of commerce. Opportunistic by nature, businessmen think nothing of contravening rules and regulations, sometimes with impunity. Government's involvement in businesses poses a further complication. When governments act like capitalists, is it fair to blame private enterprises when they disregard morality and societal welfare in their single-minded pursuit of mammon?   

This interesting omnibus module provides a bird's eye view of industrial pollution, corporate responsibility, ethics, business power, globalisation and multinationals. Pollution, in its dangerous manifestations, has endangered the long-term health of our planet. An overwhelming number of scientists agree. No wonder sustainability is uppermost in everybody's mind. If not stopped and even rolled back within a generation, pollution (land, sea and air) may spell doom to life as we know it. The super-rich 1% are arrayed against this humanitarian cause so that they may engage in their opulent and wasteful ways on the back of the 99%. Bangladesh stands to suffer a great deal when sea levels rise. 

For the average person corporate responsibility looks like a publicity stunt with companies jostling for photo-ops complemented by vacuous press releases. Individuals should aspire to become responsible citizens to pay their debts to society. The same principle applies to corporations. Mere lip service won't cut it. Businesses have to weave good deeds into their strategies and policies. Metrics should be drawn up complemented by annual audits of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. Chief executive officers (CEOs) should lead by example and motivate stakeholders at every opportunity.

The errand boys of big business are lobbyists hovering hawk-like over Washington DC. The way lawmakers are bought over is ugly. Further, there is virtually no check on election financing. Cases of gerrymandering and voter intimidation are not rare. These lapses are tantamount to a scar on the United States and dilutes its moral leadership.

Globalisation and the ascent of multinational corporations are two sides of the same coin. For every point in favour of globalisation a counter argument exists. Ditto for multi-national corporations (MNCs). However, transfer pricing, profit shifting, collusion and price fixing have earned MNCs a bad name recently. On top, international scandals such as dieselgate perpetrated by Volkswagen also come to light. For now, we ignore fines that continue to be levied on banking behemoths for infractions - big and small. The embrace between the three just gets tighter!

Raihan Amin is Part-time Faculty, United International University

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