Stuart Hart’s book, Capitalism at the Crossroads: Aligning Business, Earth, and Humanity, is a very well written and insightful look at why business should be at the vanguard of social, environmental, and economic development.

Over the course of the last 10-20 years, our generation has born witness to one of the most rapidly changing societies ever in history. Unfettered capitalism and rapid globalization has, over the span of such a short period of time, completely changed the global economic landscape – and the wealth disparity within.

• Multinationals (MNCs) account for more than 25% of world economic output.
  • However, they employ less than 1% of the world’s labor force.
  • 1/3 of the world’s willing-to-work population is unemployed or underemployed
  • And less than 1% of the world’s population participates in the financial markets as shareholders.

These numbers alone are self-evident of the growing wealth disparity between the rich and the poor. Among a plethora of other factors, the fact that 1/3 of the world’s willing-to-work population is un- or under-employed illustrates the rationale behind growing discontent over globalization.

And today, the world is facing a global recession. Large corporations are collapsing (or are on the brink of collapsing). The world’s poor are seeing the greed that is taking place globally and in their own countries, while they live in squalor. This is leading to a rise in political hostility that, in this new world-order we have created, does not remain geographically isolated.

The blame can go around, but the question in looking forward is who is in the best position to effect large-scale change. And the answer lies within the private-sector. During the 1990s, FDI by MNCs overtook official development assistance (ODA); by 2000, it exceeded ODA by more than a factor of 5.

The private-sector has the resources, the breadth, and the long-term incentives to help the world achieve “sustainable development” – defined by the Brundtland Commission as that which “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

We often talk about the triple bottom line in the social entrepreneurial space: profit, planet, and people. Hart drives home the fact that these three values are not at conflict with one another, and when looked at with the right perspective are quite aligned. The first half of the book focuses largely on environmental policy and business strategy, while the latter part of the book focuses on the bottom of the pyramid and poverty alleviation.

Note: Who Should Read This Book

If you’ve already read C.K. Prahalad’s Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, this book will not offer a whole lot more unless your interest is in environmental social innovation. If you’re interested in or work with environmental policy and/or environmental business strategy, Hart offers one of the best overviews I’ve ever read – making this a must-read book.