
阿倫·克拉莫(Aron Cramer)
商業(yè)就是在商言商……但它應該是合法經(jīng)營,并且不應以犧牲后代為代價。”
這一新說法,或者更確切地說是修正了米爾頓·弗里德曼(Milton Friedman)的說法。被Interface公司的創(chuàng)始人,雷·安得森(Ray Anderson) 用來描繪當今企業(yè)在社會中的真實地位。沒有贏得市場的產(chǎn)品和服務,任何一家公司都不可能在競爭激烈的世界市場中存活下來。同樣, 如果企業(yè)對于一些緊迫的全球性問題置之不理,也不能取得成功。
過去10年來,企業(yè)的關注點已經(jīng)開始多元化。從沃爾瑪(Wal-Mart)到瑞士再保險公司(Swiss Re),從殼牌公司(Shell)到可口可樂公司(Coca-Cola),許多主流公司正在主動地關注一些全球性的挑戰(zhàn),如氣候變化、獲得清潔用水、減少沖突和推進法治等。
正如企業(yè)已重新制訂其發(fā)展議程一樣,企業(yè)也重新審視與其它機構(gòu)的協(xié)作關系。企業(yè)有自身的角色定位,但只有在與其它機構(gòu)協(xié)作的基礎上才能更加出色地發(fā)揮這一角色的作用。事實上,企業(yè)、公共部門與快速成長的非政府組織(NGO)都已經(jīng)意識到,它們在一起協(xié)作時,就能取得最大成功。
許多組織已經(jīng)接受“合作模式”是成功的主要途徑。而美國商務社會責任協(xié)會(BSR)一直致力于推動公司,公共部門和人權(quán)、勞工與環(huán)境組織之間的協(xié)作,把它作為我們工作的重心,以創(chuàng)造一個更加公正和可持續(xù)發(fā)展的經(jīng)濟環(huán)境。這些合作關系曾經(jīng)是讓人難以意料的“人咬狗”的故事,而今它們卻成為公司、公共部門和民間社團的核心戰(zhàn)略。
正如私有企業(yè)更加重視同非商業(yè)團體之間的合作一樣,政府和非政府組織也都十分認可協(xié)作的模式。美國國際開發(fā)署的全球發(fā)展聯(lián)盟已經(jīng)為扶貧項目籌集到數(shù)百億美元,而瑞典政府已設立了一個全球責任協(xié)作辦事處,上述兩個組織在本節(jié)中都有論述。自柏林墻被推倒以來,據(jù)有關統(tǒng)計,非政府組織已經(jīng)增長了10倍,現(xiàn)在他們把開展運動與參與合作結(jié)合起來。綠色和平(Greenpeace)、人權(quán)觀察(Human Rights Watch)和樂施會(Oxfam),以及數(shù)以千計的其它組織,其中許多來自南半球,它們每天都在與企業(yè)協(xié)作,共同應對全球性挑戰(zhàn)。
新模式的事例比比皆是。
僅僅在10年前,服裝行業(yè)還在爭論是否應當為全球的工作條件的改善承擔責任,而今,它們同國際勞工組織(ILO)及有關政府官員協(xié)作多年,以確保在柬埔寨以及其它地方的公平工作條件。能源開采行業(yè)透明度行動計劃已把20多家政府與組織,例如開放社會研究所、透明國際,以及石油、天然氣和礦業(yè)公司組織到一起,以減少能源勘探開采和生產(chǎn)過程中在收入管理上的腐敗行為。
這些都是好消息,而這個趨勢將會持續(xù)下去。
但是,為了發(fā)揮這種趨勢的真正潛力,就必須加快速度和成熟起來(就必須加速來推進這種模式,使它盡快成熟起來)。 如果過去10年來的挑戰(zhàn)是如何證明合作原則的價值,今后10年就要求我們設法把這些成功的模式規(guī)模化。 要實現(xiàn)這個更加雄心勃勃的目標,就需要進一步的改進和完善合作模式,各種類型的組織都需要培養(yǎng)新的能力,同時治理模式需要更加的成熟。
要建立一個公正和可持續(xù)發(fā)展的經(jīng)濟環(huán)境,這種協(xié)作的模式是必不可少的,號召大家行動起來也是非常明確的。 通過協(xié)調(diào)企業(yè)、政府和民間團體的不同職能,我們可以實現(xiàn)共同的理想,這樣,我們也能為企業(yè)的發(fā)展前景作出貢獻,而這個前景是既能滿足這一代人的需要,又能考慮到后代子孫健康成長的需要。成功的含義就是我們既實踐了米爾頓·弗里德曼的理論,也驗證了雷·安得森的新說。
(譯校《WTO經(jīng)濟導刊》企業(yè)社會責任發(fā)展中心,標題為編者后加,未經(jīng)作者審議)
BSR Articles for CHINA WTO Tribune
“The business of business is business … but it ought to be legitimate business, and not at the expense of future generations.”
With this update — or, more accurately, correction — of Milton Friedman’s famous statement, Interface Inc. founder Ray Anderson illustrates an essential truth about business’s place in society today. No business survives in a hypercompetitive global marketplace without winning products and services. But, equally so, business cannot succeed if pressing global questions are left unaddressed.
Over the past 10 years, business has begun to diversify its portfolio of interests. Mainstream companies from Wal-Mart to Swiss Re and from Shell to Coca-Cola are actively looking at the significance of global challenges like climate change, access to clean water, conflict reduction and the advance of the rule of law.
Just as business has redefined its agenda, so too has it redefined the way it engages with other institutions. Business has a role to play, but it can only fill this role in partnership with others. Indeed, business, the public sector and the fast-growing nongovernmental organization (NGO) sector have awakened to the fact that they succeed best when they work together.
Many organizations have embraced the “collaboration paradigm” as the main route to success. At Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), we have facilitated partnerships between companies, the public sector, and human rights, labor and environmental organizations as a central part of our efforts to build a more just and sustainable economy. These partnerships were once a counterintuitive “man bites dog” story; they are now a core strategy for companies, the public and civil society.
Just as the private sector has gained a much stronger appreciation for collaboration with noncommercial entities, so too have governments and NGOs embraced the partnership model. The United States Agency for International Development’s Global Development Alliance has engineered billions of dollars for poverty alleviation projects, and the Swedish government has established an Office for Partnerships in Global Responsibility, both described in this section. The NGO sector, which by some accounts has grown tenfold since the fall of the Berlin Wall, now combines campaigning with collaboration. Greenpeace, Human Rights Watch and Oxfam, as well as thousands of other organizations, many from the global south, are working daily with business to address global challenges.
Examples of new models abound. The apparel industry, which little more than a decade ago was debating whether it had responsibility for global working conditions, is now in a multiyear partnership with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and government officials to ensure fair working conditions in Cambodia and elsewhere. The Extractives Industry Transparency Initiative has brought together more than 20 governments with groups like the Open Society Institute and Transparency International and with oil, gas and mining companies to reduce corruption in management of revenues from energy exploration and production.
This is all good news, and the trend will continue.
But for this trend to capture its true potential, it must accelerate and mature. If the challenge of the last decade was to demonstrate the value of the principle of collaboration, the coming decade demands that we find ways to take these examples to scale. To achieve this more ambitious goal, models will need to be refined; all organizations will need to build new capacities, and governance models will need to mature.
The partnership approach is essential to building a just and sustainable economy, and the call to action is clear. We can achieve a common vision by leveraging the distinct skills of business, government and civil society. In this way, we will make good on the vision of business that serves the interests of the current generation and also the wellbeing of future generations. Success means that we satisfy both Ray Anderson and Milton Friedman.
By Aron Cramer
President and CEO
Business for Social Responsibility
www.bsr.org