For the past 60 years, businesses have focused almost exclusively on generating profit for their investors.

As a result, many have inadvertently created new problems while attempting to solve others.

 'This has been a major contributor to the growing environmental, social, and human challenges we face today,' Colin Mayer says.

He is professor of management studies at the Saïd Business School at Oxford University and the former dean.  

However, now the professor believes we are witnessing the beginnings of a worldwide shift. 

• Professor Mayer will share his ideas at NHH on the 15^th of October where he will be one of the main speakers at A New Paradigm for Mutual Value-Creation in Business and Investing.  

FIRST TIME IN NORWAY

For the first time Economics of Mutuality forum is to be held in Scandinavia and Norway.

The event is free and will take place on the 15th and 16th of October. 

Through lectures, case studies, and discussions, attendees will explore how the Economics of Mutuality operating model works – and how it could be applied in their context to drive positive societal impact and enhanced business performance

`Heavy academic circles in the USA and Europe are working to further develop and test the theory. At Oxford University a separate research center on EoM has been established, and NHH is now starting a collaboration with this centre. It is celebrated with an open professional conference on EoM at NHH in mid-October´, says Magne Supphellen. 

He is the Director of the Brandinnova Brand Research Center and Professor of Marketing at NHH.

Register for the event here.

ECONOMICS OF MUTUALITY 

`It’s an increasing awakening in business: To be sustainable, companies need to see themselves as deriving profit from solving the problems of others in commercially viable ways, and not profiting from creating problems for others´, Professor Colin Mayer says.  

He has spent a decade focusing on issues facing business in contemporary society.  

Especially looking into how businesses can be responsible actors in a world with big challenges such as climate change and growing inequality. 

To be truly successful, businesses need, in his view, to widen their circle of interest: 

`And that is what we mean by the economics of mutuality. How business can build up mutual relationships with all its stakeholders, that is of benefit to the company itself and to those stakeholders with whom it interacts and on whom it impacts´, Mayer explains.  

• Read more about the Economics of Mutuality here 

PAYING FOR PAST SINS 

The businesses that will succeed are the ones that view the big global challenges as opportunities, not hurdles, he adds. 

`They must recognize that these crises, as they are sometimes termed, are opportunities to find ways to solve them profitably´.  

Restoring trust involves remedying the detriments of the past as well as the opportunities of the future. 

Companies are under bigger scrutiny than ever before. 

Because of new technology, we as consumers can evaluate the activities of companies with far greater precision than has previously been possible.  

Reveals gender gap in AI tool usage among students

Researchers at NHH have uncovered significant gender disparities in the adoption of generative AI tools like ChatGPT.

`Just take satellite technology and the ability to establish the condition of a leaf on a tree in a forest, and to determine the extent to which it is deteriorating. And who is responsible for the pollution that has caused the deterioration´, Mayer elaborates.  

A NEW FORCE  

This model of operation, the Economics of Mutuality, is in many aspects best suited for small, innovating, and nimble companies, Mayer says: 

`Take for example the banking industry. It has been overturned by the fact that large banks find it increasingly difficult to compete with the small firms which often are using innovations and technology in a more effective way than the large banks are able to, and they can move more quickly and effectively´. 

Big companies that today monopolize different markets, such as Google and Amazon, became very large and dominant because of their ability to adapt, Mayer says.  

But when companies become large, they will struggle to be the best at every aspect within the market:  

`And therefore, small, and nimble companies can come in and at least tackle them in relation to specific parts of the market. Over a period of time those large companies will break themselves up to avoid monopolizing those industries and find more innovative ways of solving problems´. 

Eika Gruppen, EoM Foundation and Jæren Sparebank are partners at this event. 

Nikita (aged 29) manages NOK 70 million worth of aid in Nepal

Former NHH student Nikita Dhawan landed an embassy job in Kathmandu: ‘I haven’t regretted it for a second.’

Toppbildet av Bergen

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share on LinkedIn
• Share by e-mail