Reinventing Capitalism in the Digital Age

This Element provides an insightful, innovative and practical solution both to resolve the current crisis of capitalism and to transition to a new age-the age of digital.

Stephen Denning (Author)

9781009332842, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 15 December 2022

75 pages
22.9 x 15.1 x 0.6 cm, 0.17 kg

'There is nothing more important than reimagining capitalism' Amy Edmondson, Professor of Leadership and Management, Harvard Business School

This Element examines the current crisis of capitalism's legitimacy and concludes that it derives principally from business pursuing an aberration of capitalism known as shareholder capitalism, in which firms sought to maximize shareholder value as reflected in the current share price, at the expense of all other stakeholders and society. Shareholder capitalism began in the 1970s and was renounced by the Business Roundtable in 2019, but continues behind a façade of stakeholder capitalism. Stakeholder capitalism is the most widely cited form of capitalism today, but it is incoherent as a practical guide to action for an entire firm. This Element concludes that a recent evolution of capitalism--customer capitalism--which gives primacy to co-creating value for customers and users, enables firms to master the challenges of the digital age, shower benefits on society, and meet the needs of all the stakeholders.

1. Introduction
2. The Overall Shape of Capitalism
3. Customer Capitalism
4. The Digital Age
5. The Emergence of Deep Purpose
6. Fixing the Flaws of the Digital Winners
7. Shareholder Capitalism
8. The Mirage of Stakeholder Capitalism
9. Conclusions and Reflections
References.

Subject Areas: Business & management [KJ], Finance [KFF], Economics [KC]