Increasing inequality, volatility and existential threat of global extinction are increasing our willingness to look outside of individual economic desires to the wider interests of society as a whole. Parallel technological advances have also made it possible to imagine that new solutions are available to us.
Over recent decades, standards of living and interconnectivity have been improving with increasing rapidity. We have reached the point at which the internet, cloud-based software and mobile hardware enable information to be distributed almost instantly. The result is a more tightly connected and better informed population. This increases the potential for more democratic decision making. A wider range of people can be involved in the planning of operations at negligible marginal cost.
Therefore, we may now have the desire and the means to increase both social responsibility and efficiency through the involvement of a wider range of stakeholders. The result being more socially minded as well as efficient businesses which outperform traditionally autocratic corporate structures.