Science Breaks: Re-inventing capitalism

There is little doubt that business is a core contributor to the multiple interconnected crises plaguing the world today. Whether we focus on environmental pollution and climate change emergencies, or on income inequality and related social unrest; whether we worry about psychophysical and emotional well-being or about persistent discrimination and social exclusion from opportunities to grow, the role played by enterprises and the socio-economic system that we developed is paramount.

The COVID–19 pandemic is the latest example of the dramatic tensions built in the form of capitalism that has come to dominate the global economy. At the origin of this (and other) pandemics lies the destructions of the natural environment, which facilitates spillovers of viruses across species. Worse still, some of the fiercest obstacles to the health authorities’ timely and effective crackdown on the diffusion of the virus were the powerful economic interests of companies, organized in national and local pressure groups.

However, it might not have to be this way. Environmental destruction and socio-economic inequality are not an inevitable consequence of economic growth. It all depends on how we design the rules of behaviour within which companies act and interact with each other. It all depends on what type of capitalist system we want to develop, so that companies can thrive by eradicating the social and environmental maladies present in our communities, rather than by contributing to creating them.

In his Science Breaks, Professor Maurizio Zollo will lay out a case for a new form of capitalism based on innovative, in part still experimental, logics of enterprise. These logics of enterprise are characterised by governance rules, performance metrics, incentive and control systems, as well as leadership and cultural values, centred on enhancing the well-being of everyone who invests different forms of capital (human, social, natural and financial) in the creation, growth and success of the enterprise. He will also look at the role of policy in shaping the new system of capitalism, and of the necessary co-operation among all societal actors in the continual innovation, experimentation and diffusion of this new way to do business.

Biography

Maurizio Zollo is Professor of Strategy and Sustainability at Imperial College London, Head of the Business School’s Department of Management and Scientific Director of the Leonardo Centre, a cross-disciplinary hub dedicated to the exploration and experimentation of innovative logics of enterprise.

Maurizio’s research looks at how business organisations learn to grow and adapt to environmental turbulence, and how managers use strategic growth initiatives and organisational change, innovation and learning processes to guide this evolution. He focuses on the management of complex strategic initiatives, from M&A and partnerships to sustainability-oriented innovation, learning and change. Maurizio directs also two research programmes on the application of neuroscience to innovation and sustainability decisions. He is also the founder of a non-profit foundation (GOLDEN for Impact), dedicated to the global collaboration between business, academia and institutions in the transition towards sustainable and equitable forms of socio-economic systems.

Before joining Imperial College London in 2019, Maurizio taught at Bocconi University and INSEAD. He is a Visiting Professor at the Sloan School of Management of MIT, with a similar position at Bocconi University. He holds a PhD in management from the Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania and a laurea degree in monetary economics from Bocconi University. Before his academic career, he was a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Co. and investment banker at Merrill Lynch in New York.

Science Breaks

Science Breaks is a new, virtual event series showcasing the impact and relevance of Imperial’s research and work taking place at the College.

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