280
13 Democratic Capitalism
33% would get no reduction in taxation. This would be a more liberal way of guiding
economic activities towards satisfying the needs of humanity and the planet.
There is also a participatory, democratic approach. Specifically, I would like to
argue for steering boards of companies and institutions that are composed not only of
managers, but also of representatives of various groups that bring in views of people
who are affected by their decisions. In other words, the steering boards should contain
representatives of owners and shareholders, but also of workers, suppliers, customers,
users or patients, and of local citizens as well. People representing environmental
and ethical issues should be included, too. If every company would (have to) do this,
products and services would fit consumer interests better, supply chains would be
improved, and the environmental footprint reduced.
Would it really work? The answer is: Yes! The company Caterpillar, for example,
has experimented with the above participatory approach.
39 In this way, it managed
to increase not only customer satisfaction and the approval of the citizens, but also
the company’s revenues.
The question is: Why is it working so well? In a sense, the answer is “collective
intelligence”. By adding representatives of other affected groups, the overall business
approach becomes better adjusted to the various expectations and needs. Interfaces
are created with other businesses and institutions, and with citizens and the environment. In this way, the activities of different companies and institutions become more
coordinated, integrated, context-sensitive and balanced.
Note that a very similar approach has been successfully applied to the self-control
of traffic lights.
40 This produces astonishing performance gains, if local traffic flow
optimization is combined with a coordination between neighboring intersections.
41
Bringing the needs of all beings into a sustainable balance may be less difficult
than one may think. To allow it to happen, one needs to give sufficient weight to the
needs of others. In fact, game-theoretical studies have shown that giving a 40–50%
weight to the utility of others will establish a high level of cooperation
42 in many
social dilemma situations, in which otherwise a “tragedy of the commons”
43 would
result. Such an approach can dramatically increase the expected success or, as game
theorists would say, the “average payoff”.
44 It does so by weighting different goals
in a fair way, thereby getting different interests aligned. This is actually the reason
why the principle “Love your neighbor as yourself” is so incredibly powerful.
The above principle could be the basis of a thriving, symbiotic information, innovation, production and service “ecosystem” or, as some people would say: prosperity
and peace. Additional success principles will be described in the following section.
39 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7AGP10l35ksWkEyemxQMV9nb3c/view.
40 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-5468/2008/04/P04019/.
41 https://link.springer.com/article/10.14441/eier.D2013002.
42 See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Co-operation_(evolution).
43 See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons.
44 https://www.nature.com/articles/srep01480.
13 Democratic Capitalism
33% would get no reduction in taxation. This would be a more liberal way of guiding
economic activities towards satisfying the needs of humanity and the planet.
There is also a participatory, democratic approach. Specifically, I would like to
argue for steering boards of companies and institutions that are composed not only of
managers, but also of representatives of various groups that bring in views of people
who are affected by their decisions. In other words, the steering boards should contain
representatives of owners and shareholders, but also of workers, suppliers, customers,
users or patients, and of local citizens as well. People representing environmental
and ethical issues should be included, too. If every company would (have to) do this,
products and services would fit consumer interests better, supply chains would be
improved, and the environmental footprint reduced.
Would it really work? The answer is: Yes! The company Caterpillar, for example,
has experimented with the above participatory approach.
39 In this way, it managed
to increase not only customer satisfaction and the approval of the citizens, but also
the company’s revenues.
The question is: Why is it working so well? In a sense, the answer is “collective
intelligence”. By adding representatives of other affected groups, the overall business
approach becomes better adjusted to the various expectations and needs. Interfaces
are created with other businesses and institutions, and with citizens and the environment. In this way, the activities of different companies and institutions become more
coordinated, integrated, context-sensitive and balanced.
Note that a very similar approach has been successfully applied to the self-control
of traffic lights.
40 This produces astonishing performance gains, if local traffic flow
optimization is combined with a coordination between neighboring intersections.
41
Bringing the needs of all beings into a sustainable balance may be less difficult
than one may think. To allow it to happen, one needs to give sufficient weight to the
needs of others. In fact, game-theoretical studies have shown that giving a 40–50%
weight to the utility of others will establish a high level of cooperation
42 in many
social dilemma situations, in which otherwise a “tragedy of the commons”
43 would
result. Such an approach can dramatically increase the expected success or, as game
theorists would say, the “average payoff”.
44 It does so by weighting different goals
in a fair way, thereby getting different interests aligned. This is actually the reason
why the principle “Love your neighbor as yourself” is so incredibly powerful.
The above principle could be the basis of a thriving, symbiotic information, innovation, production and service “ecosystem” or, as some people would say: prosperity
and peace. Additional success principles will be described in the following section.
39 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7AGP10l35ksWkEyemxQMV9nb3c/view.
40 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-5468/2008/04/P04019/.
41 https://link.springer.com/article/10.14441/eier.D2013002.
42 See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Co-operation_(evolution).
43 See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons.
44 https://www.nature.com/articles/srep01480.