Reimagining Business for the 21st Century

As the global economy continues to grow more complicated, cutting-edge information is needed for businesses and policymakers to help navigate this field effectively. Global Economic Interconnectedness: International Trade and Finance (ISBN:9798369353035) emerges as a valuable resource, providing state-of-the-art insights on the complexities and influences that are shaping the current global market. Speaking on the integration of humane and sustainable business practices, let us hear from chapter authors Dr. Óscar Díaz-Chica, Dr. Celia Martín-Sierra, and Miss Claudia Roldán-García. In their chapter, read about the new emphasis of human quality in modern businesses and its effect on productivity and employee well-being. To learn more about these concepts, read their blog below as they dive into this modern intersection between humanity, ethics, sustainability, and modern management.

The Role of Sustainability and Humanity in Business Today

Are sustainability and humanity moving in the same direction? We are currently going through a historic moment of change in which technology and human beings are becoming intertwined, without knowing yet whether this will enhance people's humanity or, on contrary, it will lead to their dehumanization. Perhaps this explains the hiring of philosophers by companies such as IBM or Microsoft, and their concerns about the ethical implications of the future of technological development. Other aspects associated with the possible interest of organizations in humanity include the growing relevance of the soft in the business world, the search for a differential positioning through Humanistic Management (HM), the improvement of workers' well-being, etc. In this sense, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and ESG (environmental, social and governance) include ethical component, care for stakeholders, care for the environment, empathy applied in their activities, etc. In other words, it represents a suitable object of study to verify whether humanity is considered or not in organizations.

This study reviews the presence of humanity as a corporate value in the public corporate information of the companies that make up the 2022 RepTrak Nasdaq 100 ESG. All of these companies are financially successful, with a strong commitment to sustainability, good governance, engagement and corporate social responsibility. The research technique used consisted of a systematized review of the public information of each company, analyzing the presence (or not) of humanity as a corporate value, compiling all the data in a database created for this purpose. The documentary sources reviewed are the websites, sustainability reports, corporate information, and the code of ethics of the companies in the sample. The chapter offers a detailed analysis with tables and graphs, according to sectors of activity.

The results show that humanity is not yet a consolidated corporate value in organizations and represent an opportunity to go further in the actual implementation of CSR and ESG. In any case, the study offers a reference framework for companies to promote humanity integration as a value in their business philosophy. In addition, it is interesting for managerial business schools to promote training in humanism as future strategic soft skills. On the other hand, these results may be of interest to policy makers in order to promote humanity integration in the economy. Finally, in relation to large investors, it would be interesting if large investors began to consider the value of "humanity" as a relevant parameter in their investment decisions.

This work is committed to considering “humanity” as a strategic value in management, and in the rules regulating international trade.