DCU

 “We live a conceptual crisis in Capitalism inan era of ‘continuous, discontinuous change’. We have to think about business differently. We need a new story about business, looking at stakeholders, at leadership and value creation—in other words, a story looking at business for human beings”. This and other ideas around stakeholder theory and capitalism were discussed on September 14^th by Prof. R. Edward Freeman (Darden Business School, University of Virginia) in a historic public lecture on “Responsible Capitalism: A new approach for Ireland’s business—or Business For Human Beings” at the DCU Ryan Academy for Entrepreneurship (click here to see a short video of the lecture).

The lecture, organized by the DCU
Institute of Ethics in collaboration
with ACOI (the Association of
Compliance Officers in Ireland)
and the Ryan Academy, was
attended by over 50 business
executives, entrepreneurs, 
academicians (including DCU
President, Brian MacCraith)
and students.

It was the first visit ever by 
Prof. Freeman in Ireland,
the world-famous 
stakeholder theorist author
of the award-winning book
Strategic Management: 
A Stakeholder Approach, 
originally published in 1984
and reprinted2010.

The lecture was introduced by Ann Horan, Chief Executive of the Ryan Academy for Entrepreneurship,
who emphasized the leading role of the Academy in supporting entrepreneurship and innovation in Ireland,
through its various training and funding programmes.

Freeman’s analysis of the failures of the “old story about capitalism”—including its over emphasis on
the carrot-and-stick model; its narrow focus on profit; its simplistic view of human motivation,
emotions and passions; its poor understanding of leadership and stakeholder relationships—were discussed
in a panel debate moderated by Colm Keena, financial journalist of the Irish Times, with the participation
of Brian Hayes, Managing Director, GTS Head, Citibank Europe; John Eager, Chief Executive Officer, SNAP;
LiamRyan, Managing Director, SAP Ireland; Niall Gallagher, Chairman, ACOI Ethics Committee and
dr. Simone de Colle, Lecturer in Business Ethics at DCU Institute of Ethics, who is a co-author of Professor
Freeman’s latest book, Stakeholder Theory: The State of the Art, published by Cambridge University Press in 2010.

In his concluding remarks, dr. de Colle pointed out that the DCU Institute of Ethics is actively engaged
to introduce the Stakeholder Theory approach in its teaching, research and service activities.
Moreover, the Institute is currently working with Professor Freeman to develop an executive training programme
on “Responsible Capitalism” to help Irish business to become Responsible Leaders.
As Professor Freeman concluded, “to bring back our economy we need business that creates value with a purpose:
if we embrace this new story, business becomes an institution of hope."

For more information: ethics@dcu.ie