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Article

5 Nov 2015

Author:
Barbara Stocking, president of Murray Edwards College, Cambridge University

Commentary: "Capitalism isn’t dead; it can become a force for good in society"

The capitalist model is under attack on all sides. Yet while there is appetite for change, not even the Occupy movement has come up with a coherent, alternative model. So can capitalism be reformed to operate in the service of society?...

Investors are enormously influential, demanding short-term profits which encourage chief executives to take their eyes off the sustainability – and therefore profitability – of the company for the long term. Some companies have challenged this. Unilever, for example, does not issue quarterly results. Likewise there are examples where investors have acted to influence companies positively. In the HIV/Aids-pharmaceutical example it was investors who put pressure on companies to change as they did not want to be seen siding with companies allowing millions to die when drugs were available...

I am left with the conviction that capitalism must be reformed to be the force for good in society...