Does Business Have a Noble Purpose?

At the World Economic Forum in Davos Rakesh Khurana, Professor, Harvard Business School, Ian E. L. Davis, Managing Director, Worldwide, McKinsey & Company, and Lord Browne of Madingley, Group Chief Executive, BP, pondered the question "Does Business Have a Noble Purpose?" at a panel discussion moderated by Laura D. Tyson, Dean, London Business School.

The discussion was primed with the following:

Global companies are central institutions in our society, yet the public rarely seems to focus on the social benefits of their contributions to economic development.

1) What measures, other than shareholder value, can be used to assess value creation?

2) How has the rise of global companies affected public perceptions of business's contributions to society's wider objectives?

3) Should CEOs use their leadership position to influence how business is defined and perceived?

The link to view the discussion is here.