Kina älskar sin kapitalism

I Wall Street Journal redovisas idag en intressant, global undersökning om hur synen på kapitalismen utvecklats efter finanskrisen 2008.

CNBC/Burson-Marsteller Corporate Perception Indicator har intervjuat 25 000 personer och 1800 toppchefer på 25 marknader.

The results, released Monday on CNBC and CNBC.com, show stark differences between positive and negative views across several key fault lines.

Not surprisingly, the great majority of business leaders have a ”favorable” view of corporations whether they come from developed (82%) or emerging (86%) markets. But the general public’s view of corporations is not as favorable. Interestingly, people in developed markets—including the U.S., U.K., Germany, Japan and Hong Kong—retain especially skeptical views.

Only 52% of the public in developed markets have a ”favorable” view of corporations, compared with 72% in emerging markets such as China, Brazil, India, Mexico and Turkey. Nearly three-fifths of the public in emerging markets favor corporations that are ”strong and influential” because they are ”engines of innovation and economic growth.” Just over one-third of the public in developed markets agree. In developed markets, 45% say corporations have ”too much influence over government,” compared with 30% in emerging economies.

China and the U.S. have especially glaring—and perhaps surprising—differences. The U.S. public is divided on whether corporations are a source of ”hope” (36%) or ”fear” (37%). In China they have far fewer concerns, with 84% saying corporations are a source of ”hope.” More than half (51%) of the U.S. public says ”strong and influential” corporations are ”bad,” even if they are promoting innovation and growth. In China 74% embrace strong corporations as ”good.”

Donald A. Baer kommenterar i sin WSJ-artikel:

Can CEOs overcome negative perceptions about their companies and themselves? Despite lingering doubts, 70% of the public across developed markets says corporations play positive roles in creating economic growth, and 67% credit them with driving innovation. Respondents around the world say they want to hear more ways corporations and their leaders help in solving larger social issues (61%), as well as the positive ways they treat their employees (59%).

For business leaders, six years after the financial crisis and amid continuing economic uncertainty, the challenge is to show how they use their positions of power to contribute to the common good. The public world-wide wants corporations to promote shared values around growth and opportunity, even as they build shareholder value. Their long-term success depends on it.