CONSERVATIVE thinker Milton Friedman famously declared in the 1970s that the “business of business is business”. By which he meant that the bottom line of the private sector should be making money for shareholders.

However, there has been a significant shift in the half century since then in how many corporate leaders view the social responsibility of corporations toward a broader group of stakeholders. Correspondingly, many major businesses today talk frequently about their organisational commitment to a wide range of philanthropic, social responsibility and related activities. This agenda is showcased at this week’s World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos. Here the agenda is centred around public-private partnerships and multi-stakeholder dialogues to promote cooperation to tackle the most pressing issues facing the world today, from income inequality to global warming.

This debate about the responsibility of business and elites to society was exemplified on Monday (Jan 16) with the release of an Oxfam report showing the extent of inequality in the contemporary landscape. The non-governmental organisation (NGO) asserts that almost two-thirds of all new wealth created between December 2019 and December 2021 went to the top 1 per cent of the income strata. It is not just NGOs that worry about this. WEF itself has also acknowledged this issue in its 2023 Global Risks Report which includes growing global income disparities on its key risks register for the first time in a decade.