Welcome to Saturday Hashtag, a weekly place for broader context.
|
Listen To This Story
 |
With Klaus Schwab now under investigation for fraud, it’s an opportune moment to critically examine his flagship project, stakeholder capitalism, also known as the fourth industrial revolution. Advocated since 1973, this model has quietly reshaped global politics and economics under the guise of social responsibility.
Promoted by the World Economic Forum (WEF), this model claims to balance the interests of shareholders, employees, communities, and the environment.
In practice, however, it serves to concentrate power in the hands of a few corporations, paving the way for top-down control over essential resources. This is especially true in the context of the global food system which is controlled by Bayer, Corteva, ChemChina, Limagrain, Nestlé, Coca-Cola, and Unilever, etc.
Power Consolidation Not Economic Growth
Schwab’s stakeholder capitalism promotes abandoning traditional shareholder capitalism, presenting an inclusive façade that hides its true aim: consolidating economic power.
While claiming to serve all stakeholders, it increasingly benefits only a select few — corporate giants and financial elites — undermining local economies and centralizing wealth.
As this model grows, its impact is troubling. Bill Gates, now one of the largest US landowners, controls vast farmland through Cascade Investment, pushing for GM crops that trap farmers in corporate dependency.
This profit-driven system benefits a few multinationals, raising serious concerns about the future of global food systems.
Corporations such as BlackRock ($140B), Vanguard ($118B), Cargill ($75B), Bayer (Monsanto) ($25B), ADM ($23B), Syngenta (ChemChina) ($45B) along with the Gates foundation are dominating agriculture, eroding food sovereignty and autonomy. Figures like John Malone (2.2M acres), Ted Turner (2M acres), and Bill Gates (242K acres) are amassing huge land holdings, concentrating resources and power.
Lab-Grown Meat Takeover
The push for lab-grown meat under stakeholder capitalism raises further concerns. Promoted as a more sustainable alternative, companies like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat are in fact following the same corporate agenda as GMO crop producers — monopolizing food production.
This results in a similar concentration of control in the hands of a few corporations, sidelining small-scale farmers and limiting consumer choice
A World of Centralized Stakeholder Capitalism
The lack of government oversight in stakeholder capitalism fosters monopolies, stifling competition and enabling corporate dominance. The regulatory capture facilitated by this system further entrenches these monopolies, harming consumers and the economy by extracting wealth, manipulating prices, and stalling innovation.
Despite claims of social and environmental progress, stakeholder capitalism consolidates power, paving the way for a corporate oligarchy that undermines food sovereignty, erodes individual freedoms, and reinforces existing power structures.
Fair & Competitive Markets for Family Farmers & Our Food
From Farm Aid: “The U.S. agricultural sector suffers from abnormally high levels of concentration, giving just a handful of corporations a virtual chokehold over food production and consumption. This has forced hundreds of thousands of independent family farmers off the land and damaged rural economies, public health and our environment. Efforts to restore fairness and competition in agriculture are long overdue and could transform the landscape of our food system for the benefit of all, not just a few.”
Frozen USDA Funding Forces Furloughs, Program Cuts
From Farm Progress: “The Trump administration’s freeze of previously approved farm projects is taking a financial toll on farm groups that are working with farmers to install those projects. Pasa Sustainable Agriculture, which received $55 million in 2023 to lead a climate-smart farming project across 15 states, recently announced that it was furloughing 60 employees attached to its project starting April 1.”
Seed Wars: Corporate Control and the Battle for Food Security
The author writes, “Seeds feed, clothe and house us, yet most people don’t realize 60% of the global seed supply is controlled by just four chemical companies. Celebrate International Seeds Day by learning more about these diminutive powerhouses.”
Man v Food: Is Lab-Grown Meat Really Going To Solve Our Nasty Agriculture Problem?
The authors write, “If cellular agriculture is going to improve on the industrial system it is displacing, it needs to grow without passing the cost on to workers, consumers and the environment.”
‘Livestock’s Longer Shadow,’ the Book Spelling Out the Damage Caused by Animal Agriculture
From Vegan FTA: “Jordi Casamitjana, the author of the book Ethical Vegan, reviews Tim Bailey’s book Livestock’s Longer Shadow dealing with the damage UK animal agriculture causes to everyone and everything.”
The Problem With ‘Stakeholder Capitalism’
The author writes, “Writing in the Investment Monitor on March 18, 2021, Klaus Schwab, the founder of the World Economic Forum, was urging the replacement of the present economic system. According to Schwab, the present system is deficient, since it only benefits a small minority of the population while leaving all the others at a visible disadvantage.”
The State of Stakeholder Capitalism: There’s No Going Back
From Purpose Leadership and Stakeholder Management: “They all agree; there’s no going back. Stakeholder capitalism continues to gain ground despite the anti-woke blow back because of the clear economic benefits and societal demands for business to act ethically with employees, customers, and all stakeholders. The main question now is: how to move from talk to action?”
Beware the Pitfalls of Stakeholder Capitalism
The author writes, “The philosophy of stakeholder capitalism has gained traction in recent years as people try to determine whether companies should help solve big social problems. Demanding that companies take a holistic view about how they serve the community has some merit.”
Stakeholder Capitalism and the Revamp of Terrible Ideas
The author writes, “The World Economic Forum is where billionaires write about how bad capitalism is. Ironic, huh? This exclusive private think tank, with annual membership fees beginning in the tens of thousands of dollars, has been promoting the fraught concept of stakeholder capitalism since the beginning of the pandemic. Specifically, the call has been for a ‘Great Reset’ of capitalism. Now let’s just say outright that a pandemic which initially elicited a swift, authoritarian response of government restrictions is not the best time to assess the merits of any economic system.”
Making Stakeholder Capitalism a Reality
From Harvard Business Review: “Stakeholder capitalism, a popular management theory in the 1950s and ‘60s that focused on the needs of all constituents, not just shareholders, has been poised to make a comeback since weaponized financial instruments brought down the economy in 2008. Now, spurred by the alarming climate crisis and increasing social challenges such as rising inequality, the movement is gathering additional steam. Increasingly, there’s a sense among business leaders that the prevailing ideology of putting shareholders above everyone else — which has reigned for the past 40 years — needs a serious update.”
The Ascendancy of Stakeholder Capitalism: What Is Its Meaning for Corporate Governance?
From Sage Journals: “We address the recent ascendancy of “stakeholder capitalism” and its potential impact on US corporate governance practice. Utilizing a four dimensional, analytic framework (legal, ethical, economic, and political), the authors evaluate the potential effects of stakeholder capitalism on the existing corporate governance of companies, concluding that stakeholder capitalism is a commitment, not a legal requirement; it is currently being practiced in boardrooms; and yet it is not the responsibility of the company, under stakeholder capitalism, to solve America’s social issues. The article concludes with business policy recommendations for directors concerning likely legal, ethical, economic, and political changes affecting stakeholder capitalism.”
A Fair Deal for Farmers
From the Center for American Progress: “Through an analysis of two agricultural markets, this report illuminates the concerning trend of corporate consolidation in agriculture — and the damaging impact this trend has on independent family farms.”
