Huge areas of the Amazon rainforest are being cut down to satisfy
global demand for soya. But how did this crop and a handful of others
come to dominate our diet so completely? In an extract from her new
book, Felicity Lawrence investigates the faceless trading giants who
really decide what goes on our plates.
It is fitting that we hold this conversation on the future of the corporation in historic Faneuil Hall, the Cradle of Liberty. Deliberations in this very room more than 200 years ago were the first step on a long walk away from a king named George that launched a new nation and led ultimately to the end of monarchy.
In the span of just a few weeks, two enterprises that have become institutional fixtures on the American scene -- Chrysler, the Big Three automaker, and the Ford Foundation, the philanthropic pace-setter -- have named new top executives.
Darwinian selection - the “survival of the fittest” concept - is as applicable to human social structures as it is to the natural world. The question just becomes “Fit for what?”. Whereas wild nature’s “fitness” is defined by the ability to compete successfully in the struggle for food, habitat and reproductive rights, “fitness” in human social structures depends on goals that vary from one structure to another.
The owners and directors of corporations must be made accountable in law for their actions. Owner-shareholders and top executives exercise immense power, both globally and locally, but are not responsible in law for their actions. This immunity is provided by the legal principle of limited liability.
