• by Gunter Pauli
• Tuesday, August 09, 2011
• Inter Press Service

The most critical though least debated action required today is changing the business model. Our economic system has long been driven by efficiency without ever considering sufficiency. Greed, not need, has been the muse of the ranks of business. And the gap between the world's richest and the poorest has never been so large, writes Gunter Pauli, author of the Blue Economy and entrepreneur.

In this analysis, the author writes that peak oil will be accompanied by peak globalisation. Companies that have undergone a brutal transformation to become the global players will now face a downturn in their underlying growth dynamics. The winners will be the small and medium-sized companies, inspired by millions of entrepreneurs who will respond to basic needs for all with what is locally available. This shift permits the design of a competitive business world where free trade and free direct foreign investment are not the key to economic success.

The new business model will provide opportunities for the local risk taker who is capable of creating a broader coalition of economic and social activities with multiple revenues and multiple benefits, going beyond the straightjacket of the core business and core competence mantra of the highly standardised globalised world and its fetish of discounted cash flow analysis. The new paradigm will facilitate the arrival of decentralised production and consumption systems that are now technically and competitively viable in all sectors of the economy. including mining, forestry, agriculture, metals, chemistry, energy, paper and pulp and so many more.

© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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