The style of doing business may change fundamentally this year

The world is changing in unpredictable ways. Companies now pledge not to chase profits alone. Poor countries are championing the cause of globalisation. And technological changes are sweeping away old models of business and work. And it now appears that eight men have more wealth that half the world's population.

Much of the debate was around these issues at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum at Davos. Global CEOs like Paul Polman of Unilever and Mark Cutifani of mining firm AngloAmerican are championing social causes. In a session with me at Davos, they said that industry and government must increase the scale of joint projects on social issues such as health, education, equality and environment.

In September 2015, under the leadership of United Nations, countries adopted a set of sustainable development goals (SDGs) to "end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all as part of a new sustainable development agenda."

Each goal has specific targets to be achieved over the next 15 years. The goals include quality education, clean energy, sustainable cities, responsible consumption, clean water & sanitation, and gender equality. However, more than a year later, most countries are still debating how best to action the agenda with clear impact. The focus for 2030 remains but the implementation is lagging. A key part of responsive and responsible leadership involves making business, government and civil society collaborate at global and national level. About one-third of the 3,000 participants at Davos this year represent stakeholder groups outside the government and business.

The Business and Sustainable Development Commission (BSDC) has released a fresh report that says that investing in SDGs will create new demand and growth for the world. At a time when the global economy is struggling, this report is helping give a new direction to growth.

"Achieving the Global Goals opens up $12 trillion of market opportunities in the four economic systems7 examined by the Commission. These are food and agriculture, cities, energy and materials, and health and well-being. They represent around 60% of the real economy and are critical to delivering the Global Goals. To capture these opportunities in full, businesses need to pursue social and environmental sustainability as avidly as they pursue market share and shareholder value. If a critical mass of companies joins us in doing this now, together we will become an unstoppable force. If they don't, the costs and uncertainty of unsustainable development could swell until there is no viable world in which to do business," the report says.

BSDC was launched in Davos last year with representatives of business, academia and civil society. The report says that SDGs could create 380 million new jobs across the developing world. These include 85 million in Africa and 225 million in developing Asia.

The West-led globalisation is considered the cause of creating rising inequality which is now being addressed through efforts like SDGs. A report of Oxfam hotly discussed in Davos, put out a stunning figure. The Oxfam report says that eight billionaires have the same wealth as the poorest half of the world. This means the $426 billion in wealth of these eight men more than that of the poorest 3.6 billion people with $406 billion. These eight men are:

However, the irony is that the West is fretting about globalisation while Asia and emerging markets are against protectionism. At the World Economic Forum's annual summit in Davos, the biggest defence of globalisation came from Chinese President Xi Jinping. "It is true that economic globalisation has created new problems. But this is no justification to write off economic globalisation altogether. Rather we should adapt to and guide globalisation, cushion its negative impact, and deliver its benefits to all countries and all nations," he said.

China has become the world's second-largest economy within just 38 years of opening to the world. Now the prospect of a trade war with the US, is threatening growth in Asia. Not surprisingly then, South Asian countries are robustly supporting deeper trade and investment links within the region and with rest of world as a counter against global economic turmoil. India is leading the way with the focus on regional economic integration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

With its vast workforce, strong growth and expanding purchasing power, South Asia will be the key to reviving global demand, Nirmala Sitharaman, minister of state for commerce and industry, said at a session on Harnessing Regional Cooperation in South Asia at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting. "The world cannot afford to ignore the region that will be key to reviving demand," the minister said.

Global investors are noticing that South Asia has 1.8 billion people, 7% GDP growth rate and 25% of the world's middle class. While the region was considered difficult for doing business, that is changing too. The World Competitiveness report of WEF says that the region is improving rapidly. The region is growing faster than China for the first time in 20 years. "Over the past decade, the subcontinent has focused on improving overall health and primary education levels and upgrading infrastructure, areas of particular importance for future diversification and preparedness, given the resource-driven nature of the regional economies," the report says.

The changing global trends also mean that successful Indian companies can't continue to do business with old models. Indian technology companies are speaking a new language at Davos. For decades they have created a successful business model based on cost arbitration and coding solutions. As the fourth industrial revolution manifests itself across the world, the three leading technology companies, TCS, Infosys and Wipro are presenting a new face to global clients in Davos. These companies are aligning themselves with all elements of the fourth industrial revolution. Technologies that are offering huge opportunities include the internet of things, robotics, 3D printing, cyber security, data analytics, augmented reality and new applications of virtual reality. Industry body Nasscom says that fintech software will be a $45 billion market by 2020 globally. For Indian tech companies, this and other opportunities are the new goals.

TCS says that their Digital Empowers campaign is about using technology for solving the society's challenges and not just on corporate needs. At Infosys the focus on its new automation platform MANA, an artificial intelligence based solutions platform. At Wipro, its Holmes platform is already delivering AI and machine learning solutions to Indian and global clients.
2017 may be remembered as the year when the style of doing business changed fundamentally.