Co-operatives, owned and controlled by the people who use their services, represent a radically different way of running the businesses of the world, a strategy that is engaging the active commitment and creativity of more and more people world-wide. This book explores the co-operative way of doing business across a wide spectrum of activities and needs, ranging from basic needs for food, water, housing, finance, jobs, health care and transportation, to needs for entertaining leisure activ...

Affluenza has not just changed the world, it has also changed the way we see the world. Short of money? Borrow some. Caught in the rain? Buy an umbrella. Thirsty? Buy a bottle of water and throw the bottle away. Our embrace of “convenience” and our acceptance of our inability to plan ahead is an entirely new way of thinking, and over the past seventy years we have built a new and different economic system to accommodate it.There is nothing inevitable about this current way of think...

The neo-liberalism that dominated economic thinking since the advent of Thatcher and Reagan is now seen to have serious flaws. Progressive Capitalism seeks to replace it with a new Progressive political economy, based on an analysis of why the growth rates of countries differ, and what firms have to do to achieve competitive advantage in today's global economy. The cornerstone of the political economy of Progressive Capitalism is a belief in capitalism. But it also incorporates the three d...

"[The authors] argue that with more integration and cooperation between businesses, governments and communities, a more sustainable economy is possible." — The Environmental MagazineWe find ourselves between a rock and a hot place—compelled by the intertwined forces of peak oil and climate change to reinvent our economic life at a much more local and regional scale. The Resilience Imperative argues for a major SEE (social, ecological, economic) cha...

In the wake of economic crisis on a global scale, more and more people are reconsidering their role in the economy and wondering what they can do to make it work better for humanity and the planet. In this innovative book, J. K. Gibson-Graham, Jenny Cameron, and Stephen Healy contribute complex understandings of economics in practical terms: what can we do right now, in our own communities, to make a difference?Full of exercises, thinking tools, and inspiring examples from around t...

The suddenness and depth of the recession has raised questions about the workability of capitalism not seen since the 1930s. One of the constraints on recovery is the growing belief that if the old model did not work there is no new one on offer. This book sets out to provide one, arguing that reconstructing a bust financial system is not just a technical question. It cannot be done without a wholescale revision of the wider system and values on which it is based. And fairness must be plac...

The aim of this book is to inspire a better politics: one that will enable future generations to be happier. Greater well-being and better health should be the goals, rather than wealth maximization. We need to value healthcare more than hedge funds, caring above careers, relationships more than real estate. The book is about what makes most of us happier, but it is also about the collective good. We cannot truly be happy if those around us are not happy. The evidence for a successful poli...

The world order is changing, incrementally but remorselessly, as wealth and power move beyond the industrialised West to the emerging economies in Asia and Latin America. As a Foreign Office Minister, Jeremy Browne witnessed this global revolution at first hand. Having seen for himself the extraordinary scale and pace of economic development in China, India and elsewhere, Browne's message is stark: the race to secure a favourable position in the new world order would be hard enough in the ...

Leading Liberal Democrats and policy experts re-examine their political approach and propose a radical new direction for the party, setting the agenda for the next election and beyond. The Green Book cogently argues that a low-carbon economy and environmental investments are the best way to escape from sluggish growth, create new jobs and share prosperity. It is a clarion call for Liberal Democrats to treat the environmental crisis as a core challenge of economic policy, not a discrete pro...

Economics sometimes seems to be stacked against social, environmental and individual well-being. But it doesn't have to be like this. A new approach to economics - deriving as much from Ruskin and Schumacher as from Keynes or Smith - has begun to emerge. Skeptical about money as a measure of success, this new economics turns our assumptions about wealth and poverty upside down. It shows us that real wealth can be measured by increased well-being and environmental sustainability rather than...

Why being radically connected with society is not just the right thing to do, it is an imperative for a company's bottom line.Based on John Browne's decades of experience as one of the world's most successful and innovative CEOs, with research by McKinsey & Company, Connect is a practical manifesto that redefines the role of business in society.Through insightful analysis and vivid storytelling -- ranging from ancient China, Andrew Carnegie and the...

As the world reels from the credit crunch and fall into recession of late 2008, the search is on for a better way to do business. In an increasingly knowledge driven economy, the importance of people's discretionary effort to business performance is key to success - or failure - but many businesses and managers do not understand the alchemy required to gain the extra few per cent from their human resources.This new guide lays out how and why companies should be doing more to improv...