The role of large enterprises
in democracy and society

 

Compte-rendu

Large, multinational enterprises play a critical role in the world economy as innovators, marketers, employers, standard setters, international investors, tax payers, generators of financial returns and organisers of work for millions of other smaller entities across the world etc. Through all their intense interactions with the so called “non-market environment” (public bodies and social actors), the very large enterprises contribute greatly to shape their socio-economic but also political environment.
Operating with a longer perspective, endowed with larger financial resources and intellectual skills than the smaller enterprises, the very large and usually global enterprises are highly sensitive to the possible outcomes of almost any regulatory or legislative process. On the other side, nor policy making neither regulation or legislative work take place in a social and economic vacuum. These processes take place in a context that permeates them. In conclusion, large enterprise and governments (political order) interact closely. The interaction can take different forms ranging from “state capture” by private interest to a text-book case of hermetic isolation of political and economic spheres.
The topic of the Krakow conference was limited to interaction between large enterprises and politics – in a broad sense – in a democratic context, like the one that prevails in EU-Member countries. More specifically, the question was to know how enterprises cope with their “non-market environment” and how this affects the outcomes of economic and democratic processes.
The question addressed by the conference was thus: how do large enterprise respond to the law and more broadly to social concerns and expectations, how do they influence the law, and the social and economic rules and – when necessary – how do they look for ways to accommodate the law.
One of the possible outcomes of the conference was the drafting of an interdisciplinary research programme aimed at better understanding the private-public interactions and helping designing appropriate solutions, if and when required.

 

Photos

Session inaugurale- Collegium Maius	Session inaugurale- Collegium Maius	La salle de représentation au Larische Palace
La salle de représentation au Larische Palace	Les pauses...	Une visite de Cracovie

 

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