The Business for Peace Foundation
Encyclopedia
The Business for Peace Foundation (BfPF) is a non-profit foundation based in Oslo
, Norway
. Each year, the foundation names seven Honourees who receive the Oslo Business for Peace Award, in recognition of their individual and outstanding businessworthy contribution to the building of trust, stability and peace. The Honourees are selected by an independent committee composed of winners of either the Nobel Peace Prize
or Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
.
The Foundation works worldwide to promote a better understanding of how ethical and responsible business can contribute to building trust, stability and peace. Each year, the foundation arranges the Oslo Business for Peace Summit, which concludes with the presentation of the award to that year's seven Honourees.
The Business for Peace Foundation was established to inspire business leaders and businesses to reconnect with society, to the mutual benefit of both. The Foundation works to demonstrate that business can be a force of mutual good, able to contribute significantly to the building of trust, stability and peace. The foundation promotes the concept of “being businessworthy”, seeking to raise business practices from short-term win-lose dynamics to fulfilling longer-term conscious business aims.
The foundation draws inspiration from the dictum of the economic thinker Adam Smith
, who declared that:
Adam Smith advocated that a business should advance the prosperity and well-being of the communities where it was active. Subsequently, Smith's invisible hand
has been used to defend laissez-faire
economics that stand in contrast to the actual business philosophy he promoted in his seminal works The Wealth of Nations
and Theory of Moral Sentiments.
The award committee of the Business for Peace Foundation selects Honourees who each have demonstrated that it is possible for a business to enter into partnership with society, while remaining profitable and capable of longer-term growth. The goal of the foundation is to provide its Honourees with a platform from which to share their business wisdom with the world, hoping to inspire other business leaders to emulate their examples.
Kofi A. Annan has endorsed the efforts of the foundation, stating that "It is important to inspire and encourage businesspersons to be conscious of the role they can play as individuals to foster stability and peace. I think the idea behind the Oslo Business for Peace Award, and the potential impact it may have, is inspiring".
Beginning in 2009, the foundation has entered into a formal collaboration with the International Chamber of Commerce
, the largest and most representative business organization in the world. Its hundreds of thousands of member companies in 130 countries have interests spanning every sector of private enterprise.
The foundation also receives nominations from other business organizations, and nominating partners. The honourees named by the foundation are also able to nominate candidates for the award in subsequent years.
Oddmund Hammerstad
serves as secretary of nominations, guiding the nomination process through the year and assisting the award committee in its work.
To be considered Businessworthy, and a candidate for the Award, the Nominees must be:
Business deals are sealed with a handshake, and lasting business relationships are created when handshakes are made in good faith between partners intent on creating mutual benefits for one another.
The foundation has coined the word 'businessworthy' to describe the qualities it looks for when searching the world for worthy nominees to the award.
In the spirit of corporate social responsibility
, ethically aware businesses build win-win enduring relationships, forging a union between not only the business partners, but also with the societies which are touched by their business activity.
The Business for Peace Foundation seeks to demonstrate that there are legion examples where businesses work as a force of good together with society, achieving results that build trust and contribute to stability and peace. It is the ambition of the foundation that these examples will inform decision makers worldwide, inspiring them to redirect their business activities in accordance with businessworthy principles.
In the January–February 2011 issue of Harvard Business Review
, professor Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Cramer proposed what they called Creating Shared Value
, while declaring that "Companies must take the lead in bringing business and society back together". Their notion of shared value corresponds well with the criteria of businessworthiness informing the Business for Peace Foundation's search for Honourees.
or Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
.
Present members of the committee are professor Wangari Maathai
, professor Muhammad Yunus
, and professor Michael Spence
.
.
Honourees also receive a diploma noting their exemplary business wisdom.
Nominees who have been vetted by the screening committee are entered into The Book of Honourable Business Practitioners, together with the Honourees named each year.
. The Summit examines the relationship between ethical and responsible business practices and the promotion of trust, stability and peace. Highly respected statesmen, businesspersons, academics and business thinkers have participated at the Summits through the years.
Summit Themes:
2007 - Peace and Stability through Trade
2008 - Globalisation: the good, the bad and the ugly
2009 - The World in Recession, a call for a more ethically aware capitalism?
At the 2009 Summit, the Natural Resource Charter was presented.
2010 - New Times, the potential of business to contribute to stability and peace
A selection of speakers who have contributed to the Summits: Kjell Magne Bondevik
, Guy F. Tozzoli (World Trade Center), Vijay Kalantri (All India Association of Industries), Jan Egeland
, Bob Geldof
, Nabil Shaath
, Anders Källström, Khater Massaad, Jinghai Zheng, John Lervik, Margaret Beckett
, Erik Solheim
, Festus G. Mogae, Kandeh Yumkella
, Jeremy Rifkin
, Rajat Gupta
, Anthony J. Venables, Gobind Nankani, Petter Nore, Long Yongtu, Timothy L. Fort, Patricia Aburdene, Juan Carlos Echeverry, Børge Brende
, Henrik Syse
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. Each year, the foundation names seven Honourees who receive the Oslo Business for Peace Award, in recognition of their individual and outstanding businessworthy contribution to the building of trust, stability and peace. The Honourees are selected by an independent committee composed of winners of either the Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
or Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, commonly referred to as the Nobel Prize in Economics, but officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel , is an award for outstanding contributions to the field of economics, generally regarded as one of the...
.
The Foundation works worldwide to promote a better understanding of how ethical and responsible business can contribute to building trust, stability and peace. Each year, the foundation arranges the Oslo Business for Peace Summit, which concludes with the presentation of the award to that year's seven Honourees.
Background
Companies are increasingly seen to be prospering at the expense of the broader community, resulting in an adversarial relationship between business and society.The Business for Peace Foundation was established to inspire business leaders and businesses to reconnect with society, to the mutual benefit of both. The Foundation works to demonstrate that business can be a force of mutual good, able to contribute significantly to the building of trust, stability and peace. The foundation promotes the concept of “being businessworthy”, seeking to raise business practices from short-term win-lose dynamics to fulfilling longer-term conscious business aims.
The foundation draws inspiration from the dictum of the economic thinker Adam Smith
Adam Smith
Adam Smith was a Scottish social philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations...
, who declared that:
Adam Smith advocated that a business should advance the prosperity and well-being of the communities where it was active. Subsequently, Smith's invisible hand
Invisible hand
In economics, invisible hand or invisible hand of the market is the term economists use to describe the self-regulating nature of the marketplace. This is a metaphor first coined by the economist Adam Smith...
has been used to defend laissez-faire
Laissez-faire
In economics, laissez-faire describes an environment in which transactions between private parties are free from state intervention, including restrictive regulations, taxes, tariffs and enforced monopolies....
economics that stand in contrast to the actual business philosophy he promoted in his seminal works The Wealth of Nations
The Wealth of Nations
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, generally referred to by its shortened title The Wealth of Nations, is the magnum opus of the Scottish economist and moral philosopher Adam Smith...
and Theory of Moral Sentiments.
The award committee of the Business for Peace Foundation selects Honourees who each have demonstrated that it is possible for a business to enter into partnership with society, while remaining profitable and capable of longer-term growth. The goal of the foundation is to provide its Honourees with a platform from which to share their business wisdom with the world, hoping to inspire other business leaders to emulate their examples.
Kofi A. Annan has endorsed the efforts of the foundation, stating that "It is important to inspire and encourage businesspersons to be conscious of the role they can play as individuals to foster stability and peace. I think the idea behind the Oslo Business for Peace Award, and the potential impact it may have, is inspiring".
Nominations to the Award
The Business for Peace Foundation works together with nominating partners that help search the world for candidates who embody the values described by the criteria for the Oslo Business for Peace Award.Beginning in 2009, the foundation has entered into a formal collaboration with the International Chamber of Commerce
International Chamber of Commerce
The International Chamber of Commerce is the largest, most representative business organization in the world. Its hundreds of thousands of member companies in over 130 countries have interests spanning every sector of private enterprise....
, the largest and most representative business organization in the world. Its hundreds of thousands of member companies in 130 countries have interests spanning every sector of private enterprise.
The foundation also receives nominations from other business organizations, and nominating partners. The honourees named by the foundation are also able to nominate candidates for the award in subsequent years.
Oddmund Hammerstad
Oddmund Hammerstad
Oddmund Hammerstad is a Norwegian military officer, businessperson and politician for the Conservative Party.He was born in Sarpsborg. He finished his secondary education in 1961, attended the compulsory military service, took officer education at Heistadmoen and then the Norwegian Military...
serves as secretary of nominations, guiding the nomination process through the year and assisting the award committee in its work.
The Criteria
The Oslo Business for Peace Award aims to highlight ethical and responsible business practices, and the commitment of business leaders as individuals towards creating sustainable long-term success of benefit to their businesses, society and themselves. The independent Award Committee evaluates the Nominees according to three criteria established by the Business for Peace Foundation.To be considered Businessworthy, and a candidate for the Award, the Nominees must be:
- Examples to Society and their Peers. The Nominees are acting as examples to the general public and inspiring the business community by showing how to achieve success through ethical and responsible practices.
- Advocates of Ethical and Responsible Business. Nominees are outspoken advocates of ethical and responsible business principles, and of social responsibility in corporate governance.
- Trusted by the Communities their Businesses Affect. Nominees have developed and cultivated successful international or national businesses in a manner that is recognized and appreciated by the communities within which their businesses act.
Being Businessworthy
Being businessworthy is to apply your business energy ethically and responsibly with the purpose of creating economic value that also creates value for society. Being businessworthy embodies tested and true ethical and responsible principles for longer-term business interactions that build trust between the parties involved.Business deals are sealed with a handshake, and lasting business relationships are created when handshakes are made in good faith between partners intent on creating mutual benefits for one another.
The foundation has coined the word 'businessworthy' to describe the qualities it looks for when searching the world for worthy nominees to the award.
In the spirit of corporate social responsibility
Corporate social responsibility
Corporate social responsibility is a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model...
, ethically aware businesses build win-win enduring relationships, forging a union between not only the business partners, but also with the societies which are touched by their business activity.
The Business for Peace Foundation seeks to demonstrate that there are legion examples where businesses work as a force of good together with society, achieving results that build trust and contribute to stability and peace. It is the ambition of the foundation that these examples will inform decision makers worldwide, inspiring them to redirect their business activities in accordance with businessworthy principles.
In the January–February 2011 issue of Harvard Business Review
Harvard Business Review
Harvard Business Review is a general management magazine published since 1922 by Harvard Business School Publishing, owned by the Harvard Business School. A monthly research-based magazine written for business practitioners, it claims a high ranking business readership among academics, executives,...
, professor Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Cramer proposed what they called Creating Shared Value
Creating Shared Value
Creating Shared Value is a concept first introduced in Harvard Business Review article Strategy & Society: The Link between Competitive Advantage and Corporate Social Responsibility and further expanded in the January 2011 follow-up piece entitled Creating Shared Value: Redefining Capitalism and...
, while declaring that "Companies must take the lead in bringing business and society back together". Their notion of shared value corresponds well with the criteria of businessworthiness informing the Business for Peace Foundation's search for Honourees.
The Award Committee
Following the extensive nomination process, the Honourees are selected by an independent committee composed of winners of either the Nobel Peace PrizeNobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
or Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, commonly referred to as the Nobel Prize in Economics, but officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel , is an award for outstanding contributions to the field of economics, generally regarded as one of the...
.
Present members of the committee are professor Wangari Maathai
Wangari Maathai
Wangari Muta Mary Jo Maathai was a Kenyan environmental and political activist. She was educated in the United States at Mount St. Scholastica and the University of Pittsburgh, as well as the University of Nairobi in Kenya...
, professor Muhammad Yunus
Muhammad Yunus
Muhammad Yunus is a Bangladeshi economist and founder of the Grameen Bank, an institution that provides microcredit to help its clients establish creditworthiness and financial self-sufficiency. In 2006 Yunus and Grameen received the Nobel Peace Prize...
, and professor Michael Spence
Michael Spence
Andrew Michael Spence is an American economist and recipient of the 2001 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, along with George A. Akerlof and Joseph E. Stiglitz, for their work on the dynamics of information flows and market development. He conducted this research while at Harvard University...
.
The Oslo Business for Peace Award
The statue "the Just Man" has been created by the artist Bruce Naigles, and is presented to the Business for Peace Honourees during the formal award ceremony at Oslo City HallOslo City Hall
Oslo City Hall houses the city council, city administration, and art studios and galleries. The construction started in 1931, but was paused by the outbreak of World War II, before the official inauguration in 1950. Its characteristic architecture, artworks and the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, held...
.
Honourees also receive a diploma noting their exemplary business wisdom.
Nominees who have been vetted by the screening committee are entered into The Book of Honourable Business Practitioners, together with the Honourees named each year.
2009
- Anders DahlvigAnders DahlvigAnders Dahlvig, born 1957 in Sweden, is the former president of the Swedish furniture store chain, IKEA. Dahlvig started working for IKEA in 1984 and has held various positions since, including Store Manager, Country Manager of United Kingdom and Vice President, Europe...
, Sweden; - Mo IbrahimMo IbrahimDr. Mohamed "Mo" Ibrahim is a Sudanese mobile communications entrepreneur and billionaire. He worked for several other telecommunications companies before founding Celtel, which when sold had over 24 million mobile phone subscribers in 14 African countries...
, Sudan; - Jeffrey R. ImmeltJeffrey R. ImmeltJeffrey Robert "Jeff" Immelt is an American business executive. He is currently the chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the U.S.-based conglomerate General Electric. He was selected by GE's Board of Directors in 2000 to replace Jack Welch following his retirement...
, USA; - Mohammed Jameel, Saudi Arabia;
- Jiang JianqingJiang JianqingJiang Jianqing is the current Chairman of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited .-Biography:Jiang graduated from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics in 1984, and later obtained his master's and doctor's degrees from Shanghai Jiao Tong University. In 1993, Jiang was appointed...
, China; - Josephine Okot, Uganda;
- Zhengrong Shi, China
2010
- Francis YeohFrancis YeohTan Sri Dato' Francis Yeoh Sock PingCBE is a prominent business personality in Malaysia, and the eldest son of Malaysian billionaire Tan Sri Dato' Seri Yeoh Tiong Lay...
, Malaysia; - Emily CumminsEmily CumminsEmily Jayne Cummins is an English inventor and entrepreneur.Cummins is a student at Leeds University, studying Management and Sustainability....
, UK; - William Rosenzweig, USA;
- Roberto Servitje Sendra, Mexico;
- Venkataramani Srivathsan, Nigeria;
- Ratan TataRatan TataRatan Naval Tata is the present chairman of Tata Sons and therefore, Tata Group. Also, he is one among the few in the world...
, India; - Stef WertheimerStef WertheimerStef Wertheimer is a German-born Israeli entrepreneur and industrialist, a former Member of the Knesset, and is well known for founding industrial parks in Israel and neighboring countries.-Early life:Wertheimer was born in Kippenheim, Germany...
, Israel
The Oslo Business for Peace Summit
Starting in May 2007, the Oslo Business for Peace Summit has been held annually in the Oslo City HallOslo City Hall
Oslo City Hall houses the city council, city administration, and art studios and galleries. The construction started in 1931, but was paused by the outbreak of World War II, before the official inauguration in 1950. Its characteristic architecture, artworks and the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, held...
. The Summit examines the relationship between ethical and responsible business practices and the promotion of trust, stability and peace. Highly respected statesmen, businesspersons, academics and business thinkers have participated at the Summits through the years.
Summit Themes:
2007 - Peace and Stability through Trade
2008 - Globalisation: the good, the bad and the ugly
2009 - The World in Recession, a call for a more ethically aware capitalism?
At the 2009 Summit, the Natural Resource Charter was presented.
2010 - New Times, the potential of business to contribute to stability and peace
A selection of speakers who have contributed to the Summits: Kjell Magne Bondevik
Kjell Magne Bondevik
Kjell Magne Bondevik is a Norwegian Lutheran minister and politician . He served as Prime Minister of Norway from 1997 to 2000, and from 2001 to 2005, making him Norway's longest serving non-Labour Party Prime Minister since World War II...
, Guy F. Tozzoli (World Trade Center), Vijay Kalantri (All India Association of Industries), Jan Egeland
Jan Egeland
Jan Egeland was the United Nations Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator from June 2003 to December 2006. Egeland was appointed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan and succeeded Kenzo Oshima...
, Bob Geldof
Bob Geldof
Robert Frederick Zenon "Bob" Geldof, KBE is an Irish singer, songwriter, author, occasional actor and political activist. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s and early 1980s alongside the punk rock movement. The band had hits with his...
, Nabil Shaath
Nabil Shaath
Nabil Shaath is a senior Palestinian official who has held the following titles:*Palestinian chief negotiator*Palestinian cabinet minister*Palestinian International Co-operation Minister*Planning Minister for the Palestinian National Authority...
, Anders Källström, Khater Massaad, Jinghai Zheng, John Lervik, Margaret Beckett
Margaret Beckett
Margaret Mary Beckett is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Derby South since 1983, rising to become the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party under John Smith, from 18 July 1992 to 12 May 1994, and briefly serving as Leader of the Party following Smith's death...
, Erik Solheim
Erik Solheim
Erik Solheim is a Norwegian politician for the Socialist Left Party . He holds two posts in the current Norwegian cabinet, and carries the title Minister of the Environment and Minister of Development Cooperation...
, Festus G. Mogae, Kandeh Yumkella
Kandeh Yumkella
Kandeh K. Yumkella is the Director-General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization .-Education:* 1991 - Ph.D. Agricultural Economics, University of Illinois...
, Jeremy Rifkin
Jeremy Rifkin
Jeremy Rifkin is an American economist, writer, public speaker, political advisor and activist. He is the founder and president of the Foundation On Economic Trends...
, Rajat Gupta
Rajat Gupta
Rajat Kumar Gupta was the managing director of management consultancy McKinsey & Company from 1994 to 2003 and a business leader in India and the United States...
, Anthony J. Venables, Gobind Nankani, Petter Nore, Long Yongtu, Timothy L. Fort, Patricia Aburdene, Juan Carlos Echeverry, Børge Brende
Børge Brende
Børge Brende is a Norwegian politician from the Conservative Party. He held the government posts of Cabinet minister of the Environment, 2001 to 2004, and Cabinet minister of Trade and Industry, 2004 to 2005. He has also been a member of the Norwegian parliament for more than 10 years...
, Henrik Syse
External links
- Business for Peace Foundation – Official webpage of the Business for Peace Foundation
- Natural Resource Charter