Living Together: Will Salvation Come From Businesses?

The “salvation” of society cannot rely solely on businesses, even though they contribute to social cohesion. Top-down approaches, typical of broad macroeconomic policies, now appear limited in a context of globalization and increasingly complex economic systems, where they tend to generate rents and exacerbate inequalities. By contrast, bottom-up dynamics, rooted in the productive fabric and driven by companies, seem better suited to delivering lasting impact.

However, publicly listed companies remain constrained by short-term performance pressures, which can conflict with broader collective well-being objectives. In this regard, mutual and cooperative models offer relevant alternatives.

Moreover, the effectiveness of such an approach depends on the renewed recognition of intermediary bodies—particularly trade unions and associations—whose role in mediation is essential to the implementation of structural reforms.