Fixing Business: Making Profitable Business Work for The Good of All - Hardcover

Jones, Lord Digby

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1119287391 ISBN 13: 9781119287391

Publisher: Wiley, 2017

Synopsis

An optimistic call to action for business leaders and decision makers everywhere

In his second book ‘the face of British Business' Lord Digby Jones shows us why profit isn't a dirty word―it's what you do with it that counts. Society is at a crossroads, and good business lays the foundation for a successful future; but are we brave enough to build it? Fixing Business focuses on why we must be.

Fixing the world requires a vibrant and successful, profit-yielding, tax-delivering, job-creating business sector. This book describes how that sector is built, and how the good of business means the good of all.

• Learn why business must invest more―and better―in physical and human infrastructure
• Discover the critical importance of social inclusion in the future of business
• Understand why fixing education and the environment are at the top of the priority list
• Engage with every aspect of society to create the wealth that holds the social fabric together

From the smallest shop around the corner to the largest multinational corporation, the variable upon which every facet of business success rests is people. Workers, investors, customers, creditors―all ensure that wealth is created, and at the end of the day, they are what business is about. Fixing Business shows us how to harness their power to change the world.

About this title

About the Author

Lord Digby Jones served as Director General of the CBI (Confederation of British Industry, the UK's Voice of Business) from 2000 until 2006. In2006 he became the UK Skills Envoy and in 2007 he was appointed Minister of State for UK Trade & Investment. He did not join the party of government and without ambition to progress in politics he concentrated on the business of promoting Britain across the world, traveling to 31 countries in 45 overseas visits.Born in Birmingham, Lord Jones originally joined the Royal Navy, before graduating from University College London and joining the law firm Edge & Ellison, rising from Articled Clerk to Senior Partner. In 1998 he joined KPMG as vice-chairman of corporate finance, before taking up his role at the CBI.
In 2005 he was knighted for his services to business and became Sir Digby Jones in The Queen's New Year’s Honours List. In 2007 he became a life peer taking the title, Digby, Lord Jones of Birmingham Kt.
Today Lord Jones sits as an active cross-bencher in the House of Lords and is an official United Kingdom Business Ambassador. He speaks regularly to business audiences both in the UK and overseas. He serves in the private sector as Chairman of the international Business Advisory Boards of HSBC and British Airways, a Corporate Ambassador for Jaguar Cars and JCB, and Chairman of Triumph Motorcycles, among a number of pair and unpaid roles.
He holds a number of charity positions, is a non-executive director of Leicester Tigers Rugby and lives with his wife Pat in Marylebone and Warwickshire.

From the Back Cover

One of the most important institutions in modern Britain is facing a crisis. In fact, the relationship between three of Britain’s most important institutions is broken. When Business – which generates wealth, taxation, employment, products, services and innovations – Government – which regulates, seeks social progress and has a mandate to lead – and Society – all of us – cannot work together, it’s something that should concern us all. Yet while the connection between Government and Society is often reported and analysed, the crucial relationship between Business and Society is much less understood.

Business faces a range of difficult problems: many of its own making, some that are not, and it is time that these were addressed. According to Lord Digby Jones, Business must recognise that it has a vital role to play in society and it needs to start fulfilling that role better. This book is about Business: what it means, why it matters and, more significantly, the challenges it currently faces and the solutions that it needs to adopt if it is to succeed for the benefit of us all.

In this follow-up to his widely acclaimed Fixing Britain, Lord Digby Jones turns his eye to Business, by proposing a way to salvage this often maligned word and make profit creation a socially-beneficial act. Lord Jones pulls no punches in addressing the major factors that influence, and are influenced by, Business today, including:

• Britain in a post-Brexit world
• Donald Trump’s America
• The “Elephant in the Boardroom” or Executive Pay

Profit is not a dirty word. It is an agent for good if properly used. Communities, charities and every part of Society are better served when businesses, large and small, are buoyant. Fixing Business calls out to all businesses and their leaders to rise to the challenge.

From the Inside Flap

"Fixing Business is a primer for all of society on the role of business. Acres of common sense and we should hope both politicians and business leaders pay heed to the potential harvest".
—Sir John Sunderland, Chief Executive Cadbury plc 1996–2003 & Chairman 2003– 2008. Chairman of Merlin Entertainments plc 2009–present

Something is Wrong – And it's Everybody's Business

One of the most important institutions in modern Britain is facing a crisis. In fact, the relationship between three of Britain's most important institutions is broken. When Business–which generates wealth, taxation, employment, products, services and innovations – Government – which regulates, seeks social progress and has a mandate to lead – and Society – all of us – cannot work together, it's something that should concern us all. Yet while the connection between Government and Society is often reported and analysed, the crucial relationship between Business and Society is much less understood.

Business faces a range of difficult problems: many of its own making, some that are not, and it is time that these were addressed. According to Lord Digby Jones, Business must recognise that it has a vital role to play in society and it needs to start fulfilling that role better. This book is about Business: what it means, why it matters and, more significantly, the challenges it currently faces and the solutions that it needs to adopt if it is to succeed for the benefit of us all.

In this follow-up to his widely acclaimed Fixing Britain, Lord Digby Jones turns his eye to Business, by proposing a way to salvage this often maligned word and make profit creation a socially-beneficial act. Lord Jones pulls no punches in addressing the major factors that influence, and are influenced by, Business today, including:

• Britain in a post-Brexit world
• Donald Trump's America
• The "Elephant in the Boardroom" or Executive Pay

Profit is not a dirty word. It is an agent for good if properly used. Communities, charities and every part of Society are better served when businesses, large and small, are buoyant. Fixing Business calls out to all businesses and their leaders to rise to the challenge.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1119287391
• ISBN 13: 9781119287391
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208