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Keywords: Trust, Intangible assets, Organizational behaviour
Contemporary business can be a powerful force for global change. A consensus is building that it is proper, and in some cases preferable, for business to marshal its resources to solve problems on a global stage. Business has a considerable role to play in public diplomacy, which was defined in 1965 by diplomat Edmund Guillion, and later Dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, as dealing with the influence of public attitudes on the forming and carrying out of foreign policy. And it is an activity in international relations beyond traditional political diplomacy that includes actions by governments to "cultivate" public opinion in other countries and to communicate with foreign correspondents. It is also the county to country interaction and intercultural communication of private groups such as businesses.
Substantial agreement now exists that global business can and must act to solve problems that have often been handled by government. In the decades following the end of the cold war, government systematically backed away from issues of economic development, as the "conflicts" at the core of the aftermath of the second world war seemed to evaporate along with the fall of the Soviet Union. However, the economic and social issues that were masked during the ideological conflict of the cold war surfaced, as did the suppressed desires for political and social ambition.
Excesses in the emerging market boom took center stage at the end of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first. In particular, American businesses were, and are, faced with eroding trust in the wake of global scandals, the perception of globalization as exclusively an American initiative, and a widespread disagreement with US policy abroad, particularly with the military involvement in Iraq.
There is, however, agreement that business can and must act. The role of business is more vital now than ever, as businesses, even small ones, are global in their practices. And as the internet and new forms of digital media make communication instantaneous and ubiquitous, the call to action is even more urgent.
Customers, vendors, and business partners need a firm relationship of trust in this...