Business goals for a new world order: beyond growth, greed and quarterly results

Around 1998, junior managers and professionals in 17 countries and regions rated the importance of a number of personal goals for their country's successful business leaders. Across countries, dominant goals were growth, continuity, short-term profits and personal wealth. Goal profiles differed among countries however. The US profile presented the most extreme stress on growth, personal wealth, and short-term results. In hindsight, these findings predicted the 2008 economic crash. Out of the ruins of the present system a new order is bound to emerge, less dominated by the USA. Goal profiles for the emerging economies of India, Brazil, China and Germany are shown to predict where the new world order may differ from the old one: a longer term view, less fascination with growth and personal wealth, and more responsibility towards society.