The New Capitalist Manifesto: Building a Disruptively Better Business [Kindle Edition]

Umair Haque (Author)

Book Description

In this manifesto-style book, radical economist and strategist Umair Haque calls for the end of the corrupt business ideals that exemplify business as usual. His passionate vision for "Capitalism 2.0," or "constructive capitalism," is one in which old paradigms of wasteful growth, inefficient competition, and self-destructive ideals are left far behind at this reset moment. According the Haque, the economic crisis was not a market failure or even a financial crisis, but an institutional one.

Haque details a holistic five-step plan for both reducing the negative and exploitive nature of the current system and ensuring positive social and economic growth for the future. Haque calls for a reexamination of ideals, and urges business away from competition and rivalries and toward a globally-conscious and constructive model--and a constructive future. Haque argues that companies must learn to orient their business models around:

- renewal in order to maximize efficiency

- equity in order to maximize productivity

- meaning in order to maximize effectiveness

- democracy in order to maximize agility

- peace in order to maximize evolvability

These new business ideals focus on the human element - not profit exclusively - and are easily tailored for any size or type of business, as long as they are willing to make bold and sustained changes to the current system.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"…his book presents his ideas with panache." - Globe & Mail

"…a wonderfully written book that helps readers become the change they want to see, declaring that ‘Though the pages that follow are filled with examples … I don’t want you to follow an example, but to be the example.'" – Jack Covert, 800 CEO READ

"This is a good book. And you should read it, mark it up with a pencil, and then read it again." – Triple Pundit

About the Author

Umair Haque is the Director of the London-based Havas Media Lab and heads Bubblegeneration, a strategy lab that helps discover strategic innovation. He studies the economics of the future: the impact that new technologies, management innovations, and shifting consumer preferences will exert tomorrow on the industries and markets of today.

Product Details

• File Size: 520 KB
• Print Length: 252 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1422158586
• Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press (December 6, 2010)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004D39MTU
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Not Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #278,144 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed fan May 25, 2011

By Dan Gray

Format:Hardcover

Much as it pains me to say it, as a long-time reader and fan of Umair Haque's excellent HBR blog, I was left slightly disappointed by this book.

For all its good content (including a great foreword by Gary Hamel), it fell short of what I was expecting and hoping for - namely, Umair using the extended medium of a book to take his basic thesis to the next level and tackle some of the (IMNSHO deeply misguided) critics of his blog, who prefer to spend their time demanding 'linear' proof of causality, rather than appreciating the complex system of changing frame conditions in which business is now operating.

Umair's cause isn't helped by some extraordinarily poor editing, which sees not only key ideas and concepts, but occasionally entire paragraphs of text repeated verbatim on facing pages. As a result (rightly or wrongly), you're left with the impression of a book that achieves its 200-odd page count with unnecessary padding, rather than with the further development of his argument.

Ultimately, I have to agree with the essence of Philip Loden's review. If you want the benefit of Umair's thought-provoking perspectives, go visit his blog. If you want to get to grips with the why, the what and the how of creating "thick" (sustainable, shared) value in more detail, then I feel there are other, better books for the job - Jonathon Porritt's "Capitalism As If The World Matters" and the magnificent Ray C. Anderson's "Business Lessons From A Radical Industrialist" to name but two.

37 of 44 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Frustratingly superficial March 24, 2011

By Philip Loden

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

If you need to be told that our current corporate system is broken, that the world can afford less and less to ignore negative externalities, that radical innovation can disrupt an industry, that feedback loops based on customer input can dramatically improve the way you do business, and that taking pride in who you are and what you do can produce better outcomes than making quarterly earnings the measure of all things, then read this book. If you already believe these things, have actually heard of the Innovator's Dilemma, and instead are looking for ways to implement these principles or detailed case studies of companies that already have, then keep looking.

31 of 37 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A radical overhaul of business strategy December 16, 2010

By John Gibbs TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Growth in developed countries has been steadily slowing for the last half-century, and this is a lasting, historic shift more significant than a crisis, correction or crash, according to Umair Haque in this book. The global poor have been subsidizing the rich to fuel overconsumption, and the natural world, communities and society have been marginalized.

The problem is that under industrial-era practices, businesses have been able to extract what the author calls "thin value" profits by shifting costs onto someone else. The new types of enterprises which will thrive in the 21st century will be "constructive capitalists", which will do some or all of the following:

* Renew resources instead of exploiting them
* Be more responsive to supply and demand by allocating resources democratically
* Use "philosophies" that create value rather than "strategies" that extract value
* Creating new arenas of competition rather than dominating existing ones
* Seeking payoffs that are meaningful in human terms, not just financial ones

The book goes on to describe ways in which some companies are already making the shift. Walmart has taken on challenging new sustainability goals. Nike has adopted new design principles to reduce waste and maximize recycling. Lego has opened up the design of its products to users. Google aims to stay competitive by liberating data instead of trying to lock users in. Tata has created an entirely new category of car with its Nano, and Apple has done similar things with its products. Nintendo's Wii is turning video games into a focal point for social interaction.

The book is written in a bold, provocative style similar to that of Gary Hamel (who has written the Foreword). The author aims more to challenge you out of your complacency than to get you to agree with him. He challenges you to use the book not as a blueprint but as inspiration for creating your own blueprint for the future of your business.

I found the author's ideas quite stimulating, although I am not sure that it is possible to build a business using all of the features of "constructive capitalism". For example, most people did not see the need for an iPad before Apple created one, so I do not think that "allocating resources democratically" is entirely consistent with "creating new arenas of competition". In the Kindle version of the book, some of the figures are almost illegible, although this does not detract from the value of the book as a whole. I disagreed with much of what the book says in its predictions for the future, but I believe that it is partly right; the problem is, I do not know which parts.

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.