May 12, 2009 - We stand today at an historical moment. Many aspects of the global economy are out of synch with 21st century imperatives. While the character of corporations that produce needed goods and services-the "real economy"-is undergoing intense change, the "financial economy" is fueled more by money shuffling than by long-term wealth creation. The current global financial crisis has exposed a system of untenable leverage and speculative behavior that has left the real economy dangerously short of affordable, reliable and timely and patient capital to meet its investment and operating needs. The result: an erosion of prospects for the creation and prosperity of sustainable companies to meet the pressing social and environmental challenges in the coming decades.

To explore the causes, consequences and solutions to these conditions,
Corporation 20/20 (www.corporation2020.org) invites you to participate in the 2nd Summit on the Future of the Corporation: Restoring the primacy of the real economy. We will hear perspectives from several notable principals: Peter Blom, Chair and CEO of the Netherlands' Triodos Bank, Peter Senge, the founding chair of Society for Organizational Learning and Roger Saillant, former Vice President at Ford Motor Company, and CEO, Plug Power. A series of 10 original articles will be available to all participants. We will also read papers by Mark Goyder, of Tomorrow's Company and by senior researchers at the Tellus Institute, among other contributors. Join Summit Cconvening committee members such as Damon Silvers, Associate General Counsel of the AFL-CIO and Aron Cramer, CEO of Business for Social Responsibility and other leaders from business, civil society, labor, law and the media in a dynamic forum to debate one of the most pressing issues of our time: how can financial markets be returned to their rightful role as servant to, rather than master of, the real economy?

Corporation 20/20

Corporation 20/20

Corporation 20/20 seeks to: create a forum of leading thinkers, practitioners and advocates; construct positive and plausible visions of the future corporate form, and translate such visions into broad-based advocacy. Toward those ends, the initiative aims to create international benchmarks to inspire and guide corporations, governments, multilateral organizations and civil society toward transformative change in corporate design, including ownership structures, governance, corporate law reform, capitalization and internal incentives and rewards. Corporation 20/20 is rooted in the premise that societal expectations of business in the 21st century demands a major elevation in corporate contributions to urgent global problems—economic, environmental, and social.

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