GROW THE PIE

Alex Edmans’ superb book makes the case, compellingly and comprehensively, for a radical rethink of how companies operate and indeed why they exist. It is a tour de force.

Edmans’s arguments are a powerful and persuasive antidote to much of the conventional wisdom about the corporate world.

Oliver Hart

2016 Nobel Laureate in Economics

This is a brilliant and timely book, taking the business case for responsible capitalism to a whole new level.

This is a must-read book for anyone interested in reforming capitalism – particularly in its role of serving wider society. The book is grounded in academic evidence, but the ideas are highly practical, and recognize the need for business to be profitable as well as purposeful.

As someone who believes passionately in the power of business to contribute powerfully to the broader well-being of society, I’d thoroughly recommend this important, timely and evidence-rich book.

Liv Garfield

CEO, Severn Trent

The implications are radical and far-reaching. Read it: it will challenge how you think.

His thought-provoking, often contrarian, ideas are rigorously logical, delving beneath the superficial analyses we often see, which assume correlation implies causation. And Alex’s engaging storytelling brings the principles of ‘Pieconomics’ to life.

This is capitalism with a human face.

In this thoroughly readable book, Edmans debunks mythologies about corporate behavior and offers a new vocabulary by which we can have principled discussions about the role of business in society. A “must read” for leaders in government, business and the media that reports on both.

This book is a must-read for asset owners, fund managers and for the boards and executives who lead business enterprise. It provides evidence-based analysis and guidance on how the influence of well-designed stewardship can yield benefit in terms of both financial returns for savers and investors and returns for all stakeholders in a way that benefits society as a whole.

Alex Edmans has produced rigorous evidence that the choice between people and profits is a false dichotomy. Now he makes his work accessible to a broader audience and explains how it’s possible to overcome the tradeoffs that hold so many leaders and companies back.

This uplifting book provides powerful examples, as well as evidence, that socially responsible businesses generate even higher long term profits than corporations focused on short term profit maximisation.

Edmans mobilizes evidence – not anecdotes – to make a case, both accessible and compelling, for policies and practices that increase the value available for all stakeholders versus simply and simplistically maximizing profit.

Alex Edmans provides robust evidence against the claim that businesses must choose between shareholder value and social responsibility.  Although there are trade-offs, there is no single trade-off. What is good for shareholders can be good for society: evidence matters.

Anyone interested in this important subject would find much to learn from, or wrestle with, in this book.