The COVID-19 pandemic has seemingly confirmed the worries that have been built up over the years about the quality of capitalism that has been in play. It exposed inequalities and left-behind communities and led to deep unemployment in many areas. On the positive side, the pandemic has displayed how companies can set aside self-interest to help their employees and society in the time of need. However, businesses will remain under pressure to stick to their profit-making objective, which can drive their attention away from ensuring the welfare of their workers and relevant communities, even as the pandemic eases. Thus, it is opportune to revisit how businesses can be profitable and ethical at the same time. A critical characteristic of an ethical business is consideration for the interests of all stakeholders and not only the shareholders in the business.

In this webinar session, the following issues will be tackled:

• Will a stakeholder model foster or hinder corporate/economic growth in a post-COVID environment? What kinds of tradeoffs can be expected?
• How willing are businesses to follow a stakeholder model? Will they be inclined to adopt universally accepted environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics, which are designed to help achieve
  the SDGs? Will they be willing to correct wage inequality, pay the proper taxes, and be more transparent to their various stakeholders?
• What will be the effect on firms? On financial markets? On the latter, do we have an investor base that is cognizant of the long-term benefits of a sustainability/stakeholder mindset among firms? Or will this be viewed as simply increasing costs?
• Should stakeholder principles be further enshrined in corporate governance laws? What are the pros and cons of codification? What have been the good/bad outcomes of the recent changes in the corporate governance code?

PROGRAM

  9:00 am to 11:30 am Manila Time (GMT +8)  

APPC Webinar 2: Ethical Business

Speakers
Stakeholder Capitalism: A Journey
A case study on PayPal’s practice of stakeholder capitalism and the broader shift in industry towards this more inclusive and sustainable economic model

• Mr. Usman Ahmed
  Head of Global Public Policy
  PayPal Inc.

ETHICAL BUSINESS: Some Unsettled Issues
This presentation addresses the prevalent notion that business has the moral obligation to serve the material interests of society.

We hold the contrary view that business firms have no such responsibility, and that their sole mandate is to generate profit for their owners.

Drawing on insights from social Darwinism, sociology, and economics, this presentation attempts to show that by creating value for all those who contribute to the production process, firms are able to maximize output and to generate more revenues - and ultimately to realize more profits - over the long haul. In this way, firms can achieve their profit objectives and at the same time contribute to the wellbeing of the community. 

• Dr. Niceto S. Poblador
  Retired Professor of Economics and Management
  University of the Philippines

Panelists
Ms. April Lynn C. Lee-Tan
First Vice President for Corporate Strategy and Chief Investor Relations Officer
COL Financial Group, Inc.

Atty.  Cesar L. Villanueva
Chairperson, Board of Trustees
Institute of Corporate Directors

Moderator
Dr. Margarita Debuque-Gonzales
Senior Research Fellow
Philippine Institute for Development Studies

PROFILES

MR. USMAD AHMED

Head of Global Public Policy
PayPal Inc.

Mr. Usman Ahmed is the Head of Global Public Policy at PayPal Inc. Ahmed is also an Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law School. His research has been published in the Cambridge Press World Trade Review, MIT Press Innovations Journal, and Boston University International Law Journal. His research has also been cited in articles appearing in the NY Times, the Financial Times, the Straits Times, USA Today, and Detroit Free Press. He is a Millennium Fellow at the Atlantic Council and a Security Fellow at the Truman National Security Project. Ahmed earned his JD from University of Michigan, his MA from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, and his BA from University of Maryland.

DR. NICETO S. POBLADOR

Retired Professor of Economics and Management
University of the Philippines

Dr. Niceto S. Poblador is a Retired Professor of Economics and Management at the University of the Philippines. He received his Ph.D. in Business and Applied Economics at the University of Pennsylvania. His areas of specialization and interest are The Economics of Knowledge/Knowledge Management, The Economics of Strategy/Managerial Economics, Management of Complex Adaptive Systems and Institutional Development/Organization Theory. He has published widely and authored several books and journal articles. Among his recent works are “Responding to Emergent Global Challenges” and the “Strategy Demythicized: Why Today’s Business Models Fail to Deliver” both published by the Management Association of the Philippines. He also recently wrote an article on “Non-inclusive growth, the profit motive, and the case for inclusive business,” published at the Philippine Review of Economics in 2017.

MS. APRIL LYNN C. LEE-TAN

First Vice President for Corporate Strategy and Chief Investor Relations Officer
COL Financial Group, Inc.

Ms. April Lee-Tan is the First Vice President for Corporate Strategy and Chief Investor Relations Officer of COL Financial. She is also the company’s Chief Equity Strategist, writing and presenting market strategy reports and appearing in local business programs as a resource person for stock market matters. Previously, she headed COL’s research team, which covers more than 60% of the PSE’s market capitalization.

Outside of COL Financial, April writes the weekly column Intelligent Investing for the Philippine Daily Inquirer and hosts the TV show Insight with April Lee Tan for ANC, both of which focus on the stock market, business, and personal finance topics.

She received her BS Management Engineering degree from the Ateneo de Manila University. April became a CFA Charterholder in 2000.

ATTY. CESAR L. VILLANUEVA

Chairperson, Board of Trustees
Institute of Corporate Directors

Atty. Cesar L. Villanueva is currently the Chairman of the Institute of Corporate Directors Board of Trustees. He also holds the position of Executive Secretary for the Administrative Tribunal of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), to which post he was first appointed in 2011. He served as Dean of the Ateneo de Manila Law School from 2004 to 2011, and remains a professorial lecturer in Corporation Law, Agency & Trusts, Partnerships & Joint Ventures, and Law on Sales.

Atty. Villanueva was the recipient of the Ambassador Cesar B. Bautista Award for Good Governance (May, 2014).  He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Merit by H.E. President Benigno S. Aquino III in June 2016, for “outstanding, dedicated work and exceptional leadership" as the Chairman of Governance Commission for GOCCs. 

Dean Villanueva obtained his Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) from the Ateneo Law School in 1981 (valedictorian; cum laude); obtained his Master of Laws (LL.M.) from the Harvard Law School in 1989. He has authored leading legal books: Commercial Law Review; Philippine Corporate Law, Agency & Trusts, Partnerships & Joint Ventures, Law on Sales, and Law and Practice on: Philippine Corporate Governance, which was awarded 2009 National Book Award on Professions given by the National Book Development Board and the Manila Critics Circle. 

DR. MARGARITA DEBUQUE-GONZALES

Senior Research Fellow
Philippine Institute for Development Studies

Dr. Margarita Debuque-Gonzales is a Senior Research Fellow at the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS). Her research interests are in the areas of monetary economics, financial economics, macroeconomics, and development. Prior to joining PIDS, she was an associate professor at the University of the Philippines School of Economics (UPSE), where she headed the financial and international economics committee and the UnionBank Center for Financial and Monetary Economics. She also previously served as consultant to various government agencies and international financial institutions and was Country Advisor for several years at GlobalSource Partners, which oversees an international network of independent economists. Maggie used to be a regular contributor at the business section of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, where she won numerous journalism awards for her special reports and feature articles on the Philippine economy and finance. She obtained her PhD in Economics from UPSE and her BS in Psychology (magna cum laude) also from UP.

This webinar is organized by Philippine Institute for Development Studies, with support from Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.