The sight of British and American companies squabbling over pickings from the not-quite-dead corpse of Saddam Hussein's Iraq will confirm the widely held view that the business world will stop at nothing to pursue profit.
It is not just in the Middle East that there is a suspicion that the rationale for this war was to protect the interests of corporate America, with a few crumbs for its British friends. This will inevitably increase the volume of calls for more corporate responsibility and accountability.
This debate already has momentum (see www.openDemocracy.net). An increasingly affluent, educated and informed public has rising expectations of everything -- including corporate behavior -- as demonstrated by the growth in socially responsible investment.
But if the momentum of the debate is growing, the same cannot be said for the mutual comprehension of the protagonists. At one pole are the non-governmental organizations. They see no alternative to global legislation to compel companies to behave responsibly.
At the other are the free-market ideologues who believe the public interest is simply the sum of all private interests. Public intervention is an unwarranted interference in the sacred duty of a corporate management to its shareholders. The passion with which these views are held adds nothing to their clarity.
The business world must understand that it should explain more and assume less about its contribution to society. In the twenty-first century, the minimum social case is that what business does is legal, profitable and socially and environmentally responsible. Since business cannot decide for itself what is responsible, it must engage with a wide range of partners in order for this to be done. Limited liability is a privilege granted to corporate beings by society without which it is hard to imagine how they could play a beneficial role in our lives.
But the terms of that privilege are negotiable as circumstances change.
Most people have learnt that companies that provide jobs today can take them away tomorrow. A company's contribution to the economy as a whole is necessary, but it is no longer a sufficient reason for granting it a license to operate.
Corporations are already formally accountable to shareholders, employees, customers and regulators. Those calling for greater corporate responsibility need to be clearer about where those boundaries are and what part they play in defining them.
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