Juncture: Dialogues on Inclusive Capitalism is a new research centre at the University of Auckland Business School devoted to taking on one of the most urgent and exciting questions of our time: can we do capitalism better? We talk to two of the Business School leaders behind the centre.
When dreaming up a name for a bold new research hub, the team at the University of Auckland Business School took on a semantic minefield. “We knew when we called our centre Dialogues on Inclusive Capitalism that the word ‘inclusive’ would upset half the world, and ‘capitalism’ would upset the other half,” says Professor Susan Watson, dean of the Business School and interim head of the centre.
She’s only half joking; some of those sensitivities are what made the initiative so compelling when they began building it about three years ago. Their challenge: to advance a constructive dialogue about capitalism today, to provide a home for conversations bringing together those that gravitate strongly towards (or against) one of the words. These are, after all, among the most pressing questions of our time, as pervasive around the globe as here: can capitalism evolve to enhance the wellbeing of populations and the planet, and if so, how?
That challenge, weighty as it is, informs the first part of the new centre’s name: Juncture. “We think we’re at a juncture in history in the sense that all these tenets are starting to be questioned,” says Watson. In another sense, a juncture is an intersection: of voices and ideas and practice, from a range of fields. “What we want to really encourage are informed dialogues that incorporate different perspectives,” she says.
From its home in the Business School and the buzzy hive of activity that is the Sir Owen G. Glenn Building, Juncture – the first such research centre of its kind in New Zealand – is not adopting any particular stance in that wider debate, but approaches capitalism with a wide-angle curiosity: how does it deal with the challenges of inequality, of the environment. What is its relationship with culture, society and colonisation – in the New Zealand experience, specifically, with Te Ao Māori?
A commitment to collaborative thinking is at the heart of the Juncture kaupapa – a “weaving together” of disciplines, and of engaging with business, says Billie Lythberg, a senior lecturer in the Business School and associate director of the centre. “I’m working with scientists,” she says. “I’m working with geographers. We have people who are developing businesses from within the business school, working with engineers.”
The canvas is broad but this is no esoteric exercise. Juncture reflects an evolving thinking within the business world – an approach that views capitalism within a wider social and cultural context. This is the terrain of many initialisms such as ESG, an investment framework that measures not just profits but environmental, social and governance impacts. Or CSR, a business model that emphasises corporate social responsibility.
These initialisms are ideas that have become ensnared in parts of the world by the so-called culture wars, but for businesses, they represent very practical challenges. Watson points to a series of interviews undertaken by a PhD student with New Zealand company directors. “They all think about the companies they run in the context in which they operate, which means, inevitably, they don’t just focus on maximising profit to the maximum extent in the short term. They think about the social context, and they think about the environmental context – to varying degrees. It’s all to do with how it’s framed, and it’s a shame that it’s become so politicised in some parts of the world because in many ways it’s just good business.”
Among the myriad projects in which Juncture is already engaged is an international research network called Activating Responsible Corporations. “Even though corporations and companies are with us everywhere, small and large, there remain completely different understandings of what they are,” explains Watson, an expert on the idea of the corporate form.
While some hold that corporations are purely based on maximising financial return to shareholders, others argue that intrinsic to the form is a considerably wider purpose. Watson points to the suggestion by Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens, that the construct of the corporation is one of the great human innovations. “It’s the shared belief, in a sense, in which assets and capital are aggregated. And, if you believe that it’s solely based on shareholders, it’s pretty hard to move beyond a certain way of thinking about them. And that’s where a lot of the differences exist.”
Part of the role of Juncture – in this case as part of a wider transnational academic group – is to provide the forum for those differences to be aired. And that dialogue embraces a range of perspectives, subjects and cultures that in the past were less visible. “We’re cognisant of how people from lots of different disciplines are considering the corporation in the work that they do, but coming at it from really different angles,” says Lythberg. “It really is fertile territory. It’s exciting to have these discussions about something that is so fundamental, and yet, as Susan says, we tend to understand it differently, depending on who we are, how we’ve been trained, what we do.”
Another, distinctly local, project being pursued by doctorate student Victoria Ongolea under the Juncture umbrella centres on the intersection of anga faka-Tonga – the Tongan way of life – with financial wellbeing. Lythberg is one of three academics (Victoria has a Māori, Palagi and Tongan supervision team) overseeing research which is fundamentally tethered to the community. “Victoria is a financial adviser, and she has recognised a real gap in the types of financial advice and interventions currently available for her Pasifika clients and specifically her Tongan clients. These don’t necessarily recognise what it is that people value, and that value can be much broader than monetary wealth, connecting with wellbeing for individuals and families and communities. So she is working to develop an intervention that she hopes will be more applicable, more beneficial for the Tongan community here in Aotearoa.”
Central to that is the language used. “A lot of the terminology that we use to talk about finances, when transliterated into Tongan, they’re not words that have any kind of conceptual purchase for people. Victoria is looking to develop a language for talking about finance that would make better sense, because it’s actually coming from real roots in the Tongan language and culture.”
The outward-looking Juncture ethos extends to a range of public events held in 2024 – spanning everything from capitalism and sustainability to governance and the ideas of French economist Thomas Piketty, author of the landmark Capital in the 21st Century – with more to come in 2025. And for prospective students, the centre offers exciting possibilities.
For a long time, says Watson, there was a standard formula for business scholarship: “It meant studying finance, studying management, studying accounting. But you wouldn’t be thinking a lot about what business and what capitalism really are. Today, as well as those disciplines, you can enrich and deepen that.”
That also brings a sense of possibility. “We don’t want to be Pollyannaish about it,” says Watson, “but this is a place where you can try to solve problems, to come up with ideas. And those ideas can make a real difference through using the tools of business. We really try to encourage the thinking that you can make a difference when you study through our Business School.” And the environment, Lythberg adds, is a “really dynamic” one, underpinned by an “incredibly collegial” energy. “It’s just a terrific place to come into.”
While the question of how to address business needs while at the same time tackling urgent social and environmental challenges might at times seem overwhelming, New Zealand offers some real advantages. Here, says Lythberg, there aren’t the same “concrete silos” you see in many parts of the world. “We’re able to do things they can’t elsewhere – that two degrees of separation is exciting.”
And there are parts of the New Zealand business world that are truly unique, says Watson. “Take, for example, Māori business … Maybe there’s something to learn from those that can help the world, because everywhere in the world, people are encountering the same big questions and feelings of helplessness about how to navigate through them,” she says. “So we are quite excited that we’ve got this opportunity through Juncture, the bandwidth and space. And when you talk to people overseas it’s clear there is something unique and special about the small scale of New Zealand that lets us try things you can’t do anywhere else.”
Connect with Juncture to learn more about their research, educational events and opportunities for collaboration.
