Together with its majority shareholder, Anteilsverwaltung Sparkasse Oberösterreich, and the Catholic Private University of Linz, Sparkasse Oberösterreich organised a discussion on fairness, progress and justice. And about how these values can actually be anchored in everyday business life.
Between aspiration and realisation
Political and communication scientist Peter Filzmaier provided the central impetus with his keynote speech "Fairness, progress and justice: everyone is in favour and nobody does anything?". He shed light on the tension between social consensus and real action. While fairness and justice are hardly controversial in rhetoric, there is often a clear gap in practice.
Filzmaier argued that sustainable economic success is increasingly dependent on credibility. Companies must not only communicate responsibility, but also live it consistently. Progress therefore means combining innovation and the pursuit of profit with fair and equitable behaviour; not as an add-on, but as an integral part of corporate strategy.
Responsibility as a strategic factor
In the subsequent panel discussion, Stefanie Christina Huber (General Director, CEO & CFO of Sparkasse Oberösterreich), Dr Peter Filzmaier, Dr Georg Emprechtinger (Managing Owner of TEAM 7) and Dr Bernd Ziegler (Catholic Private University of Linz) discussed the role of business as a force for shaping society.
The discussion centred on the question of which framework conditions promote fair politics, how sustainable progress can be achieved and how ethical principles can be put into practice in day-to-day business. Huber emphasised the role model function of banks and companies: Business must be organised in such a way that it creates broad social added value, he said. Fairness and progress are not a contradiction in terms, but the basis of a sustainable business model.
As a personal participant in this event, I have only one conclusion: #schongenial!
