New perspectives for the purpose of knowledge enterprises

A conventional perspective on enterprises often centers around individuals, placing them amidst a social environment. The individual, with capacities such as consciousness, feeling, thinking, and willing, extends these attributes into the social sphere, encompassing domains like social consciousness, politics, culture, and the economy.

Enterprises, positioned between the individual and the social realm, represent a unique facet of social relations. Their entity concept interlaces governance, management, and operations – domains instrumental in fulfilling the enterprise’s raison d’être, its purpose.

The viability of the entity concept hinges on the consciousness of stakeholders, some strongly aligned with the enterprise’s purpose, while others play weaker roles. A lucid vision of purpose is paramount, involving end-customers, owners, lenders, employees, and suppliers, all integral to the enterprise’s framework.

A holistic, systemic approach accentuates pure consciousness at the core, permeating individuals, enterprises, society, and extending to the environmental conditions crucial for societal well-being. This environment encompasses life, sustaining life elements, and Gaya’s culture, representing the cultural manifestations vital to life conditions beyond human culture.

Governance now extends beyond human feelings and politics, encompassing life in general. It serves life conditions and includes stakeholders embodying a concern for life, acting as “the voice of nature” within the enterprise. This principle similarly applies to management and operations, fostering a richer, multipolar relationship.

A spiritualized society, not limited to specific religions but inclusive of all forms of transcendence, underscores the prevalence of knowledge goods over material possessions. Consciousness, distinct from ego-centered awareness, instills a desire for a broad perspective, guiding behavior toward sustainability, frugality, and responsive consumption.

Enterprises relinquish a self-centered concept of entity and adopt creative ways to support life, human society, and life preconditions. Core values remain linked to end-users creating value for themselves through product and services. Differentiation arises from innovative links between enterprise support and life, society, key end-users’ practical demands, and business (enterprise) offerings.

Monetary inflow driven by a strong focus on customers, society, and the environment, is distributed among all stakeholders, ideally in fair proportions according to their critical demands, adapting continuously to external unpredictable circumstances. The enterprise’s central purpose aligns with

external drivers, while internal vitality connects to organic demands rooted in the common DNA of life and society.

While founders may initiate the purpose, broad consciousness deems stakeholders and customers responsible for shaping the enterprise’s reason for being. This collaborative process fosters a consensus of ideas, replacing a rigid definition often confined to the upper echelons.

Implications of this new vision on enterprise identity include the elimination of biases and limitations through pure consciousness, demanding a transcendence of egoic organizational concepts. To emulate life, the organic enterprise must comprehend its local environment, considering competitors, predators, symbiotic relationships, and properly responding at a DNA level.

In a spiritual-knowledge society, management shifts from past-century rationality to embrace new thinking methods like analogies, similitudes, koans, and AI contributions, centering around continuous creativity – the cornerstone of a noetic society. Adapting to complexity requires novel approaches to optimize businesses and enterprises in general.

Business operations mirror the new economy of immaterial goods, precipitating significant changes in the concept of value and pricing, among others.

Luiz M Flores MBA – Booth School of Business – U of Chicago