Economic System Stakeholders
We have seen previously the role of some economic entities in a Country, in particular families, companies and banks, whose functions are intertwined and overlap continuously in a system of economy and finance where the State is the reference point, within the European framework.
The stakeholders and the growth of the country system
First economic entity, the families. As consumers, the members of a family, then the entire population of a Country, become a stimulus for production. With their purchases they favor sales of what the companies produce.
Second economic entity, the companies producers of consumer goods. Competition between companies in the same sector to attract the families of consumers promotes innovation, i.e. the search for new, more competitive products, and stimulates the development of other related companies, for example those active in advertising.
Third economic entities, the banks. The families deposit earnings in bank, consumer projects encourage families to turn to banks to obtain a loan or, in the case of real estate loan, to take out a mortgage, or to invest in order to obtain additional income. These savings shares, in turn invested by the banks, will help the companies to improve and innovate their production.
Each of these entities pay taxes that the State employs to provide services, some directly, others that in turn see other companies in action.
Economy and work - The activity of enterprises, banks, State create jobs which benefit families, including young people and women, more vulnerable subjects for whom, however, today we are asking for equal opportunities through job inclusion policies.
People at the center
What emerges in all this is an element that unites families, businesses and banks and makes them interact with each other within the economic system of each State. This is the "human capital" which is the prime driving force for growth and development in every Country.
Family: the role of women and young people
Within the family there are two more fragile economic entities: women and young people.
Women who work, but receive lower remuneration or occupy positions of lesser responsibility, women who are not always able to reconcile work and family well. In both cases, the solutions are already ready, made real in "virtuous" companies: companies that have chosen to apply an equal opportunity policy at all levels, which includes measures of greater flexibility in working hours and optional services such as workplace child care.
Young people are the future resource in which to invest both as human capital and as a full-fledged future economic entity. This requires large investments in schools as the primary subject of training and work guidance. Schools where didactic paths focus in first place on culture and achievement of fundamental skills today: digital literacy, communication, problem posing and solving, decision making, team working, empathy... The dynamic impetus is then given by personal curiosity: updates, readings, researches, web-surfing...
Enterprise: the success factors
The first engine of a company's success is the creative, intellectual and strategic skills that allow the team to be a step ahead of their competitors in innovation and research. That is to say that everything that brings into play the human capital of the company is a factor of success.
R&D-Research&Development- is the sector that employs people, resources and financial resources that, through research, create innovation and progress and favor development by making the company more competitive within the economic system. R&D means patents, brands, new technologies, increase in turnover, wealth.
Corporate sustainability, according to the definition of the United Nations, means to have put in place all that is needed to reduce the negative impact of production processes on the environment. Corporate sustainability also means allowing ethical and sustainable consumption: the company undertakes to ensure that its products are also environmentally friendly. It means social sustainability: i.e. the enhancement of the employee as an individual, respect for equal opportunities, more sustainable choices in the business model and all this has to do directly or indirectly with the optimization of human capital.
Banks: people and professions
Like every trade, banking has undergone an evolution over time. Our era is no longer the era that identifies the bank with the great banker owner of the institution, or today with the CEO, the shareholders, the top manager...
Banking, in a company like any other with its specialty, in this case economic-financial, is the heritage of a team of executives, technicians and employees in contact with the public.
The people who work in the bank are the point of reference of the clients, with whom it is essential that a relationship of trust be established. The banking consultant, in person or virtually, has the task of providing assistance, solving the most delicate problems, promoting products and services... As a consultant or financial intermediary, the banking consultant studies the financial position of families, businesses, large estates to offer everyone more suitable advice.
The specialization in Third Sector services represents a new approach to the idea of a bank. They offer less risky investments than traditional ones, and have a lower and more constant profitability. They support organic farming, renewable energy, fair trade... They put into practice the idea of "sustainability" in the economic-financial field: giving credit to the weakest subjects, not compromising on human and labor rights, giving priority to transparency, to apply forms of governance that provide for participation.
The State between profit and loss and welfare
Families, businesses and banks contribute to the development of the Country, which is measured through a series of indicators. By their activities companies contribute to the formation of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product). GDP represents what the country produces, its wealth, and is the indicator that assesses the health status of its economy.
In many quarters, the perception that GDP, alone, is not sufficient to define the "economic" characteristics of a Country, has led to the choice of new indicators, able to measure the progress of a company from a social and environmental point of view: the quality of the environment, financial inequalities, health and education of the population, safety.
The identification of indicators that are not exclusively economic has been tested for the first time in the seventies of the last century by the state of Buthan, which has tried to detect, in addition to GDP, also the Gross National Happiness Index.
Today, Italy is the first European Country to have included twelve Fair and Sustainable Wellness - BES indicators in the economic planning cycle.
