Dr. Jaume Llopis
Jaume Llopis, Emeritus Professor at IESE Business School and Numerary Member and Vice-President of the Governing Board of the Royal European Academy of Doctors (READ), presented the lecture “Innovation with purpose: beyond economic profit” at the 10th International Academic Meeting held by the Royal Academy between 15 and 20 March in several German cities under the general title “The Rhine as a current of knowledge: cross-border dialogues”. In his lecture, he analysed the role of business as a social and ethical agent, capable of generating a positive impact beyond financial performance. For the expert, in an environment marked by uncertainty and the need for sustainable responses, organisations are called upon to assume an active responsibility towards their surroundings and to play a role in the transformation towards a new economic paradigm.
In his address, the speaker urged 21st-century companies to evolve from being mere generators of profit, as they have traditionally been, into social and ethical agents with a real impact on society and the planet. In a world marked by the emergence of artificial intelligence, the climate crisis and inequality, companies, according to the academic, must adopt a triple-impact model — economic, social and environmental — that transcends the traditional logic of short-term profit. Starting from the premise that critical thinking has always driven human progress, Llopis argued that business organisations, as open systems interconnected with their environment, can no longer be assessed solely by their financial results. Paraphrasing the management theorist Peter Senge, he called on them to move from so-called static efficiency towards a new dynamic capacity to learn and transform, integrating social purpose, innovation and systemic awareness. “Today we need a robust corporate purpose that combines ethical leadership and innovation in order to face complexity,” he argued.
The Vice-President of the READ explained that this new approach to an economy with purpose is embodied in initiatives such as the B Corp movement, a global movement launched in 2006 that now has more than 9,800 certified companies in over 100 countries. These companies are rigorously assessed in areas such as governance, climate action, fair work, human rights, circularity, and equity, and exceed a minimum score of 80 points across 200 indicators. However, the expert also warned of the limitations and weaknesses of these initiatives, especially greenwashing, the practice of exaggerating or falsifying environmental commitments. In response, he praised the implementation of legal figures such as Public Benefit and Common Interest Companies in Spain, which require companies to include verifiable social and environmental commitments in their articles of association.
In any case, the expert ruled out the continuity of an economic paradigm centred on unlimited growth and the accumulation of wealth. He referred to figures such as the late academic Aldo Olcese and the renowned French economist Thomas Piketty to point out, together with them, that economic growth does not always translate into greater well-being or reduce inequalities, and that it is urgent to move towards an economy for the common good, with companies and private capital as active protagonists of this transformation. Among the concrete measures for embarking on this path, Llopis proposed mechanisms such as progressive and global taxation, social impact investment, employee participation in profits, the circular economy and the democratisation of access to education, health and technology on a global scale. “The companies of the future will be those that understand that their own continuity depends on social and environmental stability. Innovation with purpose is not an ethical luxury, but a strategic necessity for building a new economic paradigm,” he concluded.
Llopis has developed a long and successful career in business management at companies such as Moulinex, Nestlé, La Unión y el Fénix Español, and Borges International Group. In his extensive academic career, his teaching at IESE has been complemented by courses as a visiting professor at business schools such as IPADE (Mexico), AESE (Portugal), IDE (Ecuador), INCAE (Nicaragua), IEEM (Uruguay), MDE (Ivory Coast), the Instituto San Telmo in Seville, and EADA in Barcelona. He is the author of reference works in business management.
