Though the relation between the process of managing entrepreneurship and the social life of the citizens may be considered somewhat farfetched, the link between society and the state economy is much stronger than it may appear to be. In The study of business, government, and society, the first chapter of their recent work, Steiner & Steiner (2012), reflects on the connection between the aforementioned elements, making it clear that the three phenomena listed above are the components of a greater entity. To illustrate their point, Steiner & Steiner (2012) provide the infamous ExxonMobil case as an example of the inability to coordinate the needs of the business with the social morals and the state laws and regulations.
Proving that the three elements listed above are inseparable, Steiner & Steiner (2012) introduce such a term as the business-government–society (BGS) field (Steiner & Steiner, 2012, p. 4). Including government, ideas, and institutions, the specified field can be identified as the study of the economy and social activity within the context of a particular society (Steiner & Steiner, 2012, p. 4). Thus, Steiner & Steiner offer their unique method of market studies, which can be adopted to analyze literally any era or stage of human evolution.
Finally, Steiner & Steiner (2012) suggest their own four models of BGS functioning. The Market Capitalism, the Dominance Model, the Countervailing Forces Model, and the Stakeholder Model represent unique approaches towards structuring the relation hips between the stakeholders, particularly between an entrepreneur, a customer, and the state government (Steiner & Steiner, 2012). Steiner & Steiner end their chapter with a description of the approach that they personally prefer to the existing alternatives. Presupposing a comprehensive scope, it requires a thorough observation of every single factor affecting the market (Steiner & Steiner, 2012, p. 20).
What Has Been Learned
Even the first chapter of Steiner & Steiner’s book provides a lot of food for thoughts. It provokes an evaluation of the existing market models and their efficiency, as well as makes one question the existence of a perfect market model in general. The authors provide a very decent overview of the roles that entrepreneurs, customers, and state play in the economic processes. The fact that Steiner & Steiner manage to locate the role and responsibilities of the latter in such a precise and reasonable manner is very impressive, seeing that nowadays, in the realm of global trade, the process of defining the role of the state bodies is especially hard.
On the one hand, the trade process is to be regulated and supervised; on the other hand, entrepreneurs have the right to dispose of their resources the way that they consider the most appropriate. Steiner & Steiner tackle the controversial issue in a very delicate manner.
The model that Steiner & Steiner have designed is quite convincing; the authors seem to have taken all major social and economic processes into consideration to have come up with such an accurate representation of the relationships between the customer, the entrepreneur, and the government. However, there are also a few dents in Steiner & Steiner’s theory. The historical perspective (Steiner & Steiner, 2012, p. 21) seems to be a major problem. While the representation of the BSG relationships in several states on a specific time slot can be compared, the search for similarities between the economic systems adopted in different eras may become quite a problem. Nevertheless, Steiner & Steiner have provided a very detailed and honest overview of the BGS relationships.
Reference
Steiner, J. & Steiner, G. (2012). Business, government, and society (13th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill. Web.