Profit-Orientation and Post-Growth Economies : Building Theory for Social-Ecological Resilience

Abstract: This thesis takes a post-growth perspective in order to answer the overarching research question:  How does business profit-orientation affect social-ecological sustainability? It is the result of putting different pieces of the puzzle together - across the microeconomic and macroeconomic scales - in order to build a stronger conceptual and theoretical basis for sustainable post-growth economies.In Part 1, I describe what a post-growth perspective entails, as an inherently social-ecological systems approach. I give a brief overview of the state-of-the-art of post-growth thinking in terms of problem identification, drivers of growth, and solutions. I also identify important gaps in terms of the way post-growth scholarship has approached profit and business, particularly regarding profit-orientation. I also identify an important gap with regards to the lack of a post-growth theory of the firm. Part 2 describes my research objectives and the questions that I aim to answer in this study, as well as a brief description of the two manuscripts of the thesis in relation to these questions. In Part 3, I describe the ontological, epistemological, and methodological underpinnings of my approach. I also detail the steps I have taken in building up the concepts and theory that my manuscripts put forward. Part 4 describes the key results in the manuscripts and contributions to the relevant research communities. In essence, Manuscript 1 provides a conceptualization of profit-orientation as the nexus between the purpose, ownership, and investment of a firm. It then outlines how profit-orientation drives certain dynamics of the aggregate economy, through the development of ideal types of economies (i.e., a for-profit economy, a hybrid economy, and a not-for-profit economy). Key contributions of this paper include a clarification of what profit-orientation is and its role in driving consumerism, economic growth, inequality, market concentration, and political capture.  Building on this first paper, Manuscript 2 presents the diverse and complex aspects of business that are commonly mentioned in the sustainable business and post-growth literature, and offers a framework that organizes all of these aspects into five dimensions: profit-orientation; incorporation structure; governance structure; strategy; and size and geographical scope. Key contributions of this paper include simplifying and ordering the complexity of the firm, as well as offering a common terminology for discussing, analyzing, and assessing a business’s potential to contribute to post-growth transformations. I end this part with a brief discussion of how the papers complement each other, and contextualize this thesis in the broader sphere of sustainability and social-ecological resilience efforts. In Part 5, I describe the other manuscripts I am writing for my doctoral work and I explore future possibilities for building on this thesis.