Daniel Hurstel is a business lawyer.

“Failure of capitalism”, “the end of a historical era”: in the face of the present crisis these phrases are repeated over and over again, whether on the pages of the Financial Times or by speakers at Davos. Although times of crises may favour reforms, there is no reason to assume that capitalism is dying or that ethical concerns are making a comeback. Crises do not announce the end of greed nor can they magically restore morality.
It would be naive to assume that self-regulation could work, argues Daniel Hurstel. Instead we should ask the following questions: Is capitalism responsible for the recent excesses? Aren’t human beings to blame for the central role they have assigned to capitalism, for submitting to its rules and letting it govern them instead of staying in control?
The author argues that it is time to promote a new form of capitalism founded on socially conscious enterprises pursuing social goals though set up like other members of the business sector.
Citing a large number of international examples, Daniel Hurstel analyses the foundations that these new enterprises could be built on and describes the forms they could take. He underlines the legislative changes that would be required to foster their promotion.

Could socially conscious enterprises, reconciling the profit motive with human concerns provide an answer to the present crisis?
Instead of repeating that capitalism is dead or that it needs to be moralised, this book, written by a business professional, describes the new organisational forms that could enable capitalism to develop with a truly human dimension.