Can the 'The B Team' help to reshape global capitalism?

On October 3rd, Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson and former Puma Chief Executive Jochen Zeitz announced plans to form 'The B Team', a global initiative aimed at revolutionising the future of business and empowering the capitalist system to act as a force for good.

The B Team will be made up of CEOs and respected business leaders from around the world, and across a range of different sectors. They will be drawn from both rich and developing countries, but be united by the guiding principles of responsible business practice. New Zealand entrepreneur Derek Handley has already been picked to serve as the team's inaugural Managing Director.

The B Team draws its name from the conviction that, in the midst of a biting recession, and with protest movements springing up across the world, there is an urgent need for capitalism to develop a 'Plan B'. Like Branson's other initiative, The Elders, the B Team will campaign on specific issues and seek to propose solutions to key 'grand challenges'. However, whereas the Elders focus on geopolitical and human rights issues, the B Team will focus on things like the need for increased environmental accountability amongst large corporations, and the phasing-out of fossil fuel subsidies.

The team's exact membership will be made public early in the New Year. Society hopes that this ambitious venture might help the world take yet another step towards recasting capitalism as a driving force for social, environmental and economic benefit.