In 1971, the inaugural European Management Symposium was held in Davos, a ski resort in the Swiss Alps, the event a precursor to what would later become the World Economic Forum¡¯s annual meeting in Davos.
¡°I felt the future should not be based on animosity and controversy. It should be based on reconciliation,¡± WEF founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab told The Japan Times during a 2013 interview, recalling the early years of the Davos conference. ¡°In 1971, I published a book on multistakeholders, which means problems should always be solved through dialogues among the stakeholders, among all those people who are interested in the problems. So, I created a platform for multistakeholders to come together.¡±
The ¡°stakeholder¡± concept described by Schwab was outlined in the Davos Manifesto, a set of ethical principles for business leaders launched in 1973. ¡°The purpose of professional management is to serve clients, shareholders, workers and employees, as well as societies, and to harmonize the different interests of the stakeholders,¡± it said.
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