Europeans Trust Business Less—and More

Authors

• Peder Michael Pruzan-Jorgensen

  Former Senior Vice President, BSR

Trust—and trust in business, in particular—can be a fickle friend. One year after the fall of Lehman Brothers, and its subsequent global economic impact, we see public confidence in business "to do what's right" playing out very differently in different regions.

Whereas trust in business in the United States tumbled between 2008 and 2009, in Sweden and the Netherlands trust in business increased by 7 to 12 percent, according to the Edelman Trust Barometer. And in France, where business is generally less revered than elsewhere in the capitalist world, trust levels were almost unchanged.

Given the near uniform negative impact the financial crisis had on Western Europe, this is surprising at first glance. Do the Swedes simply love their businesses more than others?

Love is hardly what is at play. Nor is there a one-size-fits-all explanation to wrap up the discrepancies. I reached out to a few European BSR member companies to see if they could shed some light on these dynamics. The response was a mix of perspectives that see trust as a factor of existing preconceptions of business, business’ role in society, and the robustness of the national “social contract.”

For instance, a Nordic communications director suggested that Nordic politicians’ restraint in bashing business in public debates was a key factor. But he also noted that Nordic businesses, including those in the financial services sector, did not indulge in the same kind of excesses seen elsewhere. Therefore, their restraint may have translated into the public’s faith that they will now roll up their sleeves and get the economy back on track. This sentiment is bolstered by a social expectation that government covers the basics and provides a safety net, but business is truly the economic engine.

Similarly, in France, a stable (albeit low) level of trust seems to have little to do with the public’s fondness for the corporate sector but more to do with an us-versus-them mentality. A lunch partner made the point that the French financial system had fared much better during the crisis, offering the notion that its banks had been more responsible. French media headlines announcing layoffs and closures in primarily foreign-owned factories served to further cement the impression that the crisis is one that has been imposed upon the French from the outside.

Underlying these two national responses is the fabric of the European welfare state, where the social contract is founded on the premise that unregulated business is not in the interest of the wider public nor is business itself a guarantor of public security.

Of course, this does not mean European business is off the hook in continuing to build public trust. If anything, the last year proved that valuing short-term profits over global and societal challenges has disastrous results. Business must demonstrate that it can lead in this reset world, so we can move collectively toward a sustainable economy.