The Society

The Society for Progress is an academically diverse and independent group of scholars and leaders. Its work is based on the belief that integrating perspectives from moral and social philosophy will help evolve the decentralized economic system (“capitalism”) in a manner that better integrates market and society, humans and nature, and the present and the future. In particular, the Society aspires to contribute to and catalyze rigorous research on how enterprises and economies may better and more systematically integrate performance and progress (see Performance & Progress: Essays in Business, Society, and Capitalism, Oxford University Press, 2015). The work ahead of developing better models, methods, and measures for integrating performance and progress can scarcely be accomplished by one mind or even a college of intellectuals. Contributions must come from the best and brightest around the world, and the ideas must be absorbed and developed further not just by policy makers and intellectuals but especially by scholars of enterprise, students of enterprise, and leaders of enterprise. It is in this spirit that the Society for Progress Medals were conceived.

The Society for Progress was initiated in 2013 by Subramanian Rangan, professor of strategy and management at INSEAD, the global business school. The school, through its partnership with the Abu Dhabi Education Council, has supported the research, meetings, and activities of the Society. INSEAD Dean Ilian Mihov, a Princeton trained macro-economist, affirms the initiative resonates with the evolving roles of business and business schools. “If science must be a force for truth, business must be a force for good,” he notes. “This research will support the development of leaders and entrepreneurs with competence and character.”