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Exploring business's social contract: An interview with Daniel Yankelovich

• Business executives overwhelmingly agree that they must serve the public good as well as deliver profits to shareholders. In this interview, Daniel Yankelovich, a founding father of public-opinion research and its preeminent practitioner, discusses the current state of the contract between business and society.
• Topics explored in the interview include the challenges executives face in pursuing strategies that both generate profits for shareholders and address the social-contract demands of public stakeholders, as well as the lack of public trust in business institutions.
• The interview also explores changes in the business ideology of shareholder value—changes that could help restore public trust—and the role of executives and corporate boards in building a stronger ethical foundation for business.