Absence of systematic physical violence
The initial distinction concerns the absence of war or systematic direct violence.
Doctoral research · Tilman Bauer · Aalto University, 2023
Business for Peace
A new paradigm for making a collective living
What is business? What is peace? How can, and why should, business foster peace? A philosophical inquiry into purpose, positive impact and the conditions of a flourishing shared life.
01 / The central argument
From positive impact to peace.
“The purpose of business is peace.”
The central hypothesis developed in Bauer (2023), §§1.1 and 1.3.
The dissertation proposes that peace is not merely a favorable setting for business, or a desirable side effect of trade. In an expanded sense, peace gives substance to the positive contribution that business is expected to make.
This changes the question from “How can business do less harm?” to “What should business make possible?” Profit remains a requirement and an enabler of continuing business activity, but it is not its ultimate purpose.
Premise · Chapter 2
Business should create positive impact.
Business and purpose are conceptually linked. The societal purpose of business calls for more than profit maximization.
Premise · Chapter 3
Peace gives that impact substance.
The expanded concept includes the absence of violence, the presence of positive values, and a holistic vision of human potential.
Conclusion · Chapter 4
The purpose of business is to foster peace.
Business becomes a way for humanity to make a collective living, rather than an end in itself.
What “making a collective living” means
The perspective extends beyond an individual or firm earning a living. It asks how business helps humanity live together materially, socially, culturally and spiritually. The criterion is not simply whether a transaction is profitable, but what kind of shared life business sustains.
Source: Bauer (2023), §§1.1–1.3; §§2.2–2.5; Figure 12, p. 149; §5.1.3, pp. 178–181. Dissertation and citation.
02 / The structure of the inquiry
Five questions, one connected investigation.
The monograph develops its argument across five connected research questions. It moves from conceptual foundations to a proposed management framework, rather than beginning with a sales proposition or a company score.
| Research question | Focus | Chapter |
|---|---|---|
| 1. What is business? | Concepts, purpose, profits and positive impact. | 2 · pp. 57–88 |
| 2. What is peace? | An expanded, plural and transrational understanding of peace. | 3 · pp. 89–146 |
| 3. How are business and peace connected? | Historical, contemporary and normative relationships. | 4 · pp. 147–169 |
| 4. What follows for a new paradigm of business? | Principles of peace-oriented organizing and leadership. | 5 · pp. 170–187 |
| 5. How can business foster peace? | Activities, moral development and the Business Peace Index. | 6 · pp. 188–251 |
Source: Bauer (2023), Table 1, pp. 2–3; Chapters 2–6. Dissertation and citation.
03 / What is peace?
Nonwar. Weak Peace. Strong Peace. Holistic Peace.
Bauer’s framework distinguishes Nonwar from three overlapping stages: Weak Peace, Strong Peace and Holistic Peace. It separates the absence of undesirable conditions from the presence of desirable ones, and then asks about a broader vision of human life.
Absence of structural or cultural violence
Attention extends to the structures and cultural patterns that constrain or harm people.
Presence of positive values and ideals
Justice, health, education, wellbeing and other positive qualities give peace substantive content.
A transrational vision for humanity
Higher purpose, spirituality, interconnectedness and moral excellence give the framework its most encompassing horizon.
The wording above follows the specific distinction in §3.8. In discussions of practice, the dissertation also groups Nonwar and Weak Peace together. These are overlapping conceptual distinctions, not separate certificates or measured company rankings.
| Concept | Absence of systematic physical violence | Absence of structural or cultural violence | Presence of positive values, virtues or ideals | Transrational vision, higher purpose and moral excellence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Negative peace | Emphasis in Table 9 | Not marked in Table 9 | Not marked in Table 9 | Not marked in Table 9 |
| Positive peace | Not marked in Table 9 | Emphasis in Table 9 | Emphasis in Table 9 | Not marked in Table 9 |
| Nonwar | Emphasis in Table 9 | Not marked in Table 9 | Not marked in Table 9 | Not marked in Table 9 |
| Weak Peace | Not marked in Table 9 | Emphasis in Table 9 | Not marked in Table 9 | Not marked in Table 9 |
| Strong Peace | Not marked in Table 9 | Not marked in Table 9 | Emphasis in Table 9 | Not marked in Table 9 |
| Holistic Peace | Not marked in Table 9 | Not marked in Table 9 | Not marked in Table 9 | Emphasis in Table 9 |
Adapted from Table 9 (p. 145). Marks reproduce the emphases in Bauer’s comparison, not a claim that broader peace concepts exclude narrower ones. The first two rows present the dissertation’s comparison with the Galtungian framework.
Why “positive impact” needs a theory of its content
“Positive” alone does not tell us what is good, for whom, or toward which end. Chapter 3 connects societal contributions such as security, freedom, trust, equality, health, justice and education with an expanded understanding of peace. This is the conceptual move that allows the dissertation to connect everyday business activity with peace, including outside conflict zones.
The research’s scope includes nature and ecological relationships. The commercial BPI evaluation described elsewhere on this website focuses on people and society; it is not an environmental impact assessment.
Source: Bauer (2023), §3.7, pp. 135–143, including Table 8; §3.8, pp. 143–146, including Table 9. Dissertation and citation.
04 / Beyond an external condition
Inner peace, outer peace and the plurality of peaces.
Peace is not only a condition between states or organizations. The dissertation examines both inner experience and outer relationships. Its discussion of spirituality concerns meaning, moral awareness and interconnectedness, not simply adherence to a particular religion.
Transrationality does not reject reason. Drawing on Wolfgang Dietrich, the analysis extends rational reflection to include embodied and relational experience, emotions, spirituality and the plurality of peaces.
| Stage | Inner dimension | Outer: interpersonal | Outer: institutional |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weak Peace | Calmness; no stress | Tolerance; courtesy; civility | No negative impact on stakeholders |
| Strong Peace | Happiness; joy; excitement; virtue | Synergy; win-win; cooperation | Positive impact on stakeholders |
| Holistic Peace | True passion; wisdom; bliss; enlightenment | Unconditional love | Interconnectedness; oneness; higher purpose; moral excellence |
A web adaptation of Table 10 (p. 146). These are conceptual examples, not survey measurements or clinical categories.
Plurality rather than one imposed peace
Different cultures, traditions and people understand and experience peace differently. The dissertation’s holistic approach seeks a way to relate these interpretations without reducing peace to one uniform, externally imposed ideal. It draws particularly on Galtung, Webel, Fox, Muñoz and Dietrich while developing Bauer’s own synthesis.
Nor does peace require the disappearance of disagreement. Conflict can remain part of human life; the question is how it is experienced and transformed without violence, and what possibilities for constructive coexistence emerge.
Source: Bauer (2023), §§3.2–3.6, especially pp. 107, 115–116 and 124–134; Table 10, p. 146. Dissertation and citation.
05 / A new paradigm
Change the purpose, and reconsider the system.
Chapter 5 asks what changes when the purpose of business is understood as fostering peace. The proposed shift concerns fundamental assumptions, not merely a different slogan or an additional responsibility program.
Fundamental beliefs
& paradigm
& paradigm
Thoughts
Feelings
Actions
Results
| Question | Emphasis being challenged | Direction proposed |
|---|---|---|
| What is business for? | Profit maximization as the ultimate objective | Fostering peace, with profitability as an enabler |
| Whose living matters? | The individual or firm considered in isolation | Humanity making a collective living |
| How is an organization understood? | A machine to be designed and controlled from above | A living, interconnected system with emergent creativity |
| What guides leadership? | Control and narrow self-interest | Higher purpose, trust, moral excellence and enabling others |
| How is responsibility approached? | Primarily reducing negative impacts | Also creating positive contributions through core business |
These are condensed contrasts, not a classification of every existing company. The dissertation discusses tensions between competition and cooperation, and between individual enterprise and collective wellbeing.
Profit is an enabler, not a promise
Profitability supports continuity, investment and renewal. The thesis does not imply that every ethically preferable choice will produce a higher financial return. It explicitly recognizes that economic viability also requires a workable business idea, resources, customers and implementation.
Source: Bauer (2023), §§2.3–2.4; §5.1, pp. 171–181; §6.1.5, pp. 211–212. Dissertation and citation.
06 / From theory to conduct
From avoiding harm to a wider moral ambition.
The ladder of morality moves beyond a binary distinction between ethical and unethical business. It asks what further contribution a company or leader is intrinsically willing to make, while preserving the responsibilities already recognized.
Weak Peace / Nonwar
Prevent violence and harm.
- Understand conflict sensitivity.
- Prevent bribery and corruption.
- Engage in respectful stakeholder dialogue.
- Support reconstruction and stability.
Strong Peace
Create positive conditions.
- Provide ethical products and services.
- Support human rights and education.
- Expand opportunity for disadvantaged communities.
- Enable participatory governance.
Holistic Peace
Act from a higher purpose.
- Look beyond narrow self-interest.
- Practice moral excellence in leadership.
- Recognize human interdependence.
- Nurture compassion and collaboration.
A guide for reflection, not a ranking of people. The dissertation presents the ladder as a means of self-evaluation. It does not require every organization to claim the highest position, and it cautions against treating lower positions as inherently inferior provided conduct is not immoral.
Source: Bauer (2023), §6.1.5, pp. 210–214; Appendix 5, pp. 367–368. Dissertation and citation.
07 / Operationalizing peace
The Business Peace Index: eight connected components.
The dissertation translates the conceptual framework into an initial Business Peace Index. Its eight equally weighted components are designed as a qualitative management tool for self-evaluation and development, rather than an objective league table of companies.
| Component | Guiding concern, paraphrased |
|---|---|
| A. Purpose | Does the company’s purpose include fostering peace, and do its actions and indicators connect to that purpose? |
| B. Mindset | Does the company take a long-term view rather than being governed primarily by short-term financial pressure? |
| C. Products and services | Do products and services meet human needs, and is meeting those needs a motivation for their development? |
| D. Ethics | Do integrity, moral maturity and moral excellence guide the company’s conduct? |
| E. Stakeholders | Does the company take responsibility for stakeholder wellbeing, including wider relationships and nature? |
| F. Social development | Does it contribute to the social development of underprivileged communities? |
| G. New paradigm | Does it act on an understanding of interconnectedness, systemic relationships and the need for a paradigm shift? |
| H. Leadership for peace | Does leadership embody and encourage the company’s contribution to peace and moral development? |
Index score = (total component points ÷ 480) × 100
Original scoring design: eight components, each with a maximum of 60 points. All components have equal weight.
Interpretation comes before comparison.
The components are intended to reinforce one another. For example, a peace-oriented purpose may shape product development, stakeholder relations and leadership. The point of the profile is to identify possibilities for development, not to turn a complex organization into an apparently objective number.
Scope and limitations of the original index
The dissertation describes the index as an initial proposal. Its component selection is based on a purposive conceptual review, not a systematic theme-identification procedure. Its usefulness depends on a voluntary desire to develop, and its subjective self-evaluation basis limits comparability across companies.
More research is invited into the components, indicators and their application. The dissertation does not demonstrate that a given BPI score predicts financial returns.
This section describes the 2023 research model. The current expert-evaluation service is described separately on the BPI evaluation page.
Source: Bauer (2023), §6.3, pp. 229–251; Tables 12–13, pp. 259–261; limitations, p. 260; Appendix 4, pp. 361–366. Dissertation and citation.
08 / Method and intellectual dialogue
Philosophical inquiry, informed by experience.
The dissertation is a theoretical and philosophical study: argumentation, conceptual analysis and critical engagement with literature form its core method. Expert interviews bring practical perspectives to the questions being investigated.
Research connections
Stanford Peace Innovation Lab
Tilman Bauer’s research background includes work as a fellow with Stanford Peace Innovation Lab and The Hague Peace Innovation Institute.
The dissertation acknowledges Mark Nelson’s support and encouragement, and his invitation to the lab at Stanford. These connections are part of the research dialogue surrounding the work.
The doctoral dissertation was completed at Aalto University School of Business. The preface records the Stanford connection on p. xiv.
Appendix 2
20 business leaders and experts
Interviewees listed in the dissertation include Paul Polman, John Elkington, Francis Fukuyama, Ruud Lubbers and Feike Sijbesma, alongside leaders and specialists in sustainability, law, peace and organizational development.
The conversations offered perspectives and challenges for the conceptual work. They are not presented here as a representative survey or a list of commercial endorsements.
View all 20 interviewees and their roles at the time
Names, interview years and condensed role descriptions follow Appendix 2 (pp. 344–347). These are historical roles, not claims about current positions.
- Henk Jan AarsenCo-owner and Director, Transmare Trading & Compounding · 2014
- Christian BunsenPartner responsible for Corporate Responsibility, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer · 2012
- Juan Andres Cano GarciaFounder and CEO, Value4Chain and PeaceStartup · 2016
- Gilbert CurtessiBusiness Development Director, Transmare · 2014
- Ger DempseyFounder and CEO, Silicon Peace · 2016
- John ElkingtonCEO, Volans; Co-Founder and Honorary Chairman, SustainAbility · 2016
- Francis FukuyamaProfessor, Stanford University · 2017
- Hagen HenryAdjunct Professor, University of Helsinki; former Head of the Cooperative Branch, ILO · 2016
- Hery-Christian HenryFounder and CEO, Danceteam International; Management Consultant, Oaklin · 2016
- Adriaan KampFounder and CEO, Energy For One World · 2016
- Ruud LubbersFormer Prime Minister of the Netherlands; former UN High Commissioner for Refugees · 2014
- Noel MorrinExecutive Vice President, Sustainability, Stora Enso · 2016
- Mohit MukherjeeFounding Director, UPEACE Centre for Executive Education · 2014
- Paul PolmanCEO, Unilever · 2016
- Per SaxegaardFounder and Executive Chairman, Business for Peace Foundation · 2016
- Feike SijbesmaCEO, Royal DSM · 2014
- Markus TerhoFounder and CEO, Sparkter · 2016
- Sander TidemanManaging Director Europe, Mind and Life Europe; Senior Research Associate, Rotterdam School of Management · 2014
- Keith TuffleyCEO, The B Team · 2016
- Fokko WientjesHead of Corporate Sustainability, Royal DSM · 2014
Research relationships and interview participation do not imply institutional approval of every argument or endorsement of BPI’s commercial services.
Source: Bauer (2023), methodology, §§1.4.2–1.4.4, pp. 25–35; Preface, p. xiv; Appendix 2, pp. 344–347. Dissertation and citation.
09 / Read, cite or purchase
The dissertation and the printed book.
Doctoral Theses 191/2023
The complete monograph develops the concepts, arguments, source literature, assumptions and limitations behind this overview.
Printed copies can be purchased. Contact Tilman Bauer to inquire about purchasing options, availability and delivery.
Published in English. Print ISBN: 978-952-64-1521-5. Electronic ISBN: 978-952-64-1522-2. Electronic access information is available through the university record.
Cite the dissertation
Bauer, T. (2023). Business for Peace: A New Paradigm for Making a Collective Living: What is Business? What is Peace? How Can, and Why Should, Business Foster Peace? A Conceptual Treatise on How the Expanded Concept of Peace Paves the Way to a New Paradigm for the 21st Century. [Doctoral dissertation, Aalto University]. Aalto University publication series DOCTORAL THESES, 191/2023. https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-64-1522-2
Page references on this website use the printed page numbers in the dissertation, not the PDF viewer’s file-page count. Tables and diagrams are condensed web adaptations, with their sources identified in captions.
10 / For researchers and educators
Bring the theory into research and teaching.
Researchers, university teachers and students are welcome to engage critically with the theory, use it as a starting point for their own work, or invite Tilman Bauer for a guest lecture or research seminar.
Teaching & seminars
Invite a guest lecture.
Possible themes include the purpose of business, the expanded peace framework, holistic peace, corporate leadership for peace, and the role of conceptual research in management scholarship.
Using the theory
Apply, test or extend the framework.
Use the dissertation to locate the original definitions and arguments. Identify which concepts or version of the BPI you use, distinguish your adaptations, and cite the relevant sections.
Academic exchange
Develop the next questions.
Conceptual criticism, comparative work and empirical investigation can all contribute. Inquiries about research dialogue, interdisciplinary collaboration or the development of teaching material are welcome.
Directions for further research
The dissertation proposes several avenues for further inquiry. The questions below translate that agenda into possible research starting points; they are not results already established.
| Area | A question to pursue |
|---|---|
| Conceptual foundations | How can the meaning and boundaries of peace as the purpose of business be developed, challenged or compared with alternative theories? |
| Leadership and mindset | How do individuals and organizations change their understanding of purpose and their willingness to contribute to peace? |
| Holistic peace in practice | What can be learned from organizations that embody aspects of the proposed paradigm, and how can their practices be studied empirically? |
| Index development | How should BPI components and indicators be examined and extended, including insights about psychological wellbeing and inner peace? |
| History and culture | How do different historical and cultural interpretations illuminate the relationship between business and peace? |
Source: Bauer (2023), Chapter 7, especially pp. 260 and 262–265; guest-lecture and collaboration invitations are current contact invitations.
Contact Tilman Bauer
For a lecture invitation, include your institution, audience, preferred dates, format and topic. For a research inquiry, briefly describe your question and the part of the framework you are working with.
Citing or critically discussing the theory does not require booking a commercial evaluation.
Interested in applying the perspective to a company?
The commercial BPI expert evaluation has its own page, with the service scope, process and practical information.
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