{"id":4166,"date":"2026-09-09T10:08:20","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T10:08:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/?p=4166"},"modified":"2026-09-09T10:08:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T10:08:20","slug":"americans-are-losing-faith-in-capitalism-the-problem-isnt-capitalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/?p=4166","title":{"rendered":"Americans are losing faith in capitalism.\u00a0The problem isn’t capitalism"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Gallup tracking data shows that positive views of capitalism have slipped to 54%, marking a 15-year\u00a0 low since they began tracking the metric. The finding reflects a zero-sum view of the corporation:\u00a0that companies prosper by extracting value rather than creating it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is no surprise that the more than 200 CEOs we have interviewed over six years through Yale\u2019s Program on Stakeholder Innovation and Management reject this zero-sum view. Their reasons, however, may not be what most people assume. They see creating value for customers,\u00a0employees, partners and communities not as an alternative to shareholder value, but as essential\u00a0to creating it over the long term.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What may also be surprising is that many told us this was the discipline for which they felt least\u00a0prepared before becoming CEOs. They understand the importance of the \u201cand\u201d\u2014that these\u00a0interests can reinforce rather than compete with one another\u2014but struggle with how to make that\u00a0 happen at scale. The problem isn\u2019t ideology. It\u2019s know-how. Three examples show what that\u00a0 know-how looks like in practice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

1. Design the enterprise around the interdependencies that create value.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When Doug McMillon became Walmart\u2019s CEO in 2014, U.S. comparable-store sales were in\u00a0 decline, customer satisfaction had deteriorated, and the company was losing ground to Amazon.\u00a0 Employee turnover was high. Walmart\u2019s reputation as an employer was turning away some\u00a0 potential customers and contributing to community resistance to new stores. Its shares had made\u00a0 little progress for years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

McMillon and his team concluded that Walmart\u2019s problems were connected, so the response had\u00a0 to be, too. E-commerce would draw on its strength in grocery and its store network, which\u00a0 required stores customers wanted to visit and engaged, capable employees. Technology would\u00a0 support omnichannel commerce while improving forecasting, inventory and store operations.\u00a0Productivity and closer supplier coordination would help sustain the lower prices on which\u00a0 customer trust depended.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That approach required billions of dollars of multi-year investments in employees, lower prices,\u00a0 e-commerce and technology, sacrificing near-term profits. When Walmart disclosed in 2015 how\u00a0 much these investments would depress earnings, its shares fell about 10% in a single day, wiping\u00a0 out more than $20 billion in market value.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite the market backlash, McMillon and his team stayed the course\u2014and the payoff proved substantial. In February 2026, Walmart became the first traditional retailer to exceed $1 trillion\u00a0 in market value. Comparable-store sales, which had been falling, recovered and then\u00a0 compounded. In 2024, Walmart appeared for the first time on Fortune<\/em>\u2019s list of the 100 Best\u00a0 Companies to Work For.<\/p>\n

McMillon later described the management approach: \u201cOver time, designing a business that\u00a0 benefits all stakeholders is the best way to provide returns to shareholders.\u201d The important word\u00a0 is \u201cdesigning.\u201d Employee, customer and shareholder value do not become mutually reinforcing\u00a0 because management declares them so. The enterprise has to be designed that way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

2. Test management decisions against the value they create\u2014and for whom.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Starbucks illustrates how seemingly rational decisions compound into value extraction. Charging\u00a060 to 80 cents for non-dairy milk generated revenue. Removing amenities cut costs. An\u00a0 expanded menu and mobile business offered more choice and convenience. Each decision could be defended on its own. Together, however, they improved particular measures of performance\u00a0while degrading the customer experience and making baristas\u2019 work more complex and\u00a0burdensome.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When Brian Niccol became CEO in September 2024, he saw these choices as symptoms of a\u00a0 company that had drifted from what made it distinctive, so he reversed course. Starbucks\u00a0 restored condiment bars, ceramic mugs and comfortable seating, and eliminated the non-dairy\u00a0surcharge, even as customization had grown into a business generating more than $1 billion\u00a0annually. The surcharge change alone reduced North American operating margin by about 60\u00a0 basis points in its first quarter\u2014a meaningful near-term financial cost.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Niccol\u2019s changes were not limited to the customer experience. Starbucks cut roughly 30% of\u00a0 its menu, simplified store operations and invested $500 million in additional labor and staffing.\u00a0These changes created value for employees by making their work simpler and more manageable,\u00a0 while making it easier for them to create value for customers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The early results are encouraging. Starbucks has reported four consecutive quarters of\u00a0 comparable-sales growth, with global comparable sales up 7.9% in its latest quarter. Since\u00a0 Niccol took charge, its shares have risen more than 22%.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

3. Manage intangible sources of value with the same rigor as tangible ones.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Mining companies are expert at managing physical assets\u2014ore bodies, heavy machinery,\u00a0 railways and ports. But their ability to create value from those assets also depends on something\u00a0 that never appears on the balance sheet: social license to operate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2020, Rio Tinto blasted the 46,000-year-old Juukan Gorge rock shelters in Australia. The\u00a0 action was legal, but the backlash exposed how much the company had put at risk. Traditional\u00a0 Owners lost trust in Rio, governments launched inquiries and reconsidered heritage protections,\u00a0 and institutional investors challenged the company\u2019s management and governance. The scrutiny\u00a0 extended to the agreements governing Rio\u2019s access to and development of Indigenous lands. The\u00a0reputational fallout ultimately forced the exit of three senior executives, including the CEO.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the new CEO, Jakob Stausholm treated rebuilding trust as a capability problem. Rio invested\u00a0 in community engagement, cultural-heritage expertise and the governance that supports both.\u00a0Over the five years through 2025, Rio generated a 66% total shareholder return. Sustaining that\u00a0kind of value creation requires managing not only the assets on its balance sheet, but the\u00a0 intangible capabilities that allow those assets to be developed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The lesson extends well beyond mining. The rapid expansion of AI data centers is a timely\u00a0 example of how community concerns can affect a company\u2019s ability to grow. Customer trust and\u00a0 workplace culture are different kinds of intangibles, but they too can affect a company\u2019s ability\u00a0 to create value.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Taken together, these examples show that the \u201cand\u201d is not simply an aspiration; it\u2019s a\u00a0 management discipline. Walmart, Starbucks and Rio Tinto still have to manage costs, grow\u00a0 profits and deliver returns to shareholders. What distinguishes them is not how they distribute\u00a0value, but how they create it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Whether the public experiences capitalism as value creation or value extraction depends in no\u00a0 small measure on how companies are led. Declining confidence in capitalism is, therefore, a\u00a0 challenge to the practice of management. The know-how exists, but it remains uncommon. The\u00a0 task now is to make it a core management capability. That may be the most convincing answer business leaders can offer a public losing faith in capitalism.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of\u00a0<\/em>Fortune.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

#Americans #losing #faith #capitalism.The #problem #isnt #capitalism<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gallup tracking data shows tha… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1322,2265,7101,7100,536,546,4237,812],"class_list":["post-4166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance-news","tag-americans","tag-capitalism","tag-capitalism-the","tag-faith","tag-gen-z","tag-isnt","tag-losing","tag-problem"],"yoast_head":"\nAmericans are losing faith in capitalism.\u00a0The problem isn't capitalism - Finance News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/?p=4166\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"zh_CN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Americans are losing faith in capitalism.\u00a0The problem isn't capitalism - 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