Abstract

Blue Marble or holistic systems thinking focuses on the big picture—the system as a whole. The ‘blue marble’ is Earth viewed from space, where it can be seen as an unboundaried whole. To understand the Blue Marble, we need to zoom out—and then zoom in to specific issues and systems—and then zoom back out again. Panelists outlined key issues facing the business in society field: the need to get the field “unstuck” towards the truly difficult, big picture issues facing the world today. Presenters discussed: what it means to be human today, how natural sciences can inform research, implications of inequality, organizational responsibilities in the digital age, and the importance of language, narrative, and metaphors. Discussion emphasized how to move the field towards greater understanding of complexity and the roles that businesses and we as scholars play in understanding and even working towards resolving those issues?