HONG KONG — Big business must get rid of its stock market-driven fixation with short-term results and institute deep and far- reaching reforms if it wants to ensure the survival of capitalism. This plea comes not from an isolated academic in an ivory tower but from Dominic Barton, global managing director of the McKinsey consultancy group, writing in the flagship journal, the Harvard Business Review.

McKinsey itself has recently come under fire after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged its former managing director Rajat Gupta with insider trading, although the charges do not seem to relate to the time he was with McKinsey.

On the question of capitalism, Barton raises the right concerns, not least because the Great Recession of 2008 and its aftermath of cutbacks and high unemployment have increased public antagonism toward business.