What exactly is the World Economic Forum meeting?

From January 15 to 19, an annual meeting is going to be held in Davos, Switzerland, called the World Economic Forum (WEF). This global meeting is held every year.

What exactly is the World Economic Forum meeting? Let's understand the concept bit by bit.

Understanding the World Economic Forum meeting

It was Klaus Schwab, a German professor, who started the World Economic Forum. 

Schwab practiced as a professor of business policy for almost three decades at the University of Geneva. The man was a graduate of mechanical engineering. He also completed his Master of Public Administration degree from John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

It was in the year 1971 when Klaus Schwab started the World Economic Forum. Initially, it was called the European Management Forum.

The Forum brought forward the concept of stakeholder capitalism.

What is meant by stakeholder capitalism?

Stakeholder capitalism is a type of capitalism wherein companies not only optimize profits that are short-term for the shareholders, but also look for long-term value creation. This is done by looking after the needs of all the stakeholders and the society as a whole.
The website of the World Economic Forum clearly says that a company should be serving not only its shareholders, but, in fact, all its stakeholders.

The meeting

The initial meetings of the World Economic Forum talked about the ways in which European companies could catch up with the management practices of the United States.

Then, in the year 1973, the focus of the meetings changed to various social and economic issues, against the backdrop of the Arab-Israeli War.

Later, a system of membership for the 1,000 leading firms of the world was introduced.  The European Management Forum stands as the very first non-governmental institute that partnered with the economic development commissions of China in the year 1979.

Members of the meeting

Around 3,000 participants are a part of the meeting. These include both selected members and the paying participants. The participants include notable economists, journalists, celebrities, political leaders, business leaders, investors, and more. The meeting is held in Davos for 5 days wherein these notable dignitaries converse about global concerns across 500 sessions. It is a platform where multiple stakeholders discuss regional and global socio-economic matters. The President of the World Bank Group, Ajay Banga, UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, Director-General of the World Health Organisation, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus are some of the attendees of the meeting.

Why is Davos the venue for the meeting?

Davos is a place that is detached against the distractions of global politics, and hence seems fit to achieve the mission of global economic prosperity. Therefore, Davos was chosen as the venue for the meeting.