Abstract

United States business is undergoing revolutionary change in attitude toward, and participation in, the nation's intensifying urban problems. In some respects it is the most profound change in business history: it poses many problems, raises many questions for the corporate community, government, business schools, and society in general. It is currently under continuous study by the nation's top executives. To learn more about this revolution, researchers asked the executives of 250 major companies for their views, decisions, and expectations on the rapidly accelerating corporate involvement in urban affairs. The executive respondents went far beyond their questions. They raised and answered a number of additional questions of deep concern to the business community. The blending of increasing urban affairs activities into existing corporate organizational patterns can best be described as fluid, improvisational, and reflecting a variety of managerial philosophies. Government should not only accelerate the Urban Affairs Revolution with financial assistance, it should do so with a drastic reduction in the red tape and restrictions which have bogged down the housing, manpower, welfare, poverty, health, and related programs.