Samenvatting

Analysing the questions “How profitable is the industry made with war and can peace become a profitable business as well?” is very difficult, as it is important to not just identify the profits made by the arms industry, but also to identify the industry focused on peace and built around
connected values. The industry around the term “peace” is very diverse, for different reasons.
Firstly, the definition of peace is varied. Peace, according to Johan Galtung, a Norwegian
sociologist who is an expert on peace studies and development is defined in terms of negative
and positive peace. Negative peace is the status free of violence and war, whereas positive
peace also excludes the structural violence that includes differences through education, gender, ethnicity and other factors. Additionally, other organizations and research institutes define peace in more detail than just the absence of violence and war and see the importance of other factors.
Furthermore, the business built around peace is based in many different markets, such as the
hygiene market, the textile industry and the food industry and are supporting and working with a broader definition of peace that includes social equality, development and sustainability.
Examples of these markets are the Body Shop and Unilever, a partner of the organization Peace One Day, based in the hygiene market, Manomama, a German company based in the textile industry and Lemon Aid Beverages GmbH and Innocent Smoothies, both based in the food industry. All these companies support peace in some way and these ways and their focus and interest in peace development differ extremely.
The arms industry is a very profitable business. The leading company in the export of arms is
Lockheed Martin, based in the USA, with sales of approximately 36 billion US dollars in 2012.
The USA is the leading country in the arms export, followed by Russia and Germany. Although it is an industry with a long history, it is developing and adapting to new trends and strategies and changes in warfare. Furthermore, the arms industry is not just focused on the production and sale of weapons, but also on the research and development of new gadgets and arms such as drones.
The main interest of the arms industry is money, power and influence. These interests are
important for the industry to develop and widen the market and target groups. To influence
economic and political issues is very beneficial for the companies. On the contrary, the main
interest of the industries and companies based on a social background and the idea of a
peaceful togetherness is not profit or power. The influence on peace building situations and
recent developments is also interesting for companies based on and around the term peace.
However, it is more important for these companies to make a change, raise awareness, for
example for Peace Day, and to share the profits to fund and support certain, mainly locally
oriented projects.
Another important factor regarding the connection between peace and business is the fact that
peace is mostly seen as an ideal and not as part of everyday life. Because of this ideal status,
peace is not seen as a foundation for businesses or as a profitable industry or business case
that is profitable. But, currently a new trend is developing and the connection of peace and
business is becoming more profitable. Development, sustainability and the environment are not just interconnected but are also connected to peace and recently, also connected to business.
Different companies incorporate these aspects in their mission statements. Moreover, the
companies connect these aspects and values with their products. A new target group for these
developments was formed and an increasing part of civil society is willing to pay more for these products, if they support certain values. This trend is very recent and interesting for the future development of the market.