Commit: to give to someone to take care of, keep, or deal with; to give in charge or trust, entrust, consign to (a person, his care, judgement, etc.) from Latin committĕre to put together, join, also (com- intensive) to put for safety, give in charge, entrust, deliver.
Oxford English Dictionary Online
There are a number of striking features of the above definition of commit. First, it encapsulates the notion of giving or entrusting something or someone to the care of others. Second, there are no contracts or incentives associated with the act of giving but there are obligations and responsibilities thereby arising. Third, the recipient is obliged to look after that which is entrusted to them and to ensure it is held and employed wisely in the interests of the other party.
It is not a concept with which economists feel comfortable. There are no contracts or incentives to ensure good performance. There are not even repeat relations to discourage default. There is just trust that the recipient will not abuse their position. But this and the next part of the book will argue that commitment lies at the heart of the formulation of public policy towards the firm. The success of policy hinges critically on its ability to be able to promote commitment towards the fulfilment of corporate purpose. To achieve this, policy itself, in the guise of the law, regulation, taxation, finance, and investment, has to be considerably more purposeful than it has been to date and to demonstrate the degree of commitment to purpose that it should legitimately expect of others.