Judith, you may find this interesting in the context of changing the way we do business.
In 2007 an obscure web journal in Eastern Europe published an unusual article. Unusual in that it was a strategy plan describing the concept of a center for social enterprise and social investment fund, justifying the soft power investment against what at the time was being spent every week in Iraq,
At the beginning of this story, there’s another president whose re-election committee offers an honorary researcher the opportunity to pitch an idea about doing business differently. It begins by questioning the purpose of business:
“At first glance, it might seem redundant to emphasize people as the central focus of economics. After all, isn’t the purpose of economics, as well as business, people? Aren’t people automatically the central focus of business and economic activities? Yes and no.”
After applying the concept to source a development initiative in Russia, the model was incorporated formally in the UK in 2004 as a self-sustaining business investing in social purpose.
In a recent blog, I describe how the ethical case for this approach to doing business for people was argued and subsequent impact:
Thanks for your article. I was wondering if you have example of social changes that big businesses have made. The examples that you used are mostly envirnomental in nature and are important. However, I think that the social aspect of CSR is lagging behind the envirnomental practices for a variety of reasons. I would be interested if you know of any examples. I am writing a book on NGO-corporate partnerships-using a meta-analysis of case studies- and would welcome any ideas that you have. cheers susan
Dear Judith. Your article was perhaps one of the most significant pieces of work in the history of development. Your insight carries forward a model for systemic development that would effectively address everything from global poverty to nature conservation. If 51/100 largest economies in the world are corporations, we as a field, and as a nation, better believe that they can and will create the greatest social change in history. There would be no more need for development and social service NGOs if our economy functioned good and well in the first place. One of the things that is missing in the current equation are intrapreneurs (like you said) and properly aligned economic incentives. I co-created Greenlighted to illustrate and mobilize economic incentives for major corporations to compete on social and environmental goodness. Last year I helped co-found Unreasonable Institute (unreasonableinstitute.org) which focuses on giving wings to early stage social enterprises. I love what we’ve created with Unreasonable, but the urgency to create systemic approach to solving global challenges through major global economic players led me to work on Greenlighted. We are cooking incredible and surprising technology in the backend right now. I would love to share with you our vision and hear your thoughts on the future of the field. Please feel free to email me at any point. With much appreciation, Vladimir (dubovskiy.com)
Right you are: We must work from within as well from outside corporations to generate a truly responsible business sector. We need to incorporate the teaching of ethics into all education, not just business schools. People make ethical decisions every day. Those decisions determine the direction society will take in everything that matters: education, medicine, business, person-to-person interactions.
big business does matter and only they will bring the large scale-up that has eluded the social entrepreneurship and BoP space so far. However, the intrapreneurs are always challenged with inherent short termism and ROI expectations of big business which do not match with the reality of social enterprise and base of the pyramid ventures. We, at the Asian Social Enterprise Incubator (http://www.asei.com.ph) work on bringing the social intrapreneurs and entrepreneurs together and create a space where co-creation of business model development can take place. I believe it is not intra- or entrepreneur but working together which will bring results.
I have just completed four years of research documenting the most successful business strategies for social change - what i call “corporate social innovations” - in a book called SOCIAL INNOVATION, INC. See a review here: http://beyondprofit.com/book-review-social-innovation-inc/
The simple truth is that corporations don’t have a conscience, only people do. If we want to motivate business to solve social problems, we have to start from the assumption that companies will only ever care about the bottom line. We can critique that, bemoan it, rail against it or try to change it. But we must also accept it, and find creative ways to inject social change into the stream of commerce, to work in concert with market forces. It is only in this way that we can unleash the full potential and resources of business to solve social problems. Social innovation taps into the engine of market (economic growth and profit) rather than the fumes (charity and compliance).
Big business has been caricatured as the bully and the bad boy in society. There seems to be an assumption on the part of anti-business advocates that the motivation behind big business is inherently self-centred, and not socially oriented. There is no appreciation for the business; on the other hand, often, there is vehement and virulent criticism
COMMENTS
BY Jeff Mowatt
ON October 1, 2010 02:37 AM
Judith, you may find this interesting in the context of changing the way we do business.
In 2007 an obscure web journal in Eastern Europe published an unusual article. Unusual in that it was a strategy plan describing the concept of a center for social enterprise and social investment fund, justifying the soft power investment against what at the time was being spent every week in Iraq,
http://en.for-ua.com/analytics/2007/08/09/110003.html
At the beginning of this story, there’s another president whose re-election committee offers an honorary researcher the opportunity to pitch an idea about doing business differently. It begins by questioning the purpose of business:
“At first glance, it might seem redundant to emphasize people as the central focus of economics. After all, isn’t the purpose of economics, as well as business, people? Aren’t people automatically the central focus of business and economic activities? Yes and no.”
http://www.p-ced.com/1/about/history/
After applying the concept to source a development initiative in Russia, the model was incorporated formally in the UK in 2004 as a self-sustaining business investing in social purpose.
In a recent blog, I describe how the ethical case for this approach to doing business for people was argued and subsequent impact:
http://socialbusiness.socialgo.com/magazine/read/you-me-we-ethics-and-people-centered-economics_5.html
BY Susan Ross
ON October 1, 2010 06:00 PM
Dear Judith:
Thanks for your article. I was wondering if you have example of social changes that big businesses have made. The examples that you used are mostly envirnomental in nature and are important. However, I think that the social aspect of CSR is lagging behind the envirnomental practices for a variety of reasons. I would be interested if you know of any examples. I am writing a book on NGO-corporate partnerships-using a meta-analysis of case studies- and would welcome any ideas that you have. cheers susan
BY Vladimir Dubovskiy
ON October 2, 2010 04:56 PM
Dear Judith. Your article was perhaps one of the most significant pieces of work in the history of development. Your insight carries forward a model for systemic development that would effectively address everything from global poverty to nature conservation. If 51/100 largest economies in the world are corporations, we as a field, and as a nation, better believe that they can and will create the greatest social change in history. There would be no more need for development and social service NGOs if our economy functioned good and well in the first place. One of the things that is missing in the current equation are intrapreneurs (like you said) and properly aligned economic incentives. I co-created Greenlighted to illustrate and mobilize economic incentives for major corporations to compete on social and environmental goodness. Last year I helped co-found Unreasonable Institute (unreasonableinstitute.org) which focuses on giving wings to early stage social enterprises. I love what we’ve created with Unreasonable, but the urgency to create systemic approach to solving global challenges through major global economic players led me to work on Greenlighted. We are cooking incredible and surprising technology in the backend right now. I would love to share with you our vision and hear your thoughts on the future of the field. Please feel free to email me at any point. With much appreciation, Vladimir (dubovskiy.com)
BY Geri Stengel
ON October 4, 2010 11:53 AM
Right you are: We must work from within as well from outside corporations to generate a truly responsible business sector. We need to incorporate the teaching of ethics into all education, not just business schools. People make ethical decisions every day. Those decisions determine the direction society will take in everything that matters: education, medicine, business, person-to-person interactions.
Ethically aware people will expect their employers (and employees) to be ethical, to value long-term sustainability and human impact as shareholder interests. Personal ethics and corporate ethics http://ventureneer.com/vblog/definition-social-responsibility-needs-encompass-both-our-business-and-personal-side [are tied to each other] and should both be emphasized.
BY Markus Dietrich
ON October 7, 2010 11:48 PM
Dear Judith,
big business does matter and only they will bring the large scale-up that has eluded the social entrepreneurship and BoP space so far. However, the intrapreneurs are always challenged with inherent short termism and ROI expectations of big business which do not match with the reality of social enterprise and base of the pyramid ventures. We, at the Asian Social Enterprise Incubator (http://www.asei.com.ph) work on bringing the social intrapreneurs and entrepreneurs together and create a space where co-creation of business model development can take place. I believe it is not intra- or entrepreneur but working together which will bring results.
BY Jason Saul
ON October 10, 2010 04:51 PM
Judith, your points are timely. With the recent IPO of SKS Microfinance, Vinod Khosla is leading a new breed of investors who recognize the business value of social change. see: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/business/global/06khosla.html?_r=2&emc=tnt&tntemail1=y
I have just completed four years of research documenting the most successful business strategies for social change - what i call “corporate social innovations” - in a book called SOCIAL INNOVATION, INC. See a review here: http://beyondprofit.com/book-review-social-innovation-inc/
The simple truth is that corporations don’t have a conscience, only people do. If we want to motivate business to solve social problems, we have to start from the assumption that companies will only ever care about the bottom line. We can critique that, bemoan it, rail against it or try to change it. But we must also accept it, and find creative ways to inject social change into the stream of commerce, to work in concert with market forces. It is only in this way that we can unleash the full potential and resources of business to solve social problems. Social innovation taps into the engine of market (economic growth and profit) rather than the fumes (charity and compliance).
BY home automation
ON October 22, 2010 08:13 PM
Big business has been caricatured as the bully and the bad boy in society. There seems to be an assumption on the part of anti-business advocates that the motivation behind big business is inherently self-centred, and not socially oriented. There is no appreciation for the business; on the other hand, often, there is vehement and virulent criticism