Business As A Social Calling ... Part 4

Good morning, So here I am defending business as positive social influence and yet I realize that there are at least some folks who are just not buying the premise. I interact with enough people during the day (my own twenty year-old son included in that list) who question whether or not business can ever serve the larger social intention. Yet for me I don't think it can be a question of, "Can business serve the larger social intention?" ... I think it has to be the quesiton, "How can business serve the larger social intention?". In my mind no larger social institution exists than the collective institution of business on a worldwide basis. We have business that runs the gamut from super mulit-nationals with hundreds of billions of dollars of revenue to small sole proprietorships that dot the landscape in virtually every country on the globe. Each of these are part of the larger collective institution of business, i.e.: directed activity of an individual or group of individuals that hold as one aspect of their total intention to create a positive profit through the production and/or sale of goods, and/or the delivery of services. In many ways that serves as the definitive definition of business as I think of it. When an intention to create a positive profit doesn't apply we are not talking about a business. We could be talking about a social entity, or a civic entity, or an educational entity but we are not talking about a business. The singular aspect of the creation of positive profit defines the institution of business as distinct from all other institutions. The objection that some folks seem to have starts with the very premise that an intention to profit exists. In their minds the very drive to create profit corrupts. Yet when we consider the history of business and the impact this institution has had on the quality of life for humans on the planet it seems undeniable that a strong positive influence can be accredited to the impact of business and the commercial activities associated with it. Yet I recognize we can also point to the ills business has created as well.

The outstanding question for me has become, "How can we organize our businesses and our business activities to serve all those impacted by the business at every level ... including the larger social structure which houses the business and gives it permission to operate?"

I think that for this to be accomplished we must first and foremost rethink our essential considerations of what business has become and what we want it to be going forward. One group that has given this some significant thinking are the folks at B Lab Inc.. In essence they are proposing a certification (voluntary) for businesses that are premised on delivering value to the full range of stakeholders that the business interacts with on every level ... internal, external and systemic. This translates into a business structure that attends to issues such as sustainability, social integrity, employee wellfare ... This kind of thinking defies the ordinary legal definitions of business in the public sector. Our legal system in the United States for instance has many times voiced the opinion on precedent setting cases that businesses must increase shareholder value as their primary consideration, despite any social intentions, i.e.: employee welfare, social integrity ... Yet we may be the generation that changes this limited and destructive trend. We may be the generation to begins the transformation to business as a positive social institution. One scenario that can emerge within such a conceptual frame retains the central intention of business of creating positive profit. However, in addition there would be demands placed upon businesses to perform in the greater service of the society/ies that house them before they gain the right to claim a profit for the shareholders. In essence since businesses cannot operate or succeed without the ongoing and substantial support of the society/ies that house them their first obligation must become the service of the society ... and they must organize (and be allowed to organize) in such a way as to allow for the earning of a reasonable and even substantial profit when they do so. I think I'll pick it up again with some practical ideas of how we can institute a social change in the domain of business .... while retaining what may be best served by capitalism and the benefits that accrue as a result of this economic approach. Best regards, Joseph Riggio, Social Ontologist Princeton, NJ