A Better World

[Disclaimer: I wrote this essay after I had finished my MBA but before I'd watched The Corporation.]

The goal of corporations is widely misunderstood. It is not to make a profit.

The actual objective is to improve life on planet Earth by means of providing

employment and producing needed goods. Corporations are socio-political

entities that are given certain rights and limitations because it is commonly held

that this organizational form is beneficial to society. In cost-benefit ratio terms,

corporations will be promoted as long as their perceived contribution to society

through goods produced, wages earned and investment income generated

outweighs the environmental and societal costs. This understanding of the social

contract forms the basis of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the

related concept of Sustainable Development.

This cost-benefit ratio analysis is ultimately done by the citizens, given a democracy.

In the United States, companies are given great freedom; we impose a limited

amount of restrictions on the type of labor that can be hired, the kinds of goods

that can be produced, and the level of environmental degradation that we find

acceptable. We codify these in laws and expect the government to enforce these

limitations. When we feel corporations are exploiting loopholes in these laws or we

feel established standards are not sufficient, we the people begin boycotting

corporations, writing letters to governmental and business leaders, and other

activities with the purpose of returning to a generally accepted cost-benefit ratio.

We must be involved in order for this system to work appropriately.

CSR considers the costs and benefits to all of a corporation’s stakeholders—

owners, workers, vendors, customers, community organizations and the

government. The environment is not usually listed as a stakeholder; it is assumed

that environmental community organizations represent this issue.

You, the consumer, must be informed and involved. Our planet and economy

depend on it. “There is no business on a dead planet.”

Search for corporate social responsibility, corporate citizenship, or sustainable development at any major online bookseller. You'll find more than you could ever possibly read.

In addition, these books may be of interest to you (I have not read them all):

• Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
• Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman
• Raising the Bar: Integrity and Passion in Life and Business: The Story of Clif Bar, Inc.
• Eco-Economy: Building an Economy for the Earth
• For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy toward Community, the Environment, and a Sustainable Future
• Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution
• Ecological Economics: Principles And Applications
• The Ecology of Commerce
• Harvard Business Review on Green Business Strategy
• Harvard Business Review on Business and the Environment

These links are from the documentary The Corporation. Go ahead; watch it.

These are other websites I've appreciated: