The concept of corporate social responsibilly has evolved over the past couple of decades to argue for business which delivers profit with purpose. The mantra has been doing well by doing good.
B Corporations are but one of these forms which demonstrate their impact through sustainability reporting, yet this often makes one omission - people.
At Davos one may find , flanked by friends like Tony Blair and Richard Branson, but it's still about profit first , people second A monster who'll let children starve in his own country while pumping funds into foundations of neoliberal friends like Blair and Clinton.
None seem to have taken om board that the prevailing economic paradigm was the core problem, that capitalism has trumped democracy, which is about people.
"Manipulation of numbers, represented by currency/money, allows writing “new” money as needed. There is no tangible asset, or anchor. There are only numbers, managed by whomever might maneuver into position to do so. Economics came to be based on numbers, rather than real human beings.
On that basis, capitalism trumped people and therefore trumped democracy. Democracy is about people, who since Descartes are considered necessarily real, rather than numbers which are not necessarily real. An imaginary construct, numbers, rule a real construct, people. That arrangement allows for disposal of real human beings, in the name of the imaginary construct."
The question was asked of US President Bill Clinton almost 20 yeaes ago, concluding:
"It is only when wealth begins to concentrate in the hands of a relative few at the expense of billions of others who are denied even a small share of finite wealth that trouble starts and physical, human suffering begins. It does not have to be this way. Massive greed and consequent massive human misery and suffering do not have to be accepted as a givens, unavoidable, intractable, irresolvable. Just changing the way business is done, if only by a few companies, can change the flow of wealth, ease and eliminate poverty, and leave us all with something better to worry about. Basic human needs such as food and shelter are fundamental human rights; there are more than enough resources available to go around--if we can just figure out how to share. It cannot be "Me first, mine first"; rather, "Me, too" is more the order of the day."
Syriza, it seems, has just returned Greece to democracy and are set to dismantle the oligarchy as was the call in Ukraine - with those in greatest need, helped first. .
Core focus is always on people and their needs, with neediest people having first priority – as contrasted with the eternal chase for financial profit and numbers where people, social benefit, and human well-being are often and routinely overlooked or ignored altogether.
Re-imagining capitalism - the niew bottom line