on your mind set, or whether you are actually in business
many people do, as you say, believe in purposes of business other than profit. But, in general, these people are not in business, or not a successful one anyway (at least as defined by the making of profit, without which it is almost impossible to stay in business).
What are the 'ideals' of a business? Can a business even have 'ideals'? I don't think so. People can, and the people involved in the business can, but the business itself cannot, anymore than a lightswitch can be melancholy or a potato peeler feel unloved.
I don't know of any way that a business can be established or run without capital investment, even if, in some way, the capital investment is repaid in other non-monetary ways. It's not so much that the ideals of a business become undermined, rather that the business had no ideals in the first place, only the people involved in the business find that it's actions do not agree with their personal values.
I think it's misleading to say that plenty of businesses don't require capital backing, when in truth it is a tiny minority that do not. Again, with ethical investment firms, they form a tiny minority or investment firms, and do not and cannot match the returns offered by the overwhelming majority of investment options not constrained by personal values or ethics. Speaking as someone with a financial investments background, with experience of ethical funds, you'd be surprised what they can and do actually invest in (tobacco, arms, etc.) when the investment is at a remove (for instance, and ethical fund purchasing units in another fund, which itself holds investments in further funds, that themselves hold shares in unethical companies).
A business is not a person, and corporate personhood should, in my opinion, be unnattainable. The consequences of that would be dire for us all, but the idea that a business can have ethics and values is the first step on that road.
(, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 11:08, Reply)
Well.
'Business' is a wide term, I think neither of use will be happy whilst we try and snapshot everything from sole traders through publicly traded enterprises...
Hopefully a balance will be struck: I think if we are going continue heading down the Ferengi route; we should at least start ensuring our women are naked.
(
zacherynuk @echo off, Wed 20 Jun 2012, 11:52,
Reply)