I. Introduction
Building Social Business is a book about social enterprise written by Muhammad Yunus. Muhammad Yunus is a social entrepreneur, economist, banker, and civil servant leader from Bangladesh. He is known for founding the Grameen Bank which is a microfinance organization and community development bank. Yunus is a well-known proponent of microfinance and microcredit. Due to his efforts in making a change through microfinance and microcredit and other noble causes, Yunus has been given several awards including the Independence Day Award in 1987, World Food Price in 1994, Pfeffer Peace Price also in 1994, Gandhi Peace Price in 2000, Volvo Environment Prize in 2003, Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009, Congressional
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Through this book, Yunus shows how social business is applied in the current business setting. Yunus also explains how the social business model could redeem the failed promise of the free enterprise model.
III. Reflection
After reading the first two chapters of Building Social Business, I was moved. I was inspired. Yunus opened my eyes to another side of business, which in his words was selfless. And indeed it was selfless. Social business is truly selfless because it focuses on helping others and earning profit comes second. By reading this book and reflecting, I realized it is better to be part of the solution rather than be part of the problem. By looking at my community, at my environment, and at my experiences in life, there are problems that will need solutions and I firmly believe that having a social business is the solution. By my observation, slow public utilities, expensive medicine, and empowering marginalized sectors are problems that can be solved by putting up social businesses. By combining entrepreneurial mindset and experience, social awareness, and creativity, the ideal social business can be done. But what makes a social business truly a social business is the
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There were times when I made bad decisions because I was too tired to discern and make an informed decision. I was too tired from commuting that I complain too much that it puts me in a bad light because of the stress of taking public transportation. But the worse effect of being too tired from commuting based on my experience is being lazy to do school works or doing the things I need to finish at a later time. Now, I am not using commuting as an excuse in being lazy. No, it is never an excuse, but what I am trying to say is my level of productivity takes a hit when I am too tired. I can be extremely productive and can make informed decisions when I am well rested. By putting up a social business that focuses on the commuters, it can help them become more productive in their work or studies. And also, it could help them become more productive and useful citizens of our country. Come to think of it, being more productive could help in nation building. If people are not too tired, our country could achieve more progress. Our country could become better and our citizens could strive for greatness. And it begins with being productive and
Muhammad Yunus believes that social issues will be solved with the help of a social business. He elaborates about the details that social business would benefit the poor from its activities. One of Yunu's plan is his idea of a social stock market which investors who are socially focused would be interested about the buying and selling of shares in social businesses. He
In order to make a book that the reader will be able to follow and make it compelling to them as well, one needs to include a variety of different elements. The third born, an excerpt from the novel How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia written by Moshin Hamid follows a young boy and his family from life in an improvised village to life in the “glamorous” city, done effortlessly through including the theme; the order of birth. In addition, to portray the hardship of this story and set the wearisome tone experienced throughout the excerpt, Hamid uses conflict. Which is portrayed through visions of money, life and death, health and externally and internally.
Social finance is seen as an approach aimed as mobilizing private capital in order to ensure the delivery of economic returns and social dividends to attain environmental and social goals (2). It also creates many opportunities for various investors to finance certain projects to benefit community and society organizations to access other sources of funds. The description of the policy issue, as social finance, is conveyed by the implementers who involve mainly political leaders, interest groups, state legislatures, congress, and government bureaucracies. The problem from the policy is defined based on the economic situation of the society before its introduction and implementation. Social finance, as an initiative, is a form of a business with the aim of bettering society economically and having a positive social impact such as creating new job opportunities and funding business development programs. Since 2004, over $67.7 million has been invested in over 7300 businesses and community development projects (3). The description of the problem also involves understanding of the situation in the absence of the initiative. The policy, as a problem,...
To supply the wants and needs of a consumer, society entrusts wealth-producing resources to the business enterprise.” (Santayana, George. Is The Tyranny Of Shareholder Value Finally Ending? So before we go into greater detail on the different perspectives related to social responsibility, one might question the meaning of social responsibility. It is generally agreed that social responsibility is defined as the business obligation to make decisions that benefit society.... ...
Every business has a social responsibility toward society. That means to maximize positive affects and minimize negative affects on the society. Social responsibilities includes economic-to produce goods and services, that society needs at the price, that satisfy both-business and consumers, legal responsibility-laws that business must obey, ethical responsibilities-behaviors and activities that are expected of business by society, but are not codified in the law, philanthropic responsibilities-represent the company’s desire to give back to society (charietys, volunteering, sponsoring).
Ciulla, J. B., Martin, C. W., & Solomon, R. C. (2007). Is "The Social Responsibility of Business... to Increase Its Profits"? Social Responsibility and Stakeholder Theory. Honest work: a business ethics reader (pp. 217-253). New York: Oxford University Press.
The concept of social innovation has metamorphosed the way companies do business. No longer do companies only consider the short-term shareholder value, but now firms consider the social and physical environments in which they operate. It, therefore, goes without saying that this is only achievable through proper accountability. The advent of social media has given the power back to the consumers, and this has brought about change necessitating the companies to also value their customers—if not more—as they do their
The corporate social responsibility is a commitment by a business to contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life for employees and their families’ as-well as contributing to the society. Walmart is a well-known company that offers customers the items they want and need at a low cost, with nearly 4,000 stores in the United States. According to the Fortune 500, Walmart was ranked number 1 in 2015. Just like any other superstore Walmart needs to continue the use of social responsibility by recreating a relationship between business and the community especially if they want to dominate the competition in 2016. The use of sustainability, strategic philanthropy, causing market, shared values, stakeholders and global perspective will help readers understand the purpose of social responsibilities in the corporate world.
In modern society, we often hear some news about social enterprises, TV, magazine, and internet. We cannot neglect the function of social enterprises in our country. Social enterprises play a vital role in perspectives of helping homeless people, offering employable opportunity, increasing national income, promoting economic growth. While, controversy follows. However, positive appraisal is more than the negative one. People still hope to see more social enterprises appearance.
Milton Friedman presents a compelling argument in “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Profits” by arguing that businesses need to focus only on increasing their profits and integrating social responsibility will only hurt them as a company. Since “only people can have responsibilities” (Friedman 52), Friedman argues that businesses as a whole do not have any type of real responsibilities because there is not a singular person for these responsibilities to fall on. Corporate executives are people as well and may feel they have social responsibilities to society but these “are the social responsibilities of individuals, not of business” (51). In terms of corporations, the businessmen are the ones that hold the responsibility of the company. Friedman argues that the only responsibility these managers hold is to those who own the corporation, the shareholders. If the individuals themselves want to contribute to social responsibility they must do it with their own money in their personal lives, but they should not use social responsibility in
Government support for social economy entities is recognized in European Union, Brazil and Argentina. While in countries of Africa and Asia support is built by the citizens forums and networks on sustainable development and by United Nations agencies. Among policy themes on social enterprises are: improving access to financial resources; research for increasing understanding and visibility; capacity building; ac¬cess to public procurement.
The novel, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, is about a man's adventure starting from a poor country boy to becoming a successful businessman. To achieve his goal of wealth he goes through many challenges including near-death, deceit, violence, and love. Ultimately, the main character does fulfill his dream, but his business began to decline. Unlike other typical fiction books, the author, Mohsin Hamid, differentiates his tale by writing without many specifics (such as character names and places) in the second person point of view. He also disguises it as a self-help book, where you are main character trying to become rich. Although I am not male like the main character nor do I have many similarities to his life, there are numerous instances
The first discussion question posed was, “How does Dr. Friedman characterize discussions on the “social responsibilities of business”? Why (Jennings, 2009, p. 79)? Friedman (1970) characterized the discussions on social responsibilities as one hundred percent unadulterated socialism. Friedman (1970) characterized these discussions in that manner because he felt that a corporate executive should focus solely on making profits and not on social aspects. He mentioned how people who conduct and express themselves in this fashion are positively reinforcing and supporting the actions of individuals that have been weakening the foundational blocks of free society. Friedman (1970) posed a question which was the crux of his 1970 article “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits” where he investigated the true contextual meaning of what responsibilities mean to businesses. Friedman describes how businesses cann...
Social sustainability is “identifying and managing business impact, both positive and negative, on people.” The quality of a company’s relationships and engagement will directly or indirectly “affect what happens to employees, workers in the value chain, customers and local communities” (Wynhoven). This definition focuses on the importance of sustainable relationships. It focuses on the social aspect, which can be good helping to determine what social sustainability looks like. The UN definition makes it clear that it is important to manage the corporation’s impact proactively so that employees, customers, and local communities all benefit from a corporation’s presence. BMW is an excellent example of a corporation that focuses on social sustainability. BMW promotes exchange between refugees, local youth, and BMW employees through a neighborhood project called “Lifetalk” which aims “to give young people a better idea of possible career paths” (BMW). These actions come from the company’s beliefs and goals. BMW states that “taking social and environmental responsibility for everything we do is an integral part of how we perceive ourselves as a company. We are convinced that the lasting economic success of any enterprise these days is based increasingly on acting responsibly and ensuring social acceptance” (BMW). BMW believes that sustainability is an
The module has analysed business-society relations through the theories and practices of business ethics and social responsibility and how business ethics has evolved from theoretical frameworks as to how business should be managed.