Although not directly related to this class, I found this
story about the Indian based multinational corporation Tata very
interesting.
The company places social responsibility and charity on an
equal footing with profitability as goals for its business. As the Tata example points out, this is not
an entirely new idea. Indeed, the structure
and history of the Kaiser-Permanente health care conglomerate is perhaps an
interesting comparison with the Tata group.
Although, not entirely novel, there does seem to be an
increased interest lately in exploring business models that are more socially
responsible. The social entrepreneurship
movement, for instance, is an example. I
think these alternative business models and approaches dovetail nicely with changes
in how we think about using resources and management the planet’s systems.
