Social Business, Business as if People Mattered: Variations on a Theme by Schumacher (1973)
Year: 2015
Type: article
Abstract: Economic growth is promoted as the solution to enhance the standard of living of the third of the world’s population living below the poverty line. Such growth, as measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP), is unsustainable and predicated on increased production/consumption without sufficient consideration of what is consumed by whom. In essence this is because GDP is a mechanistic measure of quantity that ignores individual human welfare or quality-of-life. To rectify this, affluent consumers need to learn that materialism and selfish self-interest are unsustainable, whereas enlightened self-interest, as assumed by Adam Smith when promoting capitalism and free markets, will benefit everyone. “Social Business” and marketing are proposed as practices that will facilitate this transformation.
Source: Sustainability
DOI: 10.3390/su7066478
Author: Michael Baker
Institution: University of Strathclyde
Language: English
Subfield: Business and International Management
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: No poverty
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,896
OpenAlex ID: W1580846753