The word is spreading in the center of capitalism – there are different ways to create enterprises such that they make a social as well as economic difference. Do have a look at the article. I thoroughly recommend a read of various articles and contributions to the Creative Capitalism site. It is packed with resources worth following, such as What makes creative capitalism hard? and Corporate Social Confusion by Martin Wolf among others.
We welcome suggestions on how to spread the word further, especially how to encourage real change in the university courses and in the corporate practices.
The Time is Right for Creative Capitalism
Published: August 20, 2008
Author: Nancy Koehn
Executive Summary:
Bill Gates has it right. Business is the most powerful force for change in the world right now and gives the idea of creative capitalism real power, writes Harvard Business School professor Nancy F. Koehn. Key concepts include:
* No other set of institutions has the resources or the breadth and on-the-ground depth of business to deal with the world’s toughest problems.
* Five powerful forces are converging in this moment to support creative capitalism.
* All sizes and types of business—from start-up to multinational—have something to contribute.
Bill Gates has it right. Business is the most powerful force for change in the world right now and gives the idea of creative capitalism real power, writes Harvard Business School professor Nancy F. Koehn.
Editor’s Note: In a much admired and debated speech given at the World Economic Forum in Davos last January, Bill Gates said that many of the world’s biggest problems cannot be fixed by philanthropy, but instead require free-market capitalism—”creative capitalism”—to solve.
According to Gates, creative capitalism is “an approach where governments, businesses, and nonprofits work together to stretch the reach of market forces so that more people can make a profit, or gain recognition, doing work that eases the world’s inequities.”
Harvard Business School professor Nancy Koehn recently contributed an essay on creative capitalism to the blog Creative Capitalism: A Conversation, run by Michael Kinsley and Conor Clarke. We reprint her comments here with permission from the site. Readers should feel free to write their own comments on the Creative Capitalism site.
Readers are welcomed to respond to Koehn’s essay on the Creative Capitalism site/blog.
About Faculty in this Article:
HBS Faculty Member Nancy F. Koehn
Nancy F. Koehn is the James E. Robison Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.
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Excellent, Lilly!
I have a strand of communication on that blog about ‘What makes creative capitalism hard’ – with Tracy Williams from the Gates Foundation.
See http://tinyurl.com/6qjb79
I think we need to respect that US policies differ from UK thinking which is different from people’s needs in Bangladesh.
“Usury-free banking” a la Yunus should be operating in all areas as a “social business”!
Meanwhile, we’re asking the Treasury Select Committee to look into these issues via our “Public Credit Petition”.
See: http://tinyurl.com/666rwd
By: Sabine McNeill on August 26, 2008
at 3:27 pm