Check 22 - Companies - Purpose

The Hidden Power

Companies shall act in the interests of people, and the biosphere.

As we've mentioned in recent episodes, from the standpoint of the biosphere, humanity's existence is felt primarily through industrialisation. Resource extraction, pollution, as well as much monoculture in agriculture have taken their toll on both the biosphere and many of the people it supports. Indeed, while populations have been increasingly "farmed" over the decades, the characterisation by technology companies of humanity as end-users to be addicted and data to be mined is an obvious extension of this outlook. And these exploitations are often the preserve not of individual people but of companies, with their diffuse networks of responsibility and "the corporate veil."

But things could be different. In this episode we re-imagine the role of companies in our world as inverted: from the current slavishness to the global monetary system and its obfuscating pipework of corporate ownership - to something that privileges human value in the context of our life-support system, the biosphere.

Talking Points:

Picking apart the principle: the real is almost the reverse of the ideal

The corporate veil as central to the current version of capitalism

The ethical drift in corporate behaviour over the last several decades

Free-flowing capital before and after WW2: neoliberalism

This is not an insurmountable problem: we can reinvent the system

Crystallising public opinion

Tomorrow's Company - since the 1980's

A case in point: demutualisation of AA and RAC, submission to global monetary system

Design- and Systems thinking vs the pressures of neo-liberalism:

Other "tomorrow's companies" - The Body Shop - hinges on structures of ownership

Japanese management in manufacturing: raising the global standard through competitive pressure

W Edwards Deming

Consumer power, shareholder power and greenwashing

Paying the true cost is possible - if you can afford it

Flooding brought people together, and they never felt happier

What is it to be human? Community is a big part of it

But also: diversity of experience within the community - or company

Aligning the word Company with what it means

Links:

Alternative search engine to Google: Ecosia. They plant trees:

https://www.ecosia.org

W. Edwards Deming: "Deming's teachings and philosophy are clearly illustrated by examining the results they produced after they were adopted by Japanese industry:"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming

Limited Liability - brief history:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limited_liability#History

The Corporate Veil (wikipedia)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piercing_the_corporate_veil

Global Monetary System: "Leading financial journalist Martin Wolf has reported that all financial crises since 1971 have been preceded by large capital inflows into affected regions:"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_monetary_system

The origins of "Tomorrow's Company" stem from a lecture given in 1990 by Charles Handy, Chairman of the UK’s RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) on the question ‘What is a Company For?’. This led to the inquiry ‘Tomorrow’s Company – the role of business in a changing world’, led by Sir Anthony Cleaver, then Chairman of IBM, which culminated in a report of the same name published in 1995.

Here's the original report from the RSA:

https://www.tomorrowscompany.com/publication/rsa-inquiry-tomorrows-company-the-role-of-business-in-a-changing-world/

Its current incarnation, 30 years later - https://www.tomorrowscompany.com - Still interesting and forward looking, although their prioritising away from society and toward the embrace of disruptive innovation diverges from our ideal of systems thinking:

"[...]In 2016, in the light of all the organisation’s learning and experience in working with companies and investors, Tomorrow’s Company report, UK Business: What’s Wrong? What’s Next? restated [their definition of a Tomorrow's Company as three principles.

These are:

• A purpose beyond profit and a set of values that are lived through the behaviours of all employees to create a self-reinforcing culture;
• Collaborative and reciprocal relationships with key stakeholders – a strong focus on customer satisfaction, employee engagement and, where possible, collaboration with suppliers, alongside working with society; and
• A long-term approach that embraces risk – investing long term and embracing disruptive innovation.

Community energy companies and projects

http://awel.coop/

This is the largest employee owned company in Scotland:

https://homecarescotland.co.uk/

Profiting from Integrity - Alan Barlow (book)

https://www.waterstones.com/book/profiting-from-integrity/alan-barlow/9781138090613

There are quite a few surveys of staff as the best places to work (although - what these surveys show and mask is up for debate), e.g. for tech companies:

https://blog.greatplacetowork.co.uk/uk-best-tech-companies-to-work-for

Quakers Businesses -

"Quakers didn't wring every last penny out of a business so they were appealing companies to be taken over." [ie - with the dawn of neoliberalism in the 1980's]

- it looks like the great myth of Quaker businesses has struggled to stand the tests of neoliberalism:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-17112572

Couldn't find a list of Quaker company principles - rather, it seems they held each other accountable in the context of how they conducted their meetings.

Forbes Magazine says:

"..During early Quaker meetings, "the business activities of their members were scrutinized by their peers, not only for their soundness but also to ensure that the interests of the broader community--not just the Quakers--were protected,"...The Quaker congregation "would stand behind the activities of members who were in good standing, and if one of them got into trouble, they would supervise the liquidation of the business and make good the deficit."

https://www.forbes.com/2009/10/09/quaker-business-meetings-leadership-society-friends.html

Quaker Companies.

Predictably enough, Quaker Oats was never a Quaker company.

"This is a list of notable businesses, organizations or charities founded by Quakers. Many of these are no longer managed or influenced by Quakers. At the end of the article are businesses that have never had any connection to Quakers [3, to be precise - the first being Quaker Oats], although some people may believe that they did or still do."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Quaker_businesses,_organizations_and_charities

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