Business vs social – an artificial separation that does not work any more The popular 1970s slogan “The business of business is business” is symptomatic of an artificial separation of social and economic concerns that affected education, process thinking and the CSR units of corporations. The demand for increased corporate social responsibility is growing louder….
Category: business
Are you a silo worker or a real changemaker?
Often it starts with a brilliant, but short-term based idea: let’s build an app for xyz, let’ s do a social campaign, let’s plan an event. Let’s create a project or type of startup. Said and done and voilá the result… And it is good to start. Just theoretic paper writing has never changed anything….
Social entrepreneurship? Should be more than a trend
Normally, in the morning I read a few articles on social entrepreneurship. Best practice ideas, interesting people with a lot of out- of-the-box thinking from India, US, Europe, Africa. There are many impressive stories and a lot of really engaged social entrepreneurs around. Their stories are inspiring, eye-openers… Additionally, I read articles on social entrepreneurship…
Twoandhalfweeks in India – business opportunities for village women, part II
Have you seen the lady in the picture? Unfortunately, I do not remember her name, but she had worked for years in a local fabric that produces paraffin heaters. The monthly payment for her eight hrs job was quiet low. The conditions? Not really the best … When she heard about VIMUKTHA – a legally…
With snacks towards a better future
Womens’ life in small cities and poor urban surrounding has always been very hard – like womens’ life in many parts of India. Women in rural areas have a long working day: they get up very early, carry huge containers of water or bundles of wood on their heads, clean the houses, engage in fieldwork…
Twoandahalfweeks in India – pepper and tea production sites supported by PDS
During the stay in the Peermade Development Society we visit many projects, e.g also an organic pepper and a tea production site. From here in Peermade many of these products are delivered abroad, mostly to Germany and USA, but also Australia, Switzerland and Austria. At the pepper production site When entering the pepper production site…
Social and business – the two worlds are still there. We need the big vision!
The two worlds are still there. Business thinks business and social is social. Simply said. But what about the huge trend, this trendy movement becoming big and bigger which is called “Social entrepreneurship”? Yes, that’s interesting to both organization types. People like it. Just the idea to fulfill society’s needs and to combine it with…
Which story does your enterprise tell to fight the witch?
You probably know the German “Once upon a time …” story, the story where Hansel and Gretel , brother and sister, together need to give their best to win a huge challenge against the bad witch. The family had no money to grow the children and they brought them into the dark woods… where they…
From traditional marketing to social change activities – a huge challenge!
Whenever it comes to social change, the main question from marketers is: if we change our thinking, if we make social the driving element, how can we measure the impact? How can we measure the outcome? Where is the profit? Show me numbers. Indeed, the direct connection to business growth is difficult to demonstrate. At…
Understand how work is changing
‘From work to workupation’ – that’s how Gerd Leonhard describes in a recent article the new understanding of ‘work’ . Working for earning a living is the traditional description what we and earlier generations think of in a first instant, when we are asked why we work. But it seems that it is not the…