The Big Winner

July 2nd, 2008 by admin

In January, Bill Gates gave a widely reported speech proposing some intriguing changes to traditional business models. He discussed some ways businesses could improve the standing of traditionally marginalized groups and simultaneously make a profit. Now a new blog invites economists and other scholars to debate the idea of creative capitalism.

From the blog’s about page:
Creative Capitalism: A Conversation is a web experiment designed to produce a book — a collection of essays and commentary on capitalism, philanthropy and global development — to be edited by us and published by Simon and Schuster in the fall of 2008. The book takes as its starting point a speech Bill Gates delivered this January at the World Economic Forum in Davos. In it, he said that many of the world’s problems are too big for philanthropy–even on the scale of the Gates Foundation. And he said that the free-market capitalist system itself would have to solve them.

My favorite post so far is a long and wide-ranging discussion between Bill Gates and Warren Buffett:
http://creativecapitalism.typepad.com/creative_capitalism/2008/06/bill-gates-and.html

Here’s some of the main points:
* Economics isn’t a zero sum situation. You can “make the pie bigger” in a way where everyone benefits.
* Employees (particularly younger ones) want to work for a company that has a purpose beyond simply maximizing shareholder value.
* A small percentage of the corporate income tax could be given to a fund managed by business leaders that focuses on improving the world.
* The market system currently doesn’t reward making services that improve the lives of the poor.
* Creating solutions for the poverty traps that exist in developing countries would lead to explosive growth.
* Humanitarian solutions can bring greater visibility to companies and improve their reputations.
* Businesses should allow shareholders to have a say in the direction of charitable donations, instead of having funds given to executives’ pet projects.
* Helping a nation’s citizens can lead to favorable treatment when competing for government contracts.
* Corporations should apply feedback systems to their humanitarian activities.
* Grand challenges and contests are a great way to find solutions for problems.

This is a unique opportunity to gain wisdom from two of the richest men in the world. Maybe Carlos Slim Helú could join them for a future meeting?