Should businesses care about the poor?
Bill Gates spoke recently at the World Economic Forum and said that businesses should pay more attention to the poor and called for “kinder” capitalism.
“We have to find a way to make the aspects of capitalism that serve wealthier people serve poorer people as well,” Mr. Gates will tell world leaders at the forum… In particular, he said, he’s troubled that advances in technology, health care and education tend to help the rich and bypass the poor.
Among the fixes he plans to call for: Companies should create businesses that focus on building products and services for the poor. “Such a system would have a twin mission: making profits and also improving lives for those who don’t fully benefit from market forces,” he plans to say.
I very much agree with Bill Gate’s thinking. It will be ideal if companies can share his thought. However, in reality, I believe only a small number of companies are financially capable and have the capability to do philanthropy.
For-profit companies exist because they want to make money, not because they want to help the poor or want to make the world a better place to live. Companies answer to their shareholders. Shareholders have the objective to maximize their investment returns. It’s true that many successful business models based on doing good things for people and the world. That’s because they create business value and ultimately lead to profit gains. It’s naive to think that companies have the moral obligation to care about people and the world.
If businesses are not in the position to take care the poor, then who should be responsible for a such task? I believe that’s the role of the government. The government has the obligation to take care of the poor. It must take appropriate actions to minimize the wealth imbalance between the poor and the rich.
Spotted on Slashdot.