Marc Benioff: We Need a New Capitalism

[sun rise]

Note that is a piece by a capitalist who has done very well financially. And he points out that that by having a purpose beyond pure greed is also good for the bottom line.

Marc Benioff: We Need a New Capitalism

Over the past 20 years, the company that I co-founded, Salesforce, has generated billions in profits and made me a very wealthy person. I have been fortunate to live a life beyond the wildest imaginations of my great-grandfather, who immigrated to San Francisco from Kiev in the late 1800s.

Yet, as a capitalist, I believe it’s time to say out loud what we all know to be true: Capitalism, as we know it, is dead.
...
...profits are important, but so is society. And if our quest for greater profits leaves our world worse off than before, all we will have taught our children is the power of greed.

It’s time for a new capitalism — a more fair, equal and sustainable capitalism that actually works for everyone and where businesses, including tech companies, don’t just take from society but truly give back and have a positive impact.
...
suggesting that companies must choose between doing well and doing good is a false choice. Successful businesses can and must do both. In fact, with political dysfunction in Washington, D.C., Americans overwhelmingly say C.E.O.s should take the lead on economic and social challenges, and employees, investors and customers increasingly seek out companies that share their values.
...
Skeptical business leaders who say that having a purpose beyond profit hurts the bottom line should look at the facts. Research shows that companies that embrace a broader mission — and, importantly, integrate that purpose into their corporate culture — outperform their peers, grow faster, and deliver higher profits. Salesforce is living proof that new capitalism can thrive and everyone can benefit. We don’t have to choose between doing well and doing good. They’re not mutually exclusive. In fact, since becoming a public company in 2004, Salesforce has delivered a 3,500 percent return to our shareholders. Values create value.

 

[Nakosis]

Shows that capitalism need not be about greed to work.

 

[sun rise]

Shows that capitalism need not be about greed to work.

Thinking about it further, it also speaks directly to the left vs right fight about capitalism - that both polarities miss the mark of what is possible and could and should be encouraged.

 

[exchemist]

Note that is a piece by a capitalist who has done very well financially. And he points out that that by having a purpose beyond pure greed is also good for the bottom line.

Marc Benioff: We Need a New Capitalism

Over the past 20 years, the company that I co-founded, Salesforce, has generated billions in profits and made me a very wealthy person. I have been fortunate to live a life beyond the wildest imaginations of my great-grandfather, who immigrated to San Francisco from Kiev in the late 1800s.

Yet, as a capitalist, I believe it’s time to say out loud what we all know to be true: Capitalism, as we know it, is dead.
...
...profits are important, but so is society. And if our quest for greater profits leaves our world worse off than before, all we will have taught our children is the power of greed.

It’s time for a new capitalism — a more fair, equal and sustainable capitalism that actually works for everyone and where businesses, including tech companies, don’t just take from society but truly give back and have a positive impact.
...
suggesting that companies must choose between doing well and doing good is a false choice. Successful businesses can and must do both. In fact, with political dysfunction in Washington, D.C., Americans overwhelmingly say C.E.O.s should take the lead on economic and social challenges, and employees, investors and customers increasingly seek out companies that share their values.
...
Skeptical business leaders who say that having a purpose beyond profit hurts the bottom line should look at the facts. Research shows that companies that embrace a broader mission — and, importantly, integrate that purpose into their corporate culture — outperform their peers, grow faster, and deliver higher profits. Salesforce is living proof that new capitalism can thrive and everyone can benefit. We don’t have to choose between doing well and doing good. They’re not mutually exclusive. In fact, since becoming a public company in 2004, Salesforce has delivered a 3,500 percent return to our shareholders. Values create value.

I'm sure this must be right, and in truth many companies already act this way to a considerable extent. The concept of the "licence to operate" from society has been around for two decades at least. No doubt also, this guy can see the political future and wants to get out ahead of some rivals - and before the politicians decide, for him, what he has to do. That is not stupid.

 

[Sunstone]

Shareholder capitalism -- which is currently the predominant form of capitalism in the world today -- has been correctly and fairly called, "The dumbest idea in the history of capitalism". Maybe eight or nine out of every ten major American multi-international corporations today are run and managed according to the principles of shareholder capitalism -- and quite a few non-American corporations too.

Shareholder capitalism was originally proposed in an article in the New York Times written by Milton Friedman that was published on September 13, 1970. It changed the shape of capitalism, and was the reason Friedman went on to be called, “the most consequential public intellectual of the 20th century.”

By 1976, Friedman's theory of shareholder value was being dressed up in the rags of abtruse mathematics and impenetrable jargon to lend it the appearance (albeit not the substance) of scientific objectivity. The idea, however, was -- and always will be -- a mere value judgement.

By the mid-1980s there was not a major MBA school in America that was teaching anything beyond shareholder value as the sole legitimate concern of corporate executives.

Shareholder capitalism is the notion that corporations have one and only one important obligation -- to maintain and increase "shareholder value". Basically, nothing else matters beyond making a profit for the investors. Not the workers. Not the managers. Not the communities the corporation is located in. Not the suppliers. Not the environment. Not even the customers. Nothing matters except the shareholders -- that is, the investors, the capitalists.

It is exceedingly popular because investors love companies that put them first.

In recent years, there has been growing push back against the notion of shareholder value due to its devastating consequences for everyone from consumers to workers to the environment.

 

[exchemist]

Shareholder capitalism -- which is currently the dominant form of capitalism in the world today -- has been correctly and fairly called, "The dumbest idea in the history of capitalism". It was originally proposed by Milton Friedman in 1970, and it is the notion that corporations have one and only one important obligation -- to maintain and increase "shareholder value". Basically, nothing else matters beyond making a profit for the investors. Not the workers. Not the managers. Not the communities the corporation is located in. Not the suppliers. Not the environment. Not even the customers. Nothing matters except the shareholders -- that is, the investors, the capitalists.

Yes indeed, the seductive appeal of a solution that is neat, plausible - and wrong (Mencken?). How true that is, in so many spheres of life - but especially in politics and in business.

 

[Regiomontanus]

Note that is a piece by a capitalist who has done very well financially. And he points out that that by having a purpose beyond pure greed is also good for the bottom line.

Marc Benioff: We Need a New Capitalism

Over the past 20 years, the company that I co-founded, Salesforce, has generated billions in profits and made me a very wealthy person. I have been fortunate to live a life beyond the wildest imaginations of my great-grandfather, who immigrated to San Francisco from Kiev in the late 1800s.

Yet, as a capitalist, I believe it’s time to say out loud what we all know to be true: Capitalism, as we know it, is dead.
...
...profits are important, but so is society. And if our quest for greater profits leaves our world worse off than before, all we will have taught our children is the power of greed.

It’s time for a new capitalism — a more fair, equal and sustainable capitalism that actually works for everyone and where businesses, including tech companies, don’t just take from society but truly give back and have a positive impact.
...
suggesting that companies must choose between doing well and doing good is a false choice. Successful businesses can and must do both. In fact, with political dysfunction in Washington, D.C., Americans overwhelmingly say C.E.O.s should take the lead on economic and social challenges, and employees, investors and customers increasingly seek out companies that share their values.
...
Skeptical business leaders who say that having a purpose beyond profit hurts the bottom line should look at the facts. Research shows that companies that embrace a broader mission — and, importantly, integrate that purpose into their corporate culture — outperform their peers, grow faster, and deliver higher profits. Salesforce is living proof that new capitalism can thrive and everyone can benefit. We don’t have to choose between doing well and doing good. They’re not mutually exclusive. In fact, since becoming a public company in 2004, Salesforce has delivered a 3,500 percent return to our shareholders. Values create value.

Sorry, no. Capitalism is an inherently irrational, unsustainable system. Any system that commodifies nature is not sustainable; any form of capitalism will eventually result in the same thing: the near-death of the biosphere. That is the hard truth and like most hard truths it will meet fierce opposition at all levels of society and across a wide political spectrum. But It is the truth nonetheless. No, I do not have all of the answers. But that is a separate issue.

And by the way, fat chance of even putting lipstick on that pig (creating a "new capitalism"). Not in this country, in the next 50 years at least.

 

[Sunstone]

I favor a mixed economy in which there is a well and fairly regulated capitalist element.

 

[exchemist]

I favor a mixed economy in which there is a well and fairly regulated capitalist element.

Agreed. Elizabeth Warren for president? (That should stir it up!) But in fact she is by European standards a moderate social democrat, from everything I see.

 

[sun rise]

Agreed. Elizabeth Warren for president? (That should stir it up!) But in fact she is by European standards a moderate social democrat, from everything I see.

Nate Silver suggested that she should take Bernie Sanders' attack on her for being a capitalist and say that yes, she is, but one that believes that the current system is broken and (my addition), she has a plan for that

 

[exchemist]

Nate Silver suggested that she should take Bernie Sanders' attack on her for being a capitalist and say that yes, she is, but one that believes that the current system is broken and (my addition), she has a plan for that

Churchill is well-known for saying capitalism is the worst economic system, apart from all the others, and I think there is a lot in that.

She should be a capitalist and seems to be one, but capitalism needs regulation and she should not be ashamed to say so. It always has done and this is nothing new - look at the antitrust laws, environmental regulations, consumer protection laws, etc etc.

Capitalism is like nuclear energy: tremendously powerful but in need of careful containment and control if it is not do damage. The legislators constantly need to keep up with the innovations of capitalism before harm is done, (e.g this latest scammy currency thingie from Suckerberg. )

What we do not need is the system run by a 3rd rate real estate crook. We need someone who will look out for the consumer in all this.