Good Companies Employ Institutional Perspective

History provides many examples of industrialists who developed enduring corporations and social institutions. For instance, Andrew Carnegie established Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Steel Company and the Carnegie Hall performing art center. However, this form of private-social good dwindled over time as wealth became less concentrated at the top of the social heap and ideas about stockholder capitalism came to dominate corporate behavior. In a write-up in the Harvard Business Review, Rosabeth Moss Kanter talks about the modern day relationship between business and society and how good companies adopt an “institutional perspective”, meaning they combine financial and social logic to build enduring success.

Kanter has seen that good companies “undertake actions that produce societal value –whether or not those actions are tied to the core functions of making and selling goods and services.” Good companies zag away from the traditional business behaviors of the old economy. Rather than disconnecting business from society and posing conflicts between them, they believe that business is an intrinsic part of society, and like family, government, and religion, has been one of its pillars for centuries.

Good companies work to make money, but in their choices of how to do so, they consider whether they are building enduring institutions. They accomplish this by adhering to the six principals of institutional logic identified by Kanter: a common purpose; a long-term view; emotional engagement; community building; innovation; and self-organization. As a result of focusing a company around these principals, businesses reach a sustained level of success.

Whole Foods Market is a prime example of a good company with institutional perspective.  From 2006 to 2010, their business has expanded, seeing their store count nearly double from 186 to 299 and company sales rise from 5.6B to 9B. This success came while adhering to core values like promoting the health of stakeholders through healthy eating education; supporting sustainable agriculture; reducing, reusing, and recycling waste; and giving five percent of profits back to community and non-profit organizations.

Kanter believes, “if companies are to serve a purpose beyond their business portfolios, CEOs must expand their investments to include employee empowerment, emotional engagement, values-based leadership, and related societal contributions.” Good companies are purpose driven. They have values and priorities that reach beyond responsibility to stockholders and place importance on society as the larger stakeholder.

Childhood Obesity in Georgia and Communicating a Healthy Society

Apathy concerning the epidemic of childhood obesity is crumbling under the weight of public outcry over a new ad campaign by Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta: the Stop Childhood Obesity campaign depicts the health and emotional problems brought on by the disease. It was recently launched in Georgia because, according to Linda Matzigkeit at Children’s Healthcare, “We felt like we needed a very arresting, abrupt campaign that said: Hey, Georgia! Wake up. This is a problem.” According to Children’s Healthcare, Georgia ranks second in the nation with the highest rate of childhood obesity. Many critics believe the ads do nothing but make fat kids feel worse about themselves and lead them to withdraw even more into bad eating and activity habits. I believe the campaign will be a success for two reasons. Firstly, it shows kids that they should take ownership of their body and lifestyle and seek their parents support in getting to a healthy weight. As an obese Middle-schooler myself, I was the one who approached my Mom about joining Weight Watchers. I’m sure more kids would take the same kind of action if they were inspired to do so. Perhaps this ad campaign can do that. Secondly, I believe in this campaign because it gives parents a much needed electric shock, waking them up to address the problem and take responsibility for the health of their family.

Marsha Davis, who researches child obesity prevention at the University of Georgia said, “If we want to get attention [and] say obesity is a problem, maybe [the campaign] will be effective. In terms of the social stigma about weight — it might actually make people feel worse about that…We need to fight obesity, not obese people.” I disagree, the fact is human behavior is causing obesity and we need people to realize that they’re killing themselves with poor nutrition and lack of exercise. We need to recognize childhood obesity as an issue and not continue to sweep it under the rug. Just like Isabelle Caro, the anorexic super model, used a billboard to bring attention to her disease brought on by human behavior, so too will Georgia’s obesity ad campaign.

Critics like Marsha Davis fear the Obesity campaign makes children feel worse about themselves. She wrongly assumes that the fear of not belonging, poor health, and low self-esteem, all caused by obesity, are not effective motivators to change human behavior.  The objective of the campaign is not to make Georgians aware of an obesity epidemic, that’s old news; the goal is to get people to do something about it –for children to seek support and for parents to regiment their family’s lifestyle. There is no better way to do this than with a campaign executed to shock everyone out of their stupor and take responsibility for their behaviors.

Through policies designed to increase economic development, the government has encouraged big businesses to propagate unhealthy foods and lifestyles. In turn, these businesses have used the power of advertising to create a Culture of Obesity in this country. Perhaps Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta’s campaign can shift the momentum just a bit by using the power of advertising for good.

Occupy Wall St. -Capitalism and Democracy Clash

Democracy cannot live in a Capitalist system.

The idea of democracy is that people have equal voice and vote in decision-making. The capitalist idea is that people working in their own self-interest will result in public good. These ideologies clash in the American system because capitalism corrupts true democracy. Capitalism allows those with the most resources (corporations and the wealthy) to buy a BIG voice for their self-interest. Their single voice is so large that it drowns out the smaller, disparate voices of the many. It commands more influence than the small voices and wins favorable laws, tax breaks and business incentives from the government. The Occupy Wall Street movement fascinates me because people are uniting their small voices to fight back against corporations. In six weeks, the “Occupy” protest has grown to over 100 U.S. cities. Americans are waking up the fact that capitalism and democracy don’t mix and that “being free” means liberty from big government and big business.