Building Social Business – The New Kind Of Capitalism That Serves Humanity’s Most Pressing Needs By Muhammad Yunus (2010), Published by Public Affairs, Perscus Books Group, USA
Author(s)
Abdul Hannan Chowdhury, M. Siddique HossainAbstract:
One of the prime flaws in the theory of capitalism is that it misinterprets human nature. Human beings engaged in business are viewed as one dimensional being whose only goal is to maximize profit. However, the essential fact of human beings is that they are multi-dimensional. Professor Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Laureate, often argued that human beings have a natural desire to help one another. He said it is a motivating force that is just as powerful as the desire for profit. Social business taps into and satisfies this desire to do well.
It is evident that social business and conventional businesses are different not only by theoretical argument but also by moral point of view. Social business is a new form of capitalism that nurtures creativity, entrepreneurship and it fulfills the desire to make the world a better place. In the conventional business the yardstick of success is measuring the amount of profit one can make. The success in social business is, however, the impact it has on the society in solving a vital social cause rather than profit. In a social business, the prime goal is not maximizing profit but the motivation to deliver a benefit to the society by solving a social problem using business techniques.
The idea of social business has already been accepted and implemented by many renowned corporations globally. It has been welcomed by the government entities in many countries, local government bodies, city governments, and country officials. They have taken this concept in practice to solve problems around their communities. Some of the cities have already been converted to social business cities and they are giving priority in designing self-sustainable business to resolve public problems and social causes. New dimension of researches are evolving in the subject matter such as social stock market, social investment funds, social entrepreneurships, social marketing, legal framework for social business, environmental concerns in social business, enhancing sustainability through social business, social business and government, designing social business model, social business plan and development and so on.