By Mauro Libi Crestani. There's an old saying, usually attributed to Confucius, that goes something like "Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you've fed him for a lifetime." Lets take this a step further. You have a business in a particular town. Philanthropy among business leaders has been very impressive. People like Ted Turner have given away over half their fortune to good causes. Ted Turner is not alone. Ten billionaires have signed on to the Giving Pledge -- an effort started in 2010 by William Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates -- to encourage billionaires to commit to giving away most of their money either during their lifetimes or in their wills. This money goes to great causes and does a lot of good. However as Confucius noted it is not enough. Not unless someone intends to support the poor forever. So what is a better solution to the roots of poverty. Mauro Libi. It is also a double edge sword. That company in the poor community may give away large amounts of money to charity but who would it sell its products to? If the community in which it is based does not have a large enough population that has the earning potential to be consumers then the company will not flourish. Further, Let’s say the company sells its products to a different community, who will be its labor force. If the community in which it is based does not have a potential labor force of people of educated people to do the tasks required of them. Mauro Libi. A better strategy and solution was, first articulated by Michael E. Porter of Harvard Business School and the management consultant Mark R. Kramer, it is based on the belief that companies can increase profits and enhance their businesses even as they address pressing social problems. An example of how this might work is by a share value initiative started by a company called Southwire. In Carrollton, Georgia there was a huge shortage of high school graduates , not enough for any company to be able to utilize. Southwire, a family-owned maker of wires and cables in Carrollton, Ga., tackled a shortage of high school graduates for hire by staffing a new factory entirely with students at risk of dropping out, and requiring them to stay in school to keep their jobs. Mauro Libi. The Southwire initiative, which started in 2007, worked so well that Harvard Business School wrote it up. The students stayed in school, drawn by jobs that paid more than the minimum wage. The county’s high school graduation rate jumped 10 percentage points. And Southwire made money. Within five years, the factory was adding $1.7 million to earnings. Mauro Libi. These students from Carrollton, GA no longer needed anyone’s charity. They had the education and the skills to be a productive wage earner. The Southwire company is just one more example how a company can use share value to help the community in which it resides and profit as a result. Mauro Libi.
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AutorMauro Libi Crestani is a Venezuelan businessman CEO of Grupo Libi; a group of various food companies in the country. Archives
Agosto 2016
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