Post 12

Based on what you read in the first two pages (pages 3 and 4), why are virtue and integrity so vital to an economy?

“Trust, too, is fragile. Like a piece of china, once cracked it is never quite the same. And people’s trust in business, and those who lead it, is today cracking.”

Charles Handy

Virtue and integrity are essential values in our lives as parents, friends, and workers. However, during the last years, those characteristics are less applied in businesses because few managers keep in mind the purpose of them. Some CEOs, shareholders, and managers rely on financial statements that show higher profits than past periods and do not take a time to verify how accurate those documents are.

Businesses are no more ranked or judged based on their products or services because consumer’s purchases are influenced by the credibility and integrity of a company. Consumers will trust in the product or service we are providing if virtue characterizes the company.

According to Charles Handy, what is the “real justification” for the existence of businesses?

“The purpose of a business, in other words, is not to make a profit, full stop. It is to make a profit so that the business can do something more or better. That something becomes the real justification for the business.”

Charles Handy

I think inventors did not create something because they needed money; instead, they did it because they wanted to help the society by innovating. This explanation can help us to understand that businesses founders had innovative ideas and wanted to benefit their neighbors and family by commercializing. We expect to get profits from economic activities, but they can be used to improve the product or service instead of  staying in a plateau.

What are two solutions proposed by Handy that you agree with? Why?

“A good business is a community with a purpose, and a community is not something to be owned…By creating new products, spreading technology and raising productivity, enhancing quality and improving service, business has always been the active agent of progress. It helps make the good things of life available and affordable to ever more people.”

Charles Handy

As entrepreneurs, we should not think our business is a property with employers and consumers that increase our profits. Our business needs to be a community with members that work together to achieve the same goals and to serve the society by providing quality products, safe processes, and efficient services.