Decision To Buy: What Do We Base It On to Become More Conscientious Shoppers?

There are three movements in the attempt to do business and buy more conscientiously. Some of these terms and initiatives are often used interchangeably or have various elements in common.

Preliminary Discussion Questions:

• What do each of the terms mean to you?
• How do you make your buying decisions now?

Here are some resources that address the causes of each:

Locally-Owned Business

(Decision to Buy Based on a Business' Location / Proximity)

• Wikipedia: Local Purchasing
• Trade Local: "Why Should You Support Local Business?
• Business Alliance for Local Living Economies: Local First, Why Local First, and Studies Supporting Local First
• StayLocal (New Orleans): Ten Reasons to Shop Local & Reports & Studies on Local Shopping
• Sustainable Connections: Top Ten Reasons to Think Local, Buy Local, Be Local
• Book: The Small Mart Revolution: How local businesses are beating the global competition, by Michael Shuman
• Book: The Case Against the Global Economy -- and For a Turn Toward the Local, edited by Jerry Mander and Edward Goldsmith

Independently Owned Businesses

(Decision to Buy Based on a Business' Leadership Type, Legal Structure, Dependance on other Entities)

• Wikipedia: Independent Business
• American Independent Business Alliance: Andersonville Study of Retail Economics
• Book: The Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America's Independent Businesses by Stacey Mitchell
• U.S. Department of Labor: Meaning of Independently Owned.
• Auto Inc: Body Shops: Independently Owned Dependently Operated" by Ben McNamara
  
  

Small Businesses

(Decision to Buy Based on a Business' Size: Number of Employees or Amount of Annual Receipts)

• Wikipedia: Small Business
• Small Business Administration (SBA): What is Small Business
• Book: The Small Mart Revolution: How local businesses are beating the global competition," by Michael Shuman
• Book: Globalization of Small Economies as a Strategic Behavior in International Business, by Sergio Castello
• Book: Better, Not Bigger, by Eben Fodor
  
  

Responsible/Sustainable Business / Socially Responsible Corporation

(Decision to Buy Based on a Business' Values and Actions)

• Wikipedia: Sustainable Business
• Wikipedia: Social Responsibility (Human and Environmental)
• Eco-Wise: Why Buy Green?
• CNN: Buying Green: The rise of organic foods, recycled products and eco-friendly ingredients have helped a generation of consumers “go green.'
• Business for Social Responsibility (BSR): The Socially Responsible Board" (PDF) by Aron Cramer & Matthew Hirschland, Ph.D.
• Economic Footprint: Business & Economic Development" (PDF) : The impact of corporate responsibility standards and practices, by AccountAbility & Business for Social Responsibility (BSR).
• British Nuclear Group: Why be a Responsible Business? (PDF) : by Dave Till
  

More Discussion Questions:

• Why do you think the terms have become interchgangable?
• Which term(s) do you feel your business is most closely associated with?

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Creativity & the Entrepreneurial Spirit

I doubt I've ever met an entrepreneur who wasn't also creative. Being able to envision a way out of the rat race alone requires creativity -- not to mention the creativity needed to manifest a new source of income.

But what is the relationship between the Creative Entrepreneur and the Cultural Creative Entrepreneur?

Qualities of an Entrepreneur

Robert T. Kiyosaki, author of Before You Quit Your Job, explores what qualities people need to successfully transition from employee to entrepreneur-- and from entrepreneur to business leader.

Kiyosaki's main ideas are:

1. A successful entrepreneur finds the right idea, the right people to act on the idea and the right money to leverage the project.
   
2. A successful entrepreneur operates from freedom and opportunity rather than security and resources.
   
3. The best time to answer the tough questions about starting a business is before starting the business. Some of these questions are:
   
   a. How badly do I want my own business and why?
   b. How much will I extend myself to succeed?
   c. Am I afraid to fail? If so, how can I make this a strength?
   d. Am I willing to educate myself on the essential components of a successful business?

An Entrepreneur Plus Cultural Creative Values = A Social Entrepreneur

Cultural Creative entrepreneurs, more often referred to as social entrepreneurs, are those entrepreneurs who focus on creating innovations and inventions that improve life for everyone.

Bill Drayton of Ashoka, an organization dedicated to supporting and promoting social entrepreneurship as well as transforming the face of social innovation, points out that social entrepreneurs "are not content just to give a fish...or to teach someone how to fish. [Social entrepreneurs] will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry."

We could easily say that the social entrepreneur has a bit more to chew than the average entrepreneur: the concern for people, planet and profit.

And yet social entrepreneurs have taken a step in a new direction -- from the non-profit and charitable forms into the commercial sector. Now social entrepreneurs are realizing that it's okay -- nay, preferable to capitalize on their good works.

• Profit is one characteristic of a healthy organization because it is the result of
  
• Profit creates an obvious incentive to work and produce.
  
• The commercial sector has more flexibility and agility than the non-profit sector.
• Jerr Boschee notes that: "Living from year to year does not ensure the future, and that is the moment when [founders] begin migrating from innovation to entrepreneurship." (Batstone)
• Donald Trump believes that charity creates a culture of entitlement.
• Robert Harrington: "If you want to help poor people of the world, step one is to make sure you're not one of them."
• Molly Gordon: "When we keep our businesses on starvation diets, they present famished faces to the world."

So what's the problem with non-profit?

Paraphrasing Mathew Richter, non-profit creator:

• Because there are so many non-profits, there's far less money for individual nonprofits now than there was 30 years ago.
• The government requires quantified results vs. qualified results -- prioritizing performance over mission. And this means lots of paperwork.
  
• The nonprofit structure hampers nonprofits' ability to compete with for-profits in the commercial realm. A nonprofit has the same opportunity as a for-profit, but because a non-profit isn't allowed to capitalize, they have to grow the business through programs and fundraising. By the time this happens, the opportunity has passed.

Regina Herzlinger says that neither nonprofits nor government are to be trusted. She writes that "they lack the three basic accountability measures that ensure effective and efficient business operation: the self-interest of owners, competition, and [because of the "decision by committee" structure] the ultimate bottom-line measure of accountability." Everyone and no one is accountable

The 'tyranny' of a board of directors is at the crux of the problem of whether the nonprofit structure works for an organization," continues consultant Claudia Bach.


Share Your Wisdom

• How did you start your business?
• What internal resources , or qualities, made it possible for you to make it a reality?
• What advice would you give other budding Cultural Creative / social entrepreneurs?
• What legal status (for-profit or non-profit) is your business and why did you choose that status?
  

Subject Matter: business wisdom, small business, entrepreneurs, entrepreneur, big business, courage, starting a business, business startup, business start-up, micro business, book report, book review, book summary, book synopsis, book abstract, Robert T. Kiyosaki, Robert Kiyosaki, Rich Dad Poor Dad, Before You Quit Your Job

Big Business in Local Economy and Sustainability Movements

In the local economy and sustainability movements, Big Business tends to be villanized. And the view on this judgement is mixed.

Corporate Saint?

Large Corporations provide valuable jobs and charitable services to their local communities. For example, Target offers free and discounted passes to Fine Arts events, making the wonder of art available to everyone, not just an elite few. Should we be looking at what a business is doing instead of how large or profitable it happens to be.

Or Corporate Sinner?

At the same time, consumers are at the mercy of corporate marketing. Giving new meaning to the concept of "buyer beware," shoppers must take special pains to be educated on whether a big business sustainability effort is sincerely apart of that business culture -- and not just a marketing ploy to cover up other irresponsible things they are doing. Walmart, for example, has been the poster child of naughty corporate behavior, forcing small, locally owed enterprises out of business and effectually destroying local economies. This is all while they are promoting organics into their line of fresh produce.

Making the Difference

Luckily, there is a growing market (50M+) of consumers in America who are making the conscious decision to spend their dollars in ways that support their values instead of just their pocketbook. Buying local, buying green and buying sustainably, called "voting with their dollars," is a characteristic of Cultural Creatives, the subculture that has created this market. And they are mighty good at reading the fine print and doing their research -- whether the source of their goods comes from a large or small enterprises.


National Advocacy for Local Economies

Keeping alive the spirit of conscious consuming on a national level are shown in these groups:

LOHAS is an acronym for Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability, a market segment focused on health and fitness, the environment, personal development, sustainable living, and social justice. LOHAS is known for their industry journal and annual expo. (http://www.LOHAS.com)

BALLE, Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, is an international alliance of 42 independently operated local business networks dedicated to building Local Living Economies. (http://www.LivingEconomies.org)

And of course, CCBN, the Cultural Creatives Business Network, sspecializes in bringing Cultural Creatives in business together, i.e. people who care about more than just the bottom line -- to meet, exchange referrals and collaborate toward profitable ends. (http://www.Cultural-Creatives.net)


Other Resources and New Twists on Big Business in the Sustainability Movement

Big Business amd Sustainability: A contradiction in terms? by Timothy
O'Riordan.

Can Big Business Save the World? Discover how people are transforming big
business in order to transform the world by What is Enlightenment Magazine.

This Ring a Nobel? Social and environmental entrepreneurs have a lot to teach big
business By John Elkington and Mark Lee

The Corporation a documentary by Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbot and Joel Bakan

Sustainability is good business by Chris Boyd