July 15, 2015–Frank Bruni (The Sunny Side of Greed, 7/1/15) has identified an essential truth of modern commerce. As we move from the industrial age to the information age, the instant, transparent dynamics of commercial life have spawned a different generation of businesses, a sea change if you will. They are growing cultures infused with purpose, which is demanded by customers, employees, and increasingly investors.
On education, corporate executives from GE and IBM have led a charge to build a tailored workforce to meet today’s innovation needs.
In the food and beverage industry, The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo have recalculated their economic interest by pursuing calorie reductions to help reduce obesity; CVS Health did the same when it abandoned tobacco sales.
Wages? Wal-Mart, Aetna, Gap, TJX, and
McDonald’s voluntarily raised pay rates.
A broad conception of “shareholder value” rejects the false dichotomy of private versus public spheres. It realizes what one of CECP, The CEO Force for Good’s founders, Paul Newman, deemed the corporation’s intrinsic need to measure business performance by societal improvement and the business case for doing so.