CSR

McKinsey presents a well-developed, thought out narrative on the two schools of thought in modern global capitalism: the shareholder/profit/business of business school that I regularly antagonize and the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) school I regularly laud. McKinsey presents some harsh criticisms of both sides, and I think they're well placed arguments. CSR is all too often the stuff of fluffy dreamers (which I can be definitely found guilty of) and ignores certain basic realities and real world practices. Likewise traditional profit-schoolers are limited and blinded in their vision and often end up penalized down the road.

The article is heavy in business-speak, but it presents some excellent points and begins to sketch out a basic possible solution, of which I've begun to quote below. I strongly suggest those readers that were active in my comments fields to check this out.

The McKinsey Quarterly: What is the business of business?: "In the limitations of both CSR and of the 'business of business is business' thinking lie the outlines of a new approach—as relevant for Chinese, German, and Indian companies as for US and British ones. Three main strands stand out. The first is a helpfully simple prescription: businesses should introduce explicit processes to make sure that social issues and emerging social forces are discussed at the highest levels as part of overall strategic planning."