Profit with Honor: The New Stage of Market Capitalism

by Daniel Yankelovich

This wise and optimistic book examines the rampant scandals that plague American corporations today and shows how companies can reverse the resulting climate of mistrust. By seizing the opportunity to address some of the nation’s—and the world’s—most serious problems, business can strengthen its reputation for integrity and service and advance to a new stage of ethical legitimacy. Daniel Yankelovich, a social scientist and an experienced member of the corporate boardroom, describes the toxic convergence of cultural and business trends that has led inexorably to corporate scandals. Yet he offers reassurance that opportunity exists for positive change. Creative business leaders can advance market capitalism to its next stage of evolution, building upon business norms that simultaneously emphasize the legitimacy of profit making and the importance of the care that companies give to employees, customers, and the larger society.The book asserts that American culture has abandoned its old tradition of enlightened self-interest, of “doing well by doing good.” A narrow legalism has taken over (“I didn’t break the law; therefore I didn’t do anything wrong”). Yankelovich argues that attempts to deal with such flawed ethical norms by means of more laws and regulations cannot succeed. He offers a series of case histories to show how and why stewardship ethics can strengthen individuals, corporations, the nation, and the world economy.

Genres: Economics, Business

208 pages, Hardcover

First published May 28, 2006

Reviews

[Antonia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and worthwhile exploration of a model for corporate responsibility that balances the profit motive with responsibility to broader society. It's also a pretty quick read.

Yankelovich has decades of experience as a social behaviorist who has tracked public opinion on many trends (including opinions about our various institutions), and also as a board member for many different companies. After discussing the many shortcomings that have become apparent through focusing on free market/laissez-faire principles and their exclusive focus on "shareholder value" on the one hand, and on the other hand, the practical limitations of a "civil society"-centered focus on corporate social responsibility that shows too much skepticism toward the corporate pursuit of profits, Yankelovich proposes a sort of balance that he calls "stewardship ethics." Basically, he calls on corporate leadership to voluntarily adopt social norms that would distinguish short-term profit seeking from long-term corporate sustainability, and also recognize the value of pursuing the broader public good via "enlightened self-interest." He offers strategies and tactics for upgrading the ethical tone of corporate culture and taking a long-term view, when the culture of larger society appears to work against those ethics, and demand short-term gratification in the form of immediate stock value increases. It would be the role of government and the consumer to support those efforts, even though leadership would come from within the business world.

[Robert Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly a page turner; who knew such dry subjects as ethical stewardship and CSR could actually have some entertaining history and background to them.