Not Business as Usual Documentary Review

It’s been decades when the famous American Economist, Milton Friedman, asserted that there is only one social responsibility of a business – use its resources to earn profit without fraud and deceit. As years and decades passes by, different trends emerges in different aspects of the human lives like technology, urbanization, innovation, etc. and it is without a doubt that the concept of social responsibility of a business also made a sort of shift.

My attention was easily caught by the documentary since it opens its ideas on the concept of success as it was viewed by Baby boomers and Millennials. Being part of the late millennial group, I can relate myself to what the documentary says about success. For me, success is not having many “excess” but having a satisfaction for my life and my career. The documentary open my mind on how can I correlated the relationship of generation groupings (i.e. baby boomers, generation X, millennials, etc.) and the trends in business culture. With this somehow correlation, one may tell which business can be able to survive and stand still in the future as trends in society changes. Actually the documentary is also good for those who want to establish a business today as it endorses a new way to respond to the needs of society.

One classical economic concept pops on my mind as I watch the documentary is the “Invisible hand” theory of the famous Economist Adam Smith. Invisible hand works as an unseen force that makes the market efficiently move as it focuses on the interest of each market participants. It is very apparent to consider this as it is connected on the business: businesses wants profit, consumers consumes products. It is simple as it seems but it is turning obsolete as trends in business and society shifts to a more greener and society focus business. It is now ‘consumer wants products that benefit the community at large, and business focuses not only on profit but also on people and the planet’.

“Can business lose money just to accumulate ethics?” this practical question arises from the documentary as it contradict the idea of maximization of profit for shareholders as they, or should I say most of them who are part of the baby boomers, wants more of the “excess”. However, there is always a change in trend and based on the documentary I can say that the change in trend is irreversible. Few more decades from now the business and the society will be largely comprise of millennials who are much attach to the paradigm shift in the business ideology. It is always the “Survival of the fittest”; those who can adapt will be able to survive and thrive. The documentary, for me, calls for the intersection of two previously considered contradicting idea – profit maximization and societal concern, in short, as the documentary said, money and values. Striking the balance between the two will be the key feature of a business to survive in the years and decades to come.

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