Private Sector Corporations, Technology, and the Future
“This decade is the critical, decisive decade for the future of humanity and the planet,” Christiana Figueres, prior head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat recently stated. To this end, the involvement of the private sector is essential to making positive strides in the right direction. The official definition of the private sector is “the part of an economy which is not controlled or owned by the government,” oftentimes references any sized privately owned corporation. Partially due to the fundamental principles and pervasive nature of neoliberalism, this portion of the economy has come to hold unprecedented power and influence over domestic and international groups, societies, and even countries. This idea is worrisome to many, to the extent that their motives, driven largely by profits, mimic various characteristics of classic colonialism with their drive for power, regulation formation, and social, political, and cultural influence through technological mechanisms. Despite these undesirable intentions, there is work being done to ensure that PSCs push forward in a more socially sound direction, and rightfully so, as they are quickly becoming a larger player in the global development or social impact sector.
Yet to innovate within the social sector, a shift in company culture and goals must occur. Technology has often been seen as a solution to innovate within this space, as shown through a study on small and medium enterprises around the world. “Technology has a significant positive correlation with innovation and innovation has a significant positive effect on business performance in emerging markets”, leading one to the conclusion that technology can indeed help guide PSCs to obtain higher levels of social impact while they innovate their way into the future. Nonetheless, while digital technologies can contribute to development targets such as good health, reduction of poverty, or combatting inequalities, they also have tremendous potential to do harm that must be further studied and understood.
One of the largest movements that is currently being adopted by companies of all sizes is that of corporate social responsibility (CSR). This management concept that has been recently pushed forward with more emphasis in the last several decades integrates environmental and social concerns with overall business operations to achieve a triple-bottom-line, or a balance between environmental, economic, and social imperatives. In addition to the obvious benefits, CSR is an important step for businesses to pursue as it provides alternative options from temporary and unsuccessful initiatives to eradicate poverty, such as the misguided movement within the business community to provide products at exceptionally low prices and profit margins with the intention to help the poor become consumers. Inversely, one of the more promising routes to alleviate poverty is to create partnerships between PSCs and local organizations that can transform the poor into producers and partners, rather than consumers. This urges practitioners to realize that creating opportunities for sustainable and steady employment with an acceptable wage is one of the best ways to alleviate poverty, all which could be supported by international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) as PSCs continue to dictate the direction of the global business economy in the future.
Other ideas that are in line with CSR seek transparency, such as one explored regulatory standard called “Ratcheting Labor Standards”, which calls forth the inception of a systematic competition between firms based upon treatment of their workforce and their overall performance made visible through required regulations and intentional transparency. This would allow for innovation to blossom, competition within industries to flourish, and eventually allow for more just and equitable working environments to form.
However, whether a company is a startup or a Fortune 500 corporation, it is challenging to find alignment with their CSR goals and that of development organizations who can assist with such initiatives. Beyond just CSR, intentionally incorporating meaningful sustainability practices will be of the utmost importance for companies' success moving forward. This is a key takeaway, as development organizations are often more inclined and sometimes even better suited to deal with social sciences and sustainability integration.This is where Philanthrofi is setting an industry standard for creating strong partnerships between the private sector and the social sector. We utilize an ethically built AI-driven B2B marketplace to connect companies to Environmental, Economic, and Social projects combining a vast project database, precise recommendation algorithm, and guided process to complete transactions.
We’d love to find ways to help you with your CSR and other social initiatives. Click here to get started.
