Weekend Meditations (on business & homecoming)
[A]In a 2005 essay in the Economist (pdf file), Ian Davis, current managing director of the consulting firm, McKinsey & Co, argues that "big businesses" (his term) should treat social issues, and social critiques engendered by these issues, around how they act (and how they should be acting) in the world, in a more integrated and strategic fashion, for two important reasons:
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economic self-interest, because these critiques act as early warning systems to broader shifts in consumer preferences and regulatory environment, which invariably impact the business bottom line. For example, the relation between obesity issues and the subsequent shift in customer preferences for fast food
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business is important to global well-being: such integration will enable big businesses to engage in a more proactive dialog (vs. defensive rebuttals) with society of which they are an important part of, and to which they add value for , in Mr. Davis's view, "it might be more accurate, more motivating - and indeed more beneficial to shareholder value over the long term - to describe business's ultimate purpose as the efficient provision of good and services that the society wants."
While the first strand of Davis's thought is clearly a no-brainer, I would argue that his latter strand of thought is incomplete, if not somewhat disingenuous, mainly because it completely obscures the fact that modern businesses not only simply provide stuff that society wants (e.g., cheap sneakers made in China or Pakistan) but more importantly actively seek to amplify and meditate these "wants" (e.g., by branding the same cheap basketball shoes Air Jordan), in the service of shareholder value.
Given this, I am wondering if I should submit to Mr. Davis that small book, "Small Is Beautiful", which I am slowly re-reading, in silvers of time I find between working for "big businesses", which refers back to a more fundamental and elegant philosophy (how true it is can only be verified, I submit, by acting upon it), the core argument of which can be this (taken from the essay "Buddhist Economics"):
"Modern economics, on the other hand, considers consumption to be the sole end and purpose of all economic activity, taking the factors of production—and, labor, and capital—as the means. The former (ed note: Buddhist economics), in short, tries to maximize human satisfactions by the optimal pattern of consumption, while the latter tries to maximize consumption by the optimal pattern of productive effort. It is easy to see that the effort needed to sustain a way of life which seeks to attain the optimal pattern of consumption is likely to be much smaller than the effort needed to sustain a drive for maximum consumption."
This essay also came to me, when I scanned through this NYT article on "freegans", which N emailed me, as a thought extender to our running conversation on going "off the grid"[1].
[B] "Freegan-ism" is also on my mind, since I am spending this weekend at the Cave in Atlanta, my North American home, where I have furnished my corner of it, with furniture picked off the sidewalk, including the folding table and the chair that I am using to write this.
Walking around my old neighborhood here late last night, savoring the forest-ness and creek-ness (Peavine Creek flows as gently as ever) of this city, I also realized that it might be only a matter of time before I leave the urban soup of New York (with its attendant cultural smorgasbord) to return to one such Walden, where I can sit under a tree and think.
[1] Yet given the increased frequency of visits to the mall, and the spike in my credit card bills, I suspect that I am regressing, more than ever, from my ideal state of being "a man with two suitcases of stuff" - perhaps the economic variant of Murphy's Law ("wants expand to fill all available income") is at work, and I must combat it more diligently!
My Daily Notes
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Five Years, Before I Forget,
have passed, dear readers, since I have been dumping my scribbles in this dark corner of cyberia. I know I am supposed to write a post about how my life changed due to blogging etc but I won't, mainly because I have to be up in five hours to get on a plane. However, yes, it has been lovely, this journey. And I hope, in this world where things are jigged to fall apart, this floating space will be around five years hence. Thanks for reading, even if I have never really focused on writing for an audience. Also if you are a lurker, I would like to know you - so do say hello in the comments.
Cheers!
PS: First post I wrote here, in case you are curious.
My Daily Notes
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Weekend Notes
[1]
Gazing across the room, after a stretch of reading, I see a mother and a daughter sitting on the floor, like eggshells, thumbing through picture books, slowly mouthing the words in English, interrupting each other with Japanese and laughter. Beyond them, the bare shoulder of a young woman, tanned and supple, a rounded ridge that rises to a neck and ear (Moshin Hamid, in his novel "The Reluctant Fundamentalist", made an astute observation regarding such gazing; to paraphrase, he said, men from the Indian subcontinent, given to only chance glimpses of the feminine, tend to be more careful observers of the female form and gesture), becomes a container for light and bustle of the fair in Union Square, down below, as well this longing I am attempting to read through.
[2] Jottings from Paul Theroux's "The Great Railway Bazaar", sections of which I am re-reading:
"Mainstay of American small talk in India: the American on his bowels""Tamils seem to talk constantly - only toothbrushing seems to silence them."
"It (the South Indian landscape en route to Madras) was striking in another way: the people so black, the earth such a deep brown red, the green so green"
"Feral children, demented Mowglis abounded in South India"
[3] Also scanning this list of railway stations, which Theroux jotted down from an Indian Railways timetables, makes me think, wouldn't this be a wonderful tongue twister. Go on, speak the list below aloud, as quickly as you can:
Madras Egmore Mambalam Tambaran Perungalattur Halt Vandalur Guduvanchari Kattargulattur Singaperumalkoli Chingleput
[4] Waiting in line, on Sixth Ave, for a cup of coffee, my eye is jolted awake by the entrance of an American woman, wearing a brilliant hued sequined sari, jewelery, and glass bangles. Given as I am to seeing colors here, always on mute, I think I have stared too long at her, for she gives me an uneasy smile.
[5] Everyone who is in New York City in the month of June should go see Shakespeare On The Run's production of "Love's Labour's Lost": their movable stage The Pool, situated on north-end of the Central Park, their lighting some ten hand-held flashlights, their audience a running commonwealth, ranging from tiny tots to septuagenarians, their acting quite accomplished, and the speedy hours you would spend caught up in the dazzle and jests of the Bard, full of laughter. Oh, and yes, all shows are free but you would have enjoyed yourself so much that in the end you will give them five or ten quid. Go now; yes, it might be better if you can take a girl or a boy to kiss but alone works as well.
My Daily Notes
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