I like to use the phrase ‘the emerging marketplace’ to describe the niche that WISELY WOVEN exists to serve and promote. But like all good labels, it only has value as long as it is easily understood. In a nutshell the Emerging Marketplace is made up of values-driven & social business innovators. A great example of this emergence can be seen in the new organizational structures being built to facilitate this evolution. The B Lab’s development of the B Corporation is a great example:
Today, like never before, the world of business is being turned on it’s ear in a myriad of ways. I hear a lot of talk about how old ways of ineffective thinking and doing are quickly passing away. And now in the current economic crisis, the global marketplace continues to shift towards a new movement of innovation. Advances in green technology, sustainable development, and ‘community interest companies’ (among others) are, at the core, social or ethical innovations. I believe these innovations are giving birth to something epic in proportion.
In the near past, the marketplace has undergone serious changes. The Industrial Revolution shifted us from an agrarian to a machine-driven economy, the Information Revolution shifted us from the production of physical commodities towards the manipulation of information. This current revolution is challenging the destructive tendencies of the modern economic machinery and reframing business in a more integrated, contextual model. This revolution is a return to ethical values, relational integrity, community thinking, wise and creative stewardship of resources, and a re-centering in the created world. These are a few of the common elements characterizing this movement.
The adoption of the triple bottom line by many organizations signifies this new breed of values-driven, socially responsible innovators. Other companies are being driven by passionate vision to solve a societal ill through a monetized business model. What has traditionally been accomplished by non-profits and the ‘third sector’ is now also being tackled by social business entrepreneurs and other cultural creatives who are merging both the ethical creation of monetary value and the outworking of deeply held values. Many economic leaders and business owners are starting to ask: “Do we exist for more than financial gain?” New questions are being asked about the role of business in the world.
What will be the outcome? Can we retool the modern economy to run on a new set of values, premises and principals? Can we envision wealth beyond mere material gains? Will the new social and ethical innovators recreate the marketplace to make it work for the common good? Or will the race be won by those seeking to turn ethical branding and social responsibility into yet another cover for corporate whitewashing (or should I say greenwashing?).
Resources:
- The B Corporation Declaration of Interdependence (PDF)
- Free Biz Guide Downloads: How To Improve Your Companies Social & Environmental Performance
- ALLTOP’s Top social entrepreneurship news
- The Social Venture Network
- Business Alliance For Local Living Economies (BALLE)
